Fighting for education in the face of climate change
The promise of a daily school meal is giving hope of a brighter future to children and their families living in climate-affected Madagascar
Cousins Lefitra, 12, and Rova, 13, are in the same class in the 4th grade at Sahafy Primary School. Their home is an hour’s walk away and houses eight people, including their single mothers and grandmother.
Mary’s Meals provides a daily meal in school to almost 90,000 children in Madagascar – including Lefitra and Rova – where around 76% of people earn below the international poverty line ($2.15 per day) and food production is insufficient to sustain the population.
Lefitra said: “What we like the most at school is learning new things and eating in the school canteen. Our favourite foods at school are rice and beans.
“After we eat the school meals, we feel very full and very motivated to study again in the afternoon.
“It is very important for us to eat there because at home we don’t eat enough. Sometimes at night we just drink warm water and go to bed and sometimes what we get at the school canteen is the only meal we eat during the day.
“Without healthy food we are not able to go to school as we don’t have enough energy.”
As the world’s sea levels continue to rise, Madagascar’s location in the Indian Ocean makes it very susceptible to cyclones and other climate driven disasters, heightening economic pressures and food insecurity for families across the country. In February 2022, Cyclone Batsirai resulted in the deaths of 121 people and extensive damage in Madagascar, with 80% of schools in some areas completely destroyed.
Meanwhile, the cyclone damaged Lefitra and Rova’s home so significantly, the family were displaced and had to relocate. Their grandmother, Razisy, 59, said: “We have met a very difficult life during the passage of Cyclone Batsirai, because our field was destroyed and full of sand so we were not able to cultivate anything.
“Our house was destroyed so we had to move here because we don’t have the means to repair it.
“It is so hard for us to find what to eat and the money we get for working in someone’s field is not enough to buy food for all of us. We cook in a little pot for everyone at home.
“Fortunately, the school feeding programme always gives food for Lefitra and Rova and at least if they go to school, they’ll eat. We rely on the programme and it reduces the number of mouths we must feed.
“My hopes for my children are that they will finish their studies and find a job so they can help us.
“If food shortages were no longer an issue in Madagascar, children’s education won’t be a problem anymore and my family and I will live in peace. I really wish that it comes true.”
The food served by Mary’s Meals, in partnership with Feedback Madagascar, attracts children to the classroom, giving them access to education and a ladder out of poverty for their families and communities. It also gives little ones like Lefitra and Rova the chance to dream of a better life.
Looking to the future, Lefitra, who one day wants to visit France, said: “My hero is Lolita, an actress in a famous Malagasay film. She comes from a poor family like me, but in the end, she finishes her studies and has a happy life.”