Your kindness makes impossibly beautiful things happen.

Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow
Mary's Meals founder and CEO

Back to all stories | Posted on 29 December 17 in Update from Magnus

On our journey in recent weeks, we seem to be passing one amazing landmark after another.  

We’ve celebrated 25 years since our first little delivery of aid during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, our billionth meal was served in India, and we recently began feeding children in Ethiopia – the 15th country to receive Mary’s Meals.

Amid these triumphs, one moved me more than all others – the achievement of a fourteen-year-old girl.  

I wrote about Yamikani last year, after meeting her during the worst of the Malawi food crisis. An orphan, she was trying to care for her two young brothers in a remote village. They survived by scavenging in neighbours’ fields and knocking fruit from a nearby tree.   

It was a desperate situation. Their only hope was the daily serving of Mary’s Meals at their local primary school.   

Last week, I learnt that – because of her remarkable exam results – Yamikani has been offered a rare, precious place at secondary school. For the first time, a pathway out of poverty has opened up for her.  

This is a staggering achievement by a young girl caring for her little brothers. I know without the meals you have been giving her, it would not have been possible.   

And that is the common thread linking all these feats – our first meals served in Ethiopia, that billionth meal eaten in India, or Yamikani’s achievement in Malawi – each one is a fruit of your generosity.   

Thank you. Your kindness makes impossibly beautiful things happen.