Scottish Catholic Observer

Mary’s Meals announced on Wednesday that it is now feeding one million of the world’s poorest children every school day.

The charity was founded by devout Catholic Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow in Argyll and now works in 12 countries across four continents, setting up school meal programmes that encourage children to attend school.

In Malawi’s Machinga district—where the expansion of the charity’s school feeding programme has enabled it to surpass the million threshold—celebrations are under way at Chirimba Primary School, one of the latest schools to benefit from the generosity of Mary’s Meals’ supporters.

Mary’s Meals’ founder and CEO, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, joined invited guests—including government education officials and village chiefs—to mark the occasion.

“It is quite remarkable to think that a million children are now eating Mary’s Meals every school day in some of the world’s poorest countries,” he said. “The extraordinary ways in which this work has grown and developed have continually surprised me and filled me with a sense of mystery and awe.”

He said he was not totally surprised that the charity had become so successful as he had ‘long felt that the vision of Mary’s Meals—that every child receives a daily meal in their place of education—is so compelling, and people of goodwill so numerous, that it must be fulfilled.’

One of the children at Chirimba is 14-year-old orphan Marita Wyson (above), who lives with her frail grandmother Doris and younger sister Maria.

“We are so happy to be receiving this food in school!” she said. “When you feel hungry, it can be difficult just to stand up in the morning. But the phala [the vitamin-enriched maize porridge Mary’s Meals serves in Malawi] is making a huge difference. It makes me feel strong and I am able to understand what my teachers are telling me. My grandmother doesn’t have to worry so much about how she will provide food for me and my sister.”

The exact number of children Mary’s Meals is now feeding is 1,035,637—across countries including Liberia, Kenya, Zambia, Haiti and India—meaning that the continued support of donors has allowed the charity to expand its global programme by more than 45,000 children since the beginning of 2015 alone.

A book, The Shed that Fed a Million Children, written by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow and telling the extraordinary story of Mary’s Meals, was published yesterday, by William Collins, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. The book is being published in the US and Canada on May 26, by Harper-Collins 360.

— For more information on Mary’s Meals, visit www.marysmeals.org

— Don’t miss, extended coverage in the Mary’s Meals feature in next week’s SCO

—[email protected]

—This story ran in full in the May 22 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.