Mary’s Meals Malawi honours longest-serving team members

* Why so many years, you might ask? It’s because I found an organization that aligns perfectly with the values I was raised with

* Being part of Mary’s Meals has shaped me and transformed me into the professional I am today. For that, I am deeply grateful

By Duncan Mlanjira

Mary’s Meals Malawi has honoured its longest-serving team members, describing them as “incredible people [who] dedicated their time, and energy to supporting the school feeding program in various departments”.

The 16 dedicated staff members serve department of operations, programs, logistics, administration, and transport — to ensure that children in schools across Malawi receive a daily meal in school.

“As we step into this new year, we would like to take a moment to shine a light on the incredible people who have worked at Mary’s Meals Malawi for many years,” reports Mary’s Meals on its Facebook page.

They are Pius Maliro & Anna Chasweka (serving 17 years each); Hastings Mkandawire & Rainford Chawinga (16); Catherine Mwamlima (15); Esther Phiri (14); Judith Kandunde (13); Dyson Chitowe, Damazio Kumwenda & Patricia Moses (12); Royce Chiwoko, Hannah Sipiliano & Johnson Namauti (11) and 10 years each Lupiya Chandilira, Harrison Matika and Luke Sizalande.

Dyson Chitowe and Harrison Matika are alumni of Jacaranda Foundation and School, whose Director, Luc Dechamps responded to Mary’s Meals Malawi’s post by saying the Foundation is proud of Chitowe and Matika for being part of the dedicated team.

“Well done Mary’s Meals Malawi’s long-serving team, for your dedication and your hard work,” he said.

On her part, Catherine Mwamlima, who is Logistics Officer with 15 years of service, expressed her appreciation, saying: “Why so many years, you might ask? — it’s because I found an organisation that aligns perfectly with the values I was raised with.

“Being part of Mary’s Meals has shaped me and transformed me into the professional I am today. For that, I am deeply grateful.”

When commemorating World Volunteer Day last month, Mary’s Meals focused on Ngabu, Chikwawa, where Felix Kandiado, a dedicated volunteer, has been serving with passion for 5 years.

“Felix, aged 47, lives in Chikwawa’s Chambuluka Village and has played a key role in the success of the Mary’s Meals school feeding program,” reported the organisation.

“As secretary of the School Feeding Committee, he not only keeps track of volunteer rotations but also leads by example, arriving as early as 3am to prepare porridge for learners at Chambuluka Primary School.

Kandiado is quoted as saying: “I decided to volunteer for the school feeding program because there is hunger, especially here in the Shire Valley. We often face flooding, and crops get washed away.

“Most households don’t have enough food, and children rarely have breakfast at home. But with the porridge served at school, children are attracted to come to school.”

Mary’s Meals added that Kandiado’s commitment to volunteering is also driven by his belief in the power of education, further quoting the dedicated volunteer as saying: “Children are the future leaders of our community and our country.

“They need to be equipped with education, and with the support of Mary’s Meals, it’s our responsibility as a community to ensure the porridge is prepared each school day.”

The volunteer is a father of six children, all of whom attend Chambuluka Primary School and benefit from the daily meals provided: “The burden to provide a morning meal for my family has been lessened, and my children never miss school unless they are sick.”

Kandiado encouraged others to take on volunteer roles in the school feeding program, saying: “I encourage other community members to join in and help make a difference.”

Mary’s Meals attests that through passionate volunteers like Kandiado, “the school feeding program continues to thrive in Chikwawa, one of 24 districts in Malawi where Mary’s Meals provides school meals.

“With 49,900 volunteers across the country, we’re able to feed over 1.3 million children every school day. Today, on World Volunteer Day, we salute Felix and all our volunteers for their selfless dedication and hard work.

Meanwhile, Mary’s Meals Malawi Country Director, Angela Chipeta-Khonje, on her visit to Mary’s Meals Glasgow in October, was interviewed by marymeals.org.uk on the impact of the organisation in Malawi. The following is the interview:

Can you tell us about your role?

My role is to make sure the one million children we are feeding in Malawi are receiving their meals every school day. This involves the logistics aspect – monitoring and making sure the volunteers are pitching up to cook the food.

But also engaging with government and connecting with communities, because this is a community programme and we want the communities to own it, so we are working hand in hand with them as well.

All these pieces are connected so the child, who is at the centre, is fed every school day. It’s a big job, but it is fulfilling knowing the children are going to school.

In Malawi, at the moment, we are experiencing severe hunger. Over 6 million people are in need of food assistance. And in such situations, children are the most affected.

Doing this job, we are responding to this need so it is very fulfilling, I must say.

Malawi is facing extreme drought just now. Can you tell us how it is impacting children in the country?

There have been quite a number of climatic shocks that we’ve been experiencing over the years. Last year we had Cyclone Freddy, where more than two million farmers lost their crops.

And this year [2024] we hardly experienced any rains. So that has made a lot of farmers have no crops, a lot of families have no food. And, in turn, a lot of children don’t have food.

Most of the children now, we are seeing them going to school because they know that they’re going to get a meal. But we are not reaching all the children. We are only reaching about 1.1 million, but we have over 2.5 million children that are still in need.

So, as much as we are reaching so many children – there are still so many more that need food.

What other challenges are communities in Malawi facing?

In Malawi, poverty levels are just so high; 90% of people live under US$2.00 a day — it’s heartbreaking. Currency is not stable and that pushes up prices, especially for food.

Food inflation is at 36%, which is one of the highest in the region. There are so many things that Malawians are going through at the moment. Mary’s Meals is a really critical social safety net for the communities.

What impact do you see Mary’s Meals having on children, their families and their communities?

The biggest change is the joy, to be honest. You look at these children – the smiles, the energy. The enrolments increase, you see increase in attendance and progression from one class to the next.

For me, I see that as hope because it will really take these communities out of poverty. [The children] will have an education, they’ll be able to take care of themselves. It is something that I feel is the huge impact that we’re going to see over the years.

I can share an example of one child I met, who has gone through Mary’s Meals and is now a lecturer at university. He is very keen to tell the world: “If it wasn’t for Mary’s Meals, I wouldn’t be here, because it was what was driving me to go to school. My parents were pushing me to go to school because they knew that I’ll be able to have something to eat.”

Is Mary’s Meals changing attitudes towards education in Malawi?

Yes, it is changing attitudes of people towards education – mostly as a country where poverty levels are so high. And government is keen to make sure that more children go to school. What government has done is they’ve made primary schools free, and that has really, really, really helped.

We’re seeing more children going to school. They’re coming in to eat and that to me is something that is also helping to get more people educated. And that will be great in the years to come.

What is your hope for the future for children in Malawi, and what role does Mary’s Meals play in that?

For me, the hope for Mary’s Meals is an investment. We are responding to the immediate hunger but, in the long term, it’s an investment towards human capital development – and that’s what Malawi needs.  

We need an educated population so that all these issues – poverty, climate change, food security – would be responded to by the population that has gone to school.

What is your message for Mary’s Meals supporters in the UK?

I would ask our supporters, please continue to support us. The need in Malawi is so huge, so many children are in need of food.

At this moment, various new programmes are offering hope to so many children, and this is their only way out of poverty. So please continue to support us. There’s so much need out there.

The Mary’s Meals campaign was born in 2002 when its founder Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow visited Malawi during a famine and met a mother dying from AIDS.

What touched MacFarlane-Barrow to found this charity was the response from the mother’s eldest son Edward when MacFarlane-Barrow had asked him what his dreams were in life: “I want to have enough food to eat and to go to school one day.”

The charity had humble beginnings — from a one-off good deed from a shed in the Highlands of Scotland eventually led to a small school feeding programme in Malawi, aiming to bring vital meals to around 200 children in two schools while they learned.

MacFarlane-Barrow — who authored bestselling book ‘The Shed That Fed A Million Children’ — maintains that “serving daily meals in a place of education helps even the most vulnerable children to attend school and concentrate in lessons, giving them the freedom to learn and the chance to fulfil their potential”.