Mary's Meals

The Mary's Meals campaign was initiated by a Scottish charity (Scottish International Relief) in Malawi in 2002.  Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, the charity Director, met a young woman called Emma who was dying from AIDS.  She was sitting on the mud-floor of her hut surrounded by her children.  He asked her oldest son, a boy of about 14, what his dreams were in life.  He replied:

"To have enough food to eat and to go to school one day",         

 

This encounter inspired the Mary's Meals campaign. Today the movement is providing 350 000* children with a daily meal in their place of education.  Malawi is Mary's Meals main focus but there are also projects in: India, Philippines, Thailand, Burma (Myanmar), Romania, Ukraine, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Uganda, Liberia, Kenya, Zambia, Bolivia, Sudan and Haiti.

 The average cost of providing a child with Mary's Meals for a whole year across all our projects is £8.40

 
Mary's Meals Companion Projects:

The Mary's Meals school feeding campaign is our main area of work.  Sometimes we are able to respond to other needs we learn about in the course of this work and that are complementary to Mary's Meals.

 Back Pack Project:

Working closely with schools we invite pupils here to fill old school bags/back packs with basic school material such as jotters, pens and then delivers them to children receiving Mary's Meals in Africa whose families cannot afford such things.

 Residential Care for Vulnerable Children

We run 3 children's homes in Romania and support an emergency shelter for street children in Ukraine.

 Community Care

In Liberia we support agriculture projects to help local farmers eg supplying seed and rice mills.  We also support health clinics in Malawi and Liberia.

 Responding To Emergencies

The charity was borne out of a response to the refugee emergency in Bosnia in 1992 and we still respond to humanitarian crises whenever possible and where we have a link to local groups. We are currently providing assistance to people in Burma recovering from Cyclone Nargis and in areas in Haiti badly affected by hurricanes and flooding.

 

To learn more about our work take a look at our website.

Mary's Meals is administered by Scottish International Relief
Registered charity SCO22140  Limited Company SC265941

 

 

 

 

* figure at October 2008