Scottish Catholic Observer

It Is hard to conceive of a society where education is not considered a priority for all children, especially for those of us living in places such as Scotland, where each child is afforded a place in full-time education from the age of three.

For many poor families in India and parts of Africa, children working to help support their household is not only accepted, it is seen as necessary. However, Scottish-based charity Mary’s Meals is committed to a vision of a world where every child receives one daily meal in a place of education. With your help, we can make that a reality.

In the town of Dasna, around 20 kilometres from some of the wealthiest Delhi suburbs, Reshmi and Angela run makeshift classrooms from people’s houses. Each of the four unofficial learning hubs they run welcomes around 50 children from surrounding slums to attend and learn basic lessons in Hindi and English, including maths and spelling.

Mohammed is one of their formal pupils. He is 19, and left the non-formal education centre two years ago to begin working as a monkey charmer, entertaining tourists. He is very thankful for the basic education he received, and is aware of how much it has helped his working life.

“Now I can speak basic English and count, it helps me every day in my job and I can make more money to support my family,” he said.

But Mohammed remembers a time before Mary’s Meals provided food at the centre, when education was not such a tempting option and attendance was sporadic.

“Before the centres served Mary’s Meals, many children did not come and some days it would be empty,” he explained. “When we did attend, we would be so hungry we couldn’t concentrate and would often leave early, whereas now the centres are full, every day.”

Mary’s Meals currently reaches more than 16,700 children with a daily meal in India, in both official schools and non-formal education centres across 10 of the country’s poorest states.

The non-formal education centres—which have been known to take place in homes, on street corners, under trees and even on railway platforms—are absolutely vital in bringing basic education to low-caste children and slum dwellers who are often excluded from the official school system.

India has a deeply entrenched culture of child labour, and many children become trapped in a never-ending cycle of poverty because they need to go out and work in order to earn enough money to buy food for themselves and their families.

Mohammed’s younger siblings are no different.

When asked how the centres might change this, he said: “Even though many children are exposed to work by their parents, these centres mean that for half the day, five days a week, they are learning.

“The meal encourages them to attend and to stay. I make sure that my younger siblings attend the centre every day, and when I have children, I will send them to school so that one day they can get a better job.”

Our partners in India are noticing a long-term trend towards more families realising the value of education, but there is still some way to go.

Changing attitudes towards education is one of the biggest challenges facing Reshmi and Angela, who admit that there can be problems keeping the attendance levels up. In particular, many families put their daughters to work instead of sending them to school because they feel girls do not need an education.

However, when the teachers notice that some children are not attending, Angela or Reshmi will visit their homes and talk to their families to highlight the important reasons they should send their children to the centres for an education.

Mary’s Meals helps immensely with this, as it provides a strong incentive to families to allow their children to attend, knowing they will be fed during the session.

Mohammed points out that without Mary’s Meals, children would stray away from education and back to work.

“It is a foregone conclusion, if Mary’s Meals did not exist here, many children would not come to the centres and would be working all day, but Mary’s Meals is changing that,” he said.

It takes 15-year-old Tantina an hour and a half to walk to school, which she does on an empty stomach because there is no food at home.

Tantina lives with her elderly grandparents in a very rural area of eastern Zambia, where Mary’s Meals has recently launched a new school feeding programme, reaching 20,000 hungry children with a daily meal.

“Food is a problem for us,” she said. “Sometimes, after school, I help my family farm for maize or groundnuts, to give us a bit of money.”

The fact that her family is poor means that there’s pressure on Tantina to marry.

“A dowry in the form of a cow could be paid to my family, if I’m married off,” she said.

But the importance of education is not lost on this bright, young woman. She is determined to make the most of her education and try to improve the system for those who come after her.

“I hope one day I can become a teacher, so I can teach others the benefits of receiving an education,” she said.

It takes time for attitudes to change, but slowly, Mary’s Meals is enabling children who would previously be locked out of education to gain vital skills and carve out a better place for themselves in society. In time, this demonstrates to parents, guardians, and the community that education is important and should be encouraged.

It costs just £12.20 to feed a child with Mary’s Meals for a whole school year. Please help make a difference to many other children waiting for Mary’s Meals by supporting our Scottish Catholic Observer Advent appeal.

—Mary’s Meals provides life-changing meals to some of the world’s poorest children every school day.

The Scottish-based charity provides one good meal in a place of learning, drawing children into the classroom where they can receive an education that could one day free them from poverty.

Mary’s Meals is named after Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty.

The charity’s vision is that every child receives a daily meal in their place of education.

It currently feeds 923,572 children each school day in 13 different impoverished countries around the world.

For more information, please visit www.marysmeals.org.uk