Scottish Catholic Observer

Top TV presenter Dermot O’Leary has given his backing to a new campaign launched by the Scottish-based charity Mary’s Meals.

The Big Blue Mug campaign invites people to get their hands on one of the specially produced containers, similar to those used to provide Mary’s Meals to children in Malawi where the charity feeds over 500,000 children every school day.

The plastic mugs are being offered as an alternative gift for a minimum donation of £7 each, which is how much it costs Mary’s Meals to feed a child for an entire school year in Malawi. As well as being able to drink from it, the mugs also have lids that allow them to be used as collecting cans.

Now supporters of Mary’s Meals, which was founded at Craig Lodge, Dalmally, can have their own big blue mug and X Factor presenter Dermot O’Leary is a big fan of the plan.

“This is a fantastic way to raise awareness of what a difference a mug of porridge can make to the lives of so many hungry children in Malawi who are receiving Mary’s Meals,” he said. “The beauty of this idea is that not only does drinking from this mug remind people of the important role which porridge plays at the charity’s school feeding programme in Malawi, it can also be used as a way of getting support to feed more children, giving them essential nutrition and an incentive to study.”

Mary’s Meals sets up school feeding projects in some of the poorest parts of the world where hunger and poverty stop children from gaining an education. By providing a daily meal in a place of education, children are attracted to the classroom where they can get a basic education that can be their ladder out of poverty.

In Malawi, where the charity is celebrating a decade of feeding children, 20% of the primary school population receives Mary’s Meals. Each child is given a daily serving of likuni phala – a vitamin enriched maize porridge served in plastic mugs. Each child is responsible for their own mug, ensuring they get a fair portion every school day.

Mary’s Meals founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said the mugs were a great way for people to show their support.

“This alternative gift is symbolic, as it represents the simple mugs which are used to provide over half a million hungry children in Malawi with a life sustaining daily meal, which in turn gives them energy and concentration to learn,” he said.

“For many children in the poorest parts of the world, they are unable to go to school because they are hungry, begging or working to get the next meal on the table. Mary’s Meals offers them a route out of poverty and the chance to build a brighter future for themselves and their communities.”

-The Big Blue Mugs are available for distribution in the UK. To find out more, please go to http://www.marysmeals.org.uk