The hope of a better life

The last few years have devastated Alesi’s family. Already struggling with poverty and a lack of food, floods swept through their village, Nyambi, in rural southern Malawi and washed away their home. It left them with nothing – only hunger.

“Hunger will not leave our home. I fear that my children will not have a good education or a good future because hunger is not leaving my home,” Alesi says. Malawi’s volatile climate and rising costs mean that they – and many other families in the area – are no longer able to harvest their land, a key source of their food and income.

She adds: “We have hunger in the community because fertilizer is now very expensive. We can’t afford it and because of that the maize we have in the field may only produce two bags.”

Alesi, her seven children and her husband, are sitting outside the small outbuilding that acts as their temporary home. They are joined by grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins. While there is a familiarity and warmth among them, the absence of laughter, play, noise and fun, especially from children, fills the air. They are lethargic and tired. Hunger is written on their faces and bodies and visible in their movement.

Difficult times

Their food crisis is evident everywhere you look. Land that should be producing maize is bare, parched, and dusty. The family are shelling and eating the few bits of dried out maize they have managed to salvage. This is the only food they have.

It wasn’t always like this, Alesi explains: “It’s been a very long time since we had a good harvest. A lot of years have passed. We used to harvest 18 bags of maize that would take us from the harvest season to January of the next year.”

This year produced just two bags, which will not last them beyond May. She doesn’t know how the family will manage once the maize runs out.

“I honestly have no response to that question. I don’t have any budget or support. I just know it means that hunger is at our doorstep again. Maybe I can find piece work and that can help me to buy two cups of maize every now and then."

A mother's strength

Despite the hardship, Alesi’s beautiful, warm smile lights up her face. She is the strength for her family, particularly her sons, daughters, nieces and nephews. They seek her out for hugs and to sit on her knee, and she hides the pain she feels for them.

“Hunger is a big problem for my children because sometimes they go to bed without eating, and they also miss school when they feel like they cannot manage to go because they haven’t eaten Sometimes when I find piece work, I need them to help me so we can make more money, and I have no choice but to make them miss school.

“It makes me unhappy to see my children like this because food is important. Nobody wants to feel hungry. When there isn’t enough for all of us, it makes me unhappy that my children are not eating.”

Ismayila, one her sons, attends the local primary, Namingwere. “There are no days when I eat breakfast before school,” he explains. “I just go to school, and I never eat, so when I’m there I’m hungry. I don’t learn very well and whatever the teacher tells me I don’t understand. I feel hungry, dizzy and I can’t concentrate.”

The arrival of hope

But this small, isolated community now has a lifeline – the arrival of Mary’s Meals at Namingwere Primary and the promise that its pupils, including Ismayila and his siblings, are now enjoying a daily school meal while they learn. This year we are feeding an additional 175,000 children in Malawi as part of our expansion that has seen our school feeding programme reach over 3 million children globally.

“I’m so happy because the school feeding program will help our children to eat and go to class. We hope that this will help them to learn better,” Alesi explains. “As a parent, it means we will only have to worry about hunger at home, not at school.

“Education is important because if, by the grace of God, they finish their education, they will get good jobs, and maybe they can even help their parents to have a better life.”

Just $31.70 CAD provides a child with daily meals for an entire school year. Mary’s Meals is now reaching more than 3 million children with a nutritious daily meal in their place of education. While we're proud of this milestone, there are millions more children who are still hungry and out of school. Join us in the fight to end to child hunger