Mary’s Meals –the NGO that feeds two million children worldwide every school day– will finish installing a total of 63 wood-fired kitchens in Zambia in May to feed 12,400 children in 31 schools located in high-poverty areas.
This will be done as part of the project ‘Reducing hunger and improving access to education for 12,400 children in Zambia by installing kitchens in their schools’, which was selected by the Mutua Madrileña Foundation in its XIII Social Action Projects Grants.
Mary’s Meals started working in Zambia in 2014, providing school meals to 20,000 children. Since then, the program has grown and now provides school meals in 11 districts of the country, including Chipangali and nearby Chipata, with high levels of poverty.
According to the NGO, on average, 61% of the Zambian population lives below the poverty line, a percentage that rises to 78% in rural areas like Chipangali, while Chipata, being more urban, suffers from «significant pockets of poverty» in the suburbs surrounding the city.
Currently, Mary’s Meals feeds over 450,000 children in the country with daily meals at schools, made possible, the organization highlights, by the dedication of mothers, fathers, and other community members who, voluntarily and organized in shifts, cook for the children.
«It’s hard work that starts in the early hours of the morning. Volunteers usually arrive at schools before dawn, between 4:00 and 5:00, to start preparations. They must gather firewood, often carry water, and cook in large pots over fires the nutritious porridge called ‘phala’ that the children will eat upon arrival,» explain from the NGO.
Additionally, they emphasize that the cooking process requires strength and coordination, as the mixture of water with the ingredients of the porridge supplied by Mary’s Meals must be constantly stirred for hours to prevent sticking. Smoke and heat add to the challenges, as well as the danger of spills.
Therefore, in an attempt to facilitate the work of these volunteer cooks, and make it «more efficient, safer, and also more environmentally sustainable,» Mary’s Meals Spain presented a project for the acquisition and installation of low-consumption kitchens for schools in the Chipangali and Chipata districts to the XIII Call for Social Action Projects Grants of the Mutua Foundation, within the Cooperation for Development category.
After being selected among the 35 winning projects, they will be able to equip 31 schools in Zambia with 63 brick-built wood-fired kitchens, equipment that will become the property of the local communities, who will manage them directly after training from Mary’s Meals.
As reported by the NGO, the installation of the kitchens began last February and will benefit thousands of children directly, as well as their families and communities. Once the project is completed, presumably in May, these kitchens will continue to be used in the 31 schools to cook the daily meals for the enrolled children.