Queen awards Ebola Medal to Mary’s Meals’ country director in Liberia

The medal, awarded by Her Majesty The Queen, recognises UK citizens involved in the response to the Ebola crisis in West Africa.

Nic and the Mary’s Meals team in Liberia continued their work throughout the outbreak, choosing to stay and work with communities despite risks to their own health.

Nic said: “I feel very honoured to accept the Ebola Medal on behalf of our entire Liberia team. Many families have told our staff and volunteers that, although they have lived through a devastating and terrible civil war, the impact of Ebola was even more terrifying.

“When Ebola hit the communities we were working with, my colleagues were given the option to stand down but they chose to stay and be with their people in what was a time of real difficulty. They should be very proud of that.

“Ever since joining Mary’s Meals Liberia, I’ve been so impressed by their commitment and the medal is really well deserved in recognition of their bravery.”

All normal school feeding in the country ceased in August 2014, as schools were closed as a result of the National State of Emergency – in an effort to prevent further spread of infection. During the closures, Mary’s Meals’ staff and volunteers made use of existing relationships in communities to provide emergency take-home rations for up to 100,000 children, relieving some of the increased food insecurity caused by the virus in rural areas.

Since then, Mary’s Meals has been able to resume school feeding to reach even more children than before the Ebola crisis, thanks to the help of local communities and our many supporters around the world.

The Ebola virus had a wide-reaching negative impact on Liberia’s children affecting nutrition, household income, play and learning. After such extreme trauma, Mary’s Meals is able to provide a stable presence in the country for the long term and help get life back to normal for children

In Liberia, many of the schools in which we are based are in remote and hard-to-reach locations, deep in the bush and only accessible by dirt roads. For those communities, Mary’s Meals offers a life-line through our school feeding programme.

On behalf of the whole Mary’s Meals family, we want to say a huge THANK YOU to Nic and the team for their outstanding courage and commitment.