One girl’s fight for a future free from poverty

Each morning, Thabita’s mum, Labhelani, watches her daughter leave their house and begin the 45-minute walk to school. The landscape is stony; it hasn’t rained properly for a few years, and her daughter is a small figure that wanders across the dry ground.

Thabita suffers from epilepsy, and the thought that she could experience a seizure on the way to or from school is almost too much for Labhelani to bear. If Thabita is hungry, the risk of her suffering a seizure increases, and the reality is that she frequently leaves home without much in her stomach at all. If there is food at home, it’s normally sadza (a firm porridge made from white corn with little nutritional value).

Following years of failed rainy seasons caused in part by the El Niño weather phenomenon, Zimbabwe – the former ‘breadbasket’ of Southern Africa – is now a country where parents, farmers, and elders look to the skies for raindrops that do not come.

Both Thabita’s parents work informally in gold mining. If they find some small flakes of gold, they can sell it to feed their five children. If they don’t, they’ll have no money to put food on the table. 

Thabita, who is a fun and bubbly girl, remains determined to go to school with a particular incentive for her excellent attendance. Every school day, she and her fellow pupils at Sijauke Primary School receive a hot mug of nutritious porridge, provided by Mary’s Meals. The porridge is enriched with the vitamins and nutrients that children need to grow and to learn, and lovingly prepared and served by Mary’s Meals volunteers from Thabita’s community.

In this turbulent environment, Mary’s Meals is a lifeline for young learners and their families: “The porridge has helped Thabita with her education. She’s motivated to go to school because of how much she loves the porridge. “I am keen that she keeps attending school because I know that education can give someone a future.”

Consistent, nutritious meals give Thabita the energy to make the most of her time in school. She says: “I love the porridge because it is delicious. It fills my tummy and then I can read and write better.

“I am motivated to come to school because I want to pass. I want to go to secondary school, and then start working so that I can stay alone in my own house.”

As for Labhelani, her dream for her daughter is something most parents can identify with. She simply says: “I wish for a bright future for my child.”

Thanks to the Mary’s Meals school feeding program – made possible because of the hardworking volunteers in the local community and generous support from the charity’s global movement of supporters – Thabita is one step closer to that.