Lunch: One  reason to stay in school

 

patrick is 5yrs old. His mother, marguerite, has no money for food, medicine, or clothes.
“If we are lucky, we eat. If we are not lucky, we go to bed hungry,” marguerite explains.

‘I can worry about less mouths to feed’

marguerite’s despair turned to relief when some of her children began receiving lunch through a school feeding project, supported by Preventive Health Strategies.
“It helps that my children get rice school; then I can worry about less mouths to feed. Also, I know that they will not starve,” she says.
patrick doesn’t miss a day of school at leveque, where he attends. “I love the rice, because it gives me the energy to stay and study in class,” he says. “When I eat at school, even if there is no food back home, I can last until the next day.”

 

School: More than a learning center

Many children are flocking to these schools in order to get their only meal of the day: beans and  rice.
“School is more than just a learning center — it is a feeding center,” explains pastor batol, pricinpal of Elementary School.
“If they did not have this…they would not have the energy to stay in class and learn,” he says. “If we stopped feeding the children with this nutritious rice, you will not find them in school.”

For Patrick and his cousin, school is food and a future. “I come to school to learn so that one day I can become a teacher,” he says.