Mission
First of all, we aim to relieve the children of worrying about their next meal because they can have dinner at the One Meal Project every day. But ultimately, we want to create a long-term impact on the children´s lives by sending them to school. Enrolling them in school as orphans could become very challenging, this is why we perfect the food part first to offer regular and tasty dinners.
The challenge
Many children here in Songwe don't have any parents or someone who takes care of them having food every day or even going to school. As a result, they live on the streets and spend most of their day searching for food in people´s trash or on garbage dumps. To secure some food or money to buy it, they are forced into stealing from market stands and shops which earns them distrust from the local community. In the night they can sometimes overnight at a friends house, or they have to sleep on the street. Given this, they just don't have the time to attend school, and without any proper education, they can't find a job which will again lead to a struggle for food and stealing. It´s a vicious cycle.
The solution: Food
Food creates opportunities; this is our credo. By offering food to the street children on a regular basis, we can break the vicious cycle efficiently. Therefore we already set up a food plan which makes sure the kids get all the nutrients they need. We come together with all children during the evening to cook food together, while waiting for the food, they will play some games together and have fun. Why dinner? Because it is colder than during daytime and we have more time to cook than in the morning. To be honest with you, our cooking skills are still mediocre, but we are striving to perfect them with time.
Effectiveness of your donation
With the local price level being very low, foreign currencies like USD or EUR have an extreme high purchasing power. This allows us to cook one delicious meal for one child for only 30 cents. In effect, with 3$ we can prepare dinner for ten children. Other investments like chicken or coal are also very reasonably priced. This way we make sure to get the most out of every cent donated to us.