Tag: school lunches

World Food Day 2023

Sarah’s blog 16/10/23

Today is World Food Day. What does that mean? It will mean different things depending where you live in the world. For most, it will be just another day….if you have plenty of food, you might not even be aware of World Food Day. If you are hungry and do not have enough to feed your family, you may be working hard all the daylight hours you can to try to make a small amount of money.

The vulnerable children and families we support in rural northern Malawi fall into the second category. There are children with stunted growth due to lack of food and nutrition, most are suffering from malnutrition, most don’t eat properly every day. These children deserve more. They deserve our help.

As yet, there are no charities feeding children in schools in this area. Children are hungry when trying to sleep. Children are hungry when trying to study. How can we expect them to concentrate and retain information?

Children and young people miss chunks of school to try to earn a pittance to buy food. Children are walking 15km to the nearest maize mill, with someone else’s maize, with no food or water, risking attack along the way.

We send money to feed 500 children once a week. It’s not enough but it’s all we have funds for. Food prices are constantly on the rise. Children are walking up to 20km for this one nutritious meal of the week.

We need help to feed these children in the short term, and we also need help to feed them through sustainable means. Crops are being grown to supplement buying food, however it’s not enough. Fruit tree saplings have been planted to provide future food and a future income. However, it’s not enough. Hens eggs are being hatched in the incubator but this is taking time to build up the flock.

The end goal has always been sustainability for this community but, with food prices going up and up we need help, feeding so many children. Please help us?

Soon the rainy season will start and this is the perfect time to plant more saplings. Can you help us buy more fruit tree saplings to plant in the orchard to provide food security in years to come? Can you help us to buy banana tubers? And more sweet potato vines? contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com

Or could you commit to £5/£10 p/m to help pay for more food at the feeding programme/school lunches? Or to sponsor a teenager’s education at Bright Futures Secondary School it’s £25 p/m which includes a nutritious cooked lunch each day.

Our bank details are; Bank of Scotland, Changing Lives Malawi, a/c 21081462, s/c 80-22-60. Your help would be very much appreciated as we help support this community towards a brighter future where all children have food to eat every day.

We keep the Sustainable Development Goals in mind for all the projects we help to support. However, just related to food in this project we are aiming for all these Sustainable Development Goals; #SDG1 – no poverty, #SDG2 – zero hunger, #SDG3 – good health & wellbeing, #SDG4 – clean water & sanitation, #SDG10 – reduced inequalities, #SDG11 – sustainable communities, #SDG13 – climate action. Please be part of the team that helps these vulnerable children towards a brighter, sustainable future? Thanks, Sarah x

Maria was in real danger of being married at age 11 as her grandparents could not feed her. We found her a sponsor and now she is thriving. Could you sponsor a young person like Maria?
Students at Bright Futures Secondary School planting sweet potato vines as part of their Agricultural Classes… could you commit to £5/£10 per month to provide food security?
one of the lemon tree saplings that was planted two years ago and is growing well…can you help provide more fruit tree saplings please?
Children at the weekly feeding programme. Could you commit £5/£10 p/m to support food security please
These two older siblings carried their one year old twin siblings a long way to the feeding programme so they could all have nutritious food. Their parents are peasant farmers and, despite working very hard, cannot earn enough to feed their family. Can you help us either by sponsoring one of the older children for £25 p/m or by helping support the feeding programme for £5/£10 per month?

School Lunches at Bright Futures Secondary School

Sarah’s blog 10/11/22

It’s nearly the end of the first week at Bright Futures Secondary School and things are going well. We still need to raise more money for desks and also more textbooks but some of the most vulnerable young people in Ibuluma are being educated and are having lunch at school too. This is a huge achievement for Levison and his team. Most of the young people are slightly older than they would be in UK or other countries as they have had to drop out of school to help earn a pittance to feed themselves. Life has been desperate for them all. Things are now changing.

First Day of Bright Futures Secondary School 07/11/22 – Changing Lives Malawi

These young people would not normally get the chance to go to secondary school because of the costs involve and also there were not enough places in the nearest secondary schools. So, even if you had a sponsor to pay your fees and you’d passed your primary school leavers exams, if you aren’t picked for a place at secondary school then you don’t go. This happened to 11 of our sponsored children last year which was heart breaking for them. This spurred us on to fundraise for Bright Futures Secondary School.

Because it is such a huge project to build a school and because we are operating on a shoestring, we are fundraising to build Bright Futures Secondary School in phases. We could not do this without the help of our wonderful supporters. We are very grateful to you all. We always say it is about teamwork. We all have a part to play in the team around these vulnerable children. Thanks to those who have donated, these young people have a school in their village, have a chance to have a good education, be fed a school lunch every day and have the chance of a brighter future. Thank you if you have been a part of making that happen. Thank you if you have been a part of changing their lives.

We are still fundraising for desks and more textbooks and then, after that, we will start fundraising for phase 2 of the school so that more vulnerable young people have the future they deserve. If you would like to help, then please donate here https://gofund.me/44a92444 or you can email for bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Can you help with buying a desk? Or buying a textbook? Can you make a donation towards phase 2 of the school? We are also looking for people to make a monthly commitment towards feeding these young people. If we have several people all donating a small amount each month of £5 or £10 then this will ensure there is enough food for school lunches every day of the week.

The photos show the young people having their lunch at school today. They are eating nsima (ground maize), beans and vegetables. Now we know these children are having a substantial and nutritious meal in school every day. Being fed in school is also an incentive to be there every day. If you are able to support school lunches at Bright Futures Secondary school and either give a one-off donation or commit to a monthly amount, please contact me for bank details contact_us@changinglivesmalawi.com Thank you for reading and supporting, Sarah x

Some of the young people arriving at school for 7am start