00:00 I'm Charlotte Lam here in Oviedo, Spain for the 2023 Princess of Asturias Awards.
00:07 Today we're talking to the winners of the Concord category, Mary's Meals, a non-profit
00:12 organisation based in the small Scottish town of Dalmali, but its founder's big heart means
00:18 it has an even bigger reach.
00:21 Mary's Meals' main objective is to provide daily meals for school children.
00:25 It operates in 18 of the world's poorest countries.
00:34 Joining me now are two of Mary's Meals' Africa directors, Amina Idi-Sweety from Kenya and
00:40 Panji Chipson Kajani from Zambia.
00:43 First of all, congratulations guys and thank you for coming on the program.
00:47 How does it feel to be recognised with such a prestigious award here in Spain?
00:52 I would start by saying that as Mary's Meals we feel very honoured and we are humbled to
00:59 be recognised for the Concord Award.
01:04 We don't take it for granted.
01:06 It's because of all the support that we get from all over the world from different types
01:12 of people.
01:13 Just to add on what Panji has said, I am also excited.
01:18 The award Concord means bringing people together and when you look at our model as Mary's Meals
01:23 we work with communities and volunteers.
01:26 So I am so excited because it's aligned to even the name Concord.
01:30 I'm glad to be here.
01:32 Now the origins of Mary's Meals is quite remarkable with CEO Magnus McFarlane-Barrow moved by
01:39 what he saw happening in Bosnia in the 90s.
01:41 So he and his brother collected aid and then hand delivered that.
01:45 I want to know what your story is.
01:47 What brought you to Mary's and why you work in this mission?
01:50 So Mary's Meals has a very clear vision which is to provide one meal at a place of education.
01:58 Normally when I'm asked that question I always turn it the other way around and say what
02:02 has made me stay for all this while?
02:04 We are working at the moment in Kenya in Trukana.
02:07 It is a place that has been marginalised for many years.
02:10 I've been able to see the impact in real time since 2018 when we started in that particular
02:15 region to now.
02:16 So I'm really honoured to be in Mary's Meals.
02:19 And you Pandji?
02:21 By training I'm an educator.
02:24 So I get inspired always when there are interventions that want to bring education to the children.
02:33 I am also a Malawian by origin and Mary's Meals school feeding started in Malawi and
02:40 I saw the benefits first hand.
02:44 And this is one of the few interventions in the world whose results can be seen almost
02:51 instantly and that has kept me going for the past 12 years.
02:56 Well speaking of results, the awards ceremony here has recognised you for an innovative
03:03 and effective operating model that allows for optimal use of resources.
03:07 So can you talk me through this non-profits model and how it's different to some others?
03:13 We pride ourselves in anchoring everything we do in community participation which in
03:18 turn turns out to community ownership.
03:20 I would like to state a good example of the recent year of 2020 when COVID happened.
03:27 All the schools had been locked down, right?
03:29 And so we work in very marginalised communities where we knew that when we come back after
03:35 COVID we will come back to a dead community, right?
03:38 So we were a bit conflicted on how we could be able to go forward.
03:42 So what happened is we partnered with the community who are the ones who came up with
03:46 a model to allow us to continue feed when the children were at home.
03:50 Well that actually brings me to my next question, Panji.
03:52 It's been a tough couple of years globally and we know there is cost of living has increased
03:59 and there's a rise in inflation.
04:00 So I want to ask you, given the events of the world from the pandemic to the war in
04:04 Ukraine, how has that changed or impacted the mission of Mary's Meals?
04:10 Fortunately, because of the low cost model that we use and the good stewardship that
04:19 we apply to all the resources that we get, even though there has been this turbulence
04:24 in the global economy, people have still trusted us.
04:28 And because they've still trusted us, they still come forward with these little gifts.
04:32 And when we aggregate them, we're still able to keep the promise to the children.
04:36 So we are so grateful to people from all over the world for still trusting us, even with
04:42 the turbulence in the economy globally.
04:45 But the plight of food insecurity is increasing around the world.
04:48 And even as we speak, there's a humanitarian crisis unfolding in the Middle East.
04:52 So I want to know about the future of Mary's Meals.
04:55 Right now in this space that we're in, I'm glad you mentioned that, you know, there's
04:59 crisis inflation that is happening.
05:01 Our first priority as Mary's Meals is to keep the promise to the children we currently feed.
05:05 So we try and do that as much as possible.
05:08 So for example, for this year, we've experienced high inflation in food.
05:13 But our focus has been to keep the promise to these children, right?
05:18 Our focus, of course, is to also grow.
05:20 But our first priority is to keep promise to these children that you currently feed
05:24 at the moment.
05:25 Yeah.
05:26 So just to add on what Amina has said, Mary's Meals is a needs forecast program.
05:33 We recognize that there are a lot of children that are in need of food out there.
05:40 And because of that, we have to have a robust way of targeting so that we can reach the
05:47 most vulnerable.
05:49 And we believe at the moment we are reaching the most vulnerable.
05:53 And because we want to reach the most vulnerable, we are continuously assessing and reassessing
06:00 so that if there are opportunities and if there are resources, indeed, we should reach
06:06 those that are in need, like the situation we are talking about in Gaza.
06:11 But we do not have immediate plans to go there now.
06:15 But we are monitoring the situation very, very closely.
06:19 And probably my last question is with global issues like world hunger, there can be fatigue
06:25 among those who aren't directly impacted.
06:28 They know it exists, but it's not necessarily in their sphere.
06:31 So how does Mary's Meals and how do you both individually keep it at the forefront of the
06:36 wider public's mind?
06:37 Our fundraising structure focuses mostly on the grassroot people, so individual donors
06:43 like you and I.
06:44 And we've seen sustainability in that as opposed to focusing mostly on institutional donors
06:50 and all that.
06:51 We've seen that they get fatigued pretty quickly.
06:55 We've seen that our model of fundraising really sees to it that we can be able to continue
07:00 to inspire.
07:01 And there's limited donor fatigue when you look at it that way.
07:04 The journey that starts with one step but can end up with thousands of miles.
07:11 So what we desire is that we share the story, the story of joy, the story of joy that comes
07:22 with school feeding.
07:24 We believe that school feeding or feeding plus education is equal to hope.
07:31 And when we share that story, we create disciples like yourself and you go create disciples
07:38 like us.
07:39 And by continuously doing that, we are reinvigorating each other now and again to deal with the
07:46 problem of fatigue.
07:48 And what a note to end on.
07:49 Mary's Meals Africa directors Amina Iddi-Sweety and Panji Chipson-Kajani.
07:54 Thank you so much and congratulations once again.
07:56 Thanks for joining me on Euronews.
07:57 Thank you for having us.
07:58 Thanks for having us.
