Mary's Meals starts feeding children in Yemen
Bringing hope to 4,000 children amid Yemen’s ongoing humanitarian crisis.
Mary’s Meals is now working in Yemen in the Middle East, serving nutritious food at school to children affected by one of the biggest humanitarian crises in the world.
Life is very difficult for people in Yemen, with the ongoing conflict heavily impacting the country’s economy and causing high levels of poverty and food insecurity – approximately 21 million people (or 70% of the population) are in need of humanitarian assistance. This includes more than 11 million children.
Since the conflict began in 2015, the number of school-age children not in education has doubled and many have to work to survive. The serving of our daily nutritious meal encourages children back into the security of the classroom.
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, our founder, says: “Given that Yemen can be described as the biggest humanitarian crisis in the world, and so many children are suffering, we are delighted to begin serving our daily school meals there – meeting the immediate need of the hungry child and, crucially, at the same time, enabling their education.”
In Yemen, we are serving substantial and nutritious pitta bread sandwiches, filled with various ingredients to suit local tastes alongside fruit and vegetables, to more than 4,000 children at four schools.
One of these children is 11-year-old Huquq who loves to draw and wishes to become a dentist when she is older.
She says: “The meals are very nice. We get bread and cheese in addition to banana, cucumber or apple. The meals are enough for all of us and make us feel full every day at school, which helps us learn.”
We are working in partnership with established international NGO, Yemen Aid, to reach children living in the Al Mansoora district of Aden. This district is particularly vulnerable as it is home to a large number of internally displaced people and other marginalised populations, who all experience high levels of hunger.
Mary’s Meals started in 2002 by feeding 200 children in Malawi. More than two million children now receive a meal every school day in 20 countries around the world.
With our low-cost approach, a donation of just £15.90 will feed a child with Mary’s Meals for a whole school year. And until 31 January 2022, thanks to our Double The Love campaign, that same donation will feed two hungry children in school for an entire year!
Help us access all the available funding by donating or setting up a regular gift today. Find out more.