The children came, and they have never stopped

One day during a rainstorm, Dickson was walking by a river in Zambia and spotted several drenched children on their way to school. The children waded into the water to continue their long walk to school but one of them fell into the swirling torrent and Dickson jumped in to save her. This experience led him to build the first school in their village – Taonga Primary School – to ensure children from his community wouldn’t have to walk miles each day and risk their lives to attend a place of learning. 

Sadly, Dickson soon realised there was a greater obstacle preventing the local children from gaining an education: hunger. While everyone in the village was happy about the new school, their daily battle to find enough food took priority over school attendance. And so, the classrooms remained quiet until something transformational happened one morning in October 2014. That day, the very first mugs of Mary’s Meals porridge were served by local volunteers outside the little school. And the children came. And they have never stopped since.

Today in Zambia – 10 years after we began our programme here – 400,000 children eat Mary’s Meals every school day. Across the Eastern Province children are coming to school – amid the current catastrophic hunger crisis – because they know they will eat there. They now face a totally different future. The children of Taonga have Dickson to thank for that – as well as people like you who help to make these vital meals possible. Meals that are changing the future for more than 2.4 million children!

Sharing some of what we have so that children can have a school meal might not feel as heroic as saving a drowning child. And supporting Mary’s Meals might not seem as transformational as building a school. But by choosing to support our work, you are, on behalf of these children, tackling head-on something more threatening than any flooding river – the poverty and hunger that keep children out of the classroom. And with each meal provided, you are helping to build something even more precious and longer lasting than Taonga school.

Dickson is undoubtedly a hero – but we have the privilege of being his co-workers. Mary’s Meals could not be served in his village without the school he built. But because of Mary’s Meals, it’s no longer an empty school. Rather, it’s a school that resounds with the laughter of children. Children with a future. 

As Mary’s Meals celebrates 10 years of feeding children in Zambia, the need for our work is greater than ever. Facing its worst drought in decades, there are no crops to harvest, food prices are rising, and families have even less to feed their children. If you can, please donate today, and help us keep the classrooms where we work ringing with children’s laughter. It costs just £19.15 to feed a child with Mary’s Meals every school day for a year. 

Thank you for your support.