UK charity Mary’s Meals launches new campaign and calls for urgent support as South Sudan food crisis deepens

UK-BASED charity Mary’s Meals have launched an emergency campaign calling for help to reach starving children in war-torn South Sudan.

With fighting forcing families from their homes and destroying schools, 6.3 million people are facing a hunger crisis.

The charity is one of the few organisations providing reliable and consistent food delivery to schools in the country, providing one daily meal in a place of learning in order to attract chronically poor children into the classroom.

More children are turning to Mary’s Meals for help having fled from certain parts of the country.

With one in three schools in South Sudan destroyed or forced to close since the conflict broke out, 72 per cent of primary school-age children are missing out on an education, which is the highest rate in the world.

Enrolment at schools serving Mary’s Meals is increasing, but they are appealing for support to ensure it can keep its promise to the children who already depend on its school feeding programme, and as funds allow, expand to reach even more.

As the charity launches its Crisis In South Sudan appeal, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, global chief executive and founder of Mary’s Meals, said: “The plight of children in South Sudan is truly heartbreaking.

“For them, the promise of a daily school meal has never been more important.

“We are determined to keep our promise to the 1,257,278 children around the world who rely on Mary’s Meals. With more hungry children arriving at schools in South Sudan each day, we also need help to meet the growing demand there.

“I want to thank with all my heart those who are supporting our mission at this time of great need. Together, we can save lives and bring hope to innocent children caught up in terrible crisis.”

“There is a lot of hunger and people are just eating leaves from trees. Mary’s Meals’ feeding programme is helping us a lot. For these children, there is no other source of food.”

Visit marysmeals.org.uk^[1] to donate or to find out more about how Mary’s Meals is helping children living in some of South Sudan’s most vulnerable and chronically food-insecure areas.

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References

1. ^{^} marysmeals.org.uk (marysmeals.org.uk)
2. ^{^} This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. (www.bing.com)