Head of Growth for Mary’s Meals Malawi, Monalisa Bandawe
* A camaraderie programme appealing to beneficiaries of Mary’s Meals primary school feeding initiative for partnership
By Victor Singano Jnr
Mary’s Meals Malawi has launched a new initiative dubbed ‘Alumni Campaign’, which is inviting former beneficiaries or alumni of its school feeding programme to reconnect with the movement and help feed the next child still waiting for a daily school meal.
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At the official launch of the programme in Blantyre, Head of Growth for Mary’s Meals Malawi, Monalisa Bandawe, said through the program, the institution seeks to be calling and reach out to people who benefited from Mary’s Meals primary school feeding initiative to come forward to partner with them and help in mobilising donations.
They are also enticed to help in conducting awareness in order to support school children across the country, who continue to face food security driven by repeated climate shocks such as droughts, floods, and erratic rainfall, alongside rising cost of living.
Bandawe described food insecurity as a major challenge contributing to increased pressure on households — and that for many children, hunger remains a barrier to attend school.
“For over 22 years, we have been serving a daily meal to children in schools and by doing this we encourage children experiencing poverty and hunger to attend school, stay in class, and focus on learning.
“Currently, we have more than 3.4 million school-age children in the country who do not have access to a daily school meal — demonstrating the scale of unmet need and the urgency behind the Alumni Campaign.
“We take this campaign as an opportunity for alumni to respond to the need as we are inviting those who once received Mary’s Meals to help and ensure that children today can have the same support,” Bandawe said.
Mary’s Meals Malawi is currently reaching to more than 1.4 million children every school day in 24 districts with each child costing K43,708.92 per school year.
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