Expansion in Tigray: A Thank You From Our Founder

In different circumstances we might, as a Mary’s Meals family, feel quite proud of some recent achievements. For example, earlier this year we ran an appeal for children suffering in Tigray, Ethiopia. Witnessing a truly appalling humanitarian catastrophe – one that is already taking lives by starvation and robbing children of their futures by preventing school attendance – we wanted to expand our school feeding program as quickly as possible. 

Your response was yet again overwhelming and beautiful. Each gift made toward that appeal is already making a tangible difference in children’s lives, having enabled us to grow our program very rapidly. Instead of providing 24,000 children in Tigray with daily meals – as we were previously – we are now reaching more than 110,000! 

This remarkable growth has been achieved under hugely challenging circumstances, following a war that took an estimated 600,000 lives, has left nearly a million people displaced, and shattered all sorts of infrastructure. In the aftermath, an ongoing drought means that farming cannot resume at scale. And yet despite all this, through your amazing support and the dedication of our teams (especially our partner in Tigray), Mary’s Meals has found a way to go forward. 

Schools on the verge of closure have new life. Hope is being reborn in the form of smiling children filling school classrooms. Lives are being saved. Dreams of a better day are once again alive. 

Mary’s Meals works! Even in the most challenging situations, your donations become simple school meals that transform everything – and not just in Tigray.

Recently we began providing Mary’s Meals in Mozambique for the first time – a country prone to extreme weather where people are suffering terrible hunger. One community leader told us: “This program couldn’t have come at a better time. There is nothing in the fields, and with the lean season upon us, I don’t know what would have happened.” 

So yes, there are reasons to be proud. But can we really feel proud when we still see neighboring schools with empty classrooms crying out for Mary’s Meals to reach them, whilst outside emaciated children beg to survive? Of course not. 

But we can take satisfaction from a job well done and be greatly reassured that every action in support of Mary’s Meals really does have a life-changing impact on children living in poverty. And we can use this as fuel to go forward to reach the next child waiting.

As we do, on behalf of every child who is receiving our meals and has new hope for the future, I thank you with all my heart.