In the heart of drought-stricken rural Zimbabwe, crops have withered and livelihoods have vanished – but a school is emerging as a beacon of hope. At Dromoland Primary School, nestled in a region hard-hit by a five-year drought, a simple bowl of porridge is transforming lives and the community.
For the 279 children – 154 girls and 125 boys – that daily sustenance provided by the Mary’s Meals programme is often the only guaranteed food they receive. In a community grappling with hunger, food insecurity, loss of income, and the lure of dangerous gold mining, its feeding scheme has become a vital lifeline. It is also changing more than just attendance figures – it’s giving families reason to hope.
Deputy head teacher Thandiwe Mpofu, 53, said: “We no longer have learners fainting during
lessons. Children are no longer stealing food from each other’s lunchboxes. Now absenteeism has decreased, dropouts have returned and our pass rate is improving.
“Enrolment grows almost every week. We are even welcoming children as young as three years old.
“You can see it when they come out to play. They are healthy and in a jovial mood. Their whole outlook has changed.”
Nkosizwile Nyoni, 12, transferred to Dromoland when the programme began so he could receive at least one meal each day.
But he had to leave his mother and baby sister behind. And though closer to the school, his new home is still 11 miles away.
He said: “Life is tough. I lost my father to TB. My mum works in a shop in another village. She visits sometimes, but I live with my grandfather. I leave home at 6am and it takes me two hours to get to school and two hours back. The school lets me leave early so I’m not walking in the dark.”
Nkosizwile begins each day on an empty stomach. His first food is the porridge served at 10.30am in the school break. Sometimes it is the only meal he’ll eat all day.
However, despite the hardship, he dreams of being a pilot, plays for the school football team and has found friends like Lecious Nyoni, 13, a bright, talkative boy who loves maths and hopes to become a lawyer.
Lecious said: “Because of Mary’s Meals we enjoy coming to school. Before, many children stayed home because they had nothing to eat. Some would faint in class.
“Now we are happy to come and the classrooms feel friendlier because we all know we’ll have something to eat at break time.”
The daily porridge, cooked over open fires in large pots behind the school, not only fills empty stomachs but is encouraging education and strengthening the community’s resilience.
Amid their own struggles, parents and guardians volunteer to fetch firewood and water. Others
prepare and serve the meals.
The drought, worsened by repeated climate shocks since 2021, has devastated subsistence farming – once the community’s main source of income. Many men have turned to small-scale gold mining, often working in unsafe, exploitative conditions.
Lungisani Nyathi, 39, who
volunteers as a security guard for the village borehole, lives with his wife and children aged four, 10, 12, and 10 months in a makeshift shelter near the pump.
The role is unpaid, but it offers Lungisani a small plot of land to live on and he sees the school feeding programme as a blessing.
He said: “It motivates the
children to attend school. It’s reduced my burden, because often the only other meal they get is in the evening.
“As a father, it’s difficult not being able to provide. I used to work in a registered mine but the pay was inconsistent.
“If you don’t find gold, you don’t earn anything. The conditions are harsh. The mine owner takes most of what you find. Once I earned $100, but the next two times, I got nothing. I stopped.”
He worries deeply for his son’s future, saying: “If things don’t change, he may have no option but to go into mining too.
“That’s why education is so important.”
Fellow volunteer Ollitah Mjonono, 32, has three daughters and her husband works as a miner, “but we never know if we’ll get anything”.
She said: “Farming is no longer possible here. The land is dry, and we can’t grow crops. Still, I enjoy cooking for the school. I meet other women, we chat, we laugh.
“It gives me something to look forward to.”
Unusually, one of the kitchen volunteers is a man, Gilbert Ndlovu, 38. His two eldest children, aged seven and nine, attend Dromoland Primary; his youngest is just eight months.
Gilbert said: “It’s hard to find work here. Most people end up in illegal mining, but it’s dangerous.
“I tried it once. A man I worked with died in an accident. I stopped after that.
“People talk about going to South Africa for work, but I’ve heard too many stories. People being gunned down like animals. I’ve never considered it.”
Gilbert is determined to keep his children in school. He said: “That’s their only chance. Maybe they won’t have to make the same choices we did.”
Mary’s Meals has been serving school meals in Zimbabwe since 2018 and is currently reaching more than 50,000 children in 171 schools with their local partner, Organisation of Rural Associations for Progress, and the Zimbabwean government.
● You can feed a hungry child through Mary’s Meals every day for a whole school year for as
little as £19.15. Donate at
marysmeals.org.uk