ARGYLL food aid charity Mary’s Meals is switching from school to home meals to help the world’s poorest children through the pandemic.
The Dalmally organisation provides daily porridge-style meals for almost 1.7 million children at schools in 19 countries to help them access education and nutrition. It will now distribute food in villages in Kenya, Malawi and Zambia to keep families fed after coronavirus control measures forced schools to close. New approaches have also been agreed for India and Haiti, with “urgent discussions” underway in other countries to find safe ways of feeding children during the crisis.
A UN report published last week warns 265 million people will face acute food insecurity by the end of the year – double the 2019 level. Many of the countries to be worst hit are already receiving Mary’s Meals aid.
Daniel Adams, the charity’s UK executive director, said: “The coronavirus crisis presents extraordinarily difficult circumstances, but we are determined to keep our promise to the children who rely on Mary’s Meals. We have a long history of feeding children in the world’s most challenging environments. This has included delivering much-needed food during the time of the Ebola virus in Liberia and emergency feeding during famine in
East Africa.”
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