By: Joni Boyd
Maria fled to Uganda to escape the war in South Sudan, running with her parents and siblings to escape the shooting.
She says she was one of the lucky ones who made it out with her life. Her friend did not.
“We were the same age,” the 15-year-old told the Feed The Hungry team. “When she was trying to move… war was there. She died in that war.”
There was no war in the Ugandan refugee settlements but here they faced a dangerous new enemy: hunger. A second meal per day was a luxury. There were many days when she ate nothing at all.
Despite her empty stomach, Maria walked to school every day and did her best to concentrate in class. She knew that education held the key to building a new future.
“I never went to school in South Sudan,” she said. “Now I enjoy study, because when I came to Uganda, they taught me how to speak English and how to write.”
Then, one day, it became much easier to concentrate in class – and her love for school grew even greater.
Maria became one of the thousands of hungry refugee children to receive a hot, nutritious meal each day at her school through Feed The Hungry.
Donate $6 today to feed a child for month.
You can help feed a child, like Maria today. Your gift of just $6 on Take Away Hunger Day will feed a hungry child at school for a whole month. More than a meal, you’ll be helping provide children with an education and the opportunity to know God’s love.
A nutritious lunch at school changes everything for Maria. She explained the difference between hunger and a hot meal in her life, saying:
“When I feel hungry, I don’t talk to anyone because I have no energy to talk. I am very weak. Even what the teacher was saying, I could not understand because I was very hungry.
“But when I eat, I’ll be okay. I will be telling answers to the teacher because I’m very strong now. I will be talking with my friends, playing games or other things.”
Her classmates chatter excitedly about their ambitions to become teachers or pilots, nurses or military officers. Maria proudly declares that she is aiming to become a doctor.
“I would like to be a doctor in the future,” she said. “When I finish at primary school, I will go to secondary and then college. The reason why I want to be a doctor is because I want to save other people’s lives.”
She is eagerly soaking up her lessons, and the greatest one of all is that her life matters.
Maria is learning that she is loved – by God, by her family, by her teachers, and by an international community that is generously helping her to learn the skills she needs to thrive.
For just $6 today, you provide enough meals to feed a refugee child for a whole month, for children like Maria.
Join us for Take Away Hunger Day on Thursday 22 August in a national effort to provide nutritious rice meals to refugee children in Uganda.
Donate $6 today to feed a child for month.
Article supplied with thanks to Hope Media.
All images supplied by Feed The Hungry and used with permission.
About the Author: Joni Boyd is a writer, based in the Hawkesbury Region of NSW. She is passionate about the power of stories shared, to transform lives.