It's Hard to Learn When You're Hungry!

Thanks to technology, the Hands Around The World team have been able to keep in regular and frequent contact with their partners at Pizz School in Monze, despite the fact that it has been impossible to travel to Africa for some time. My last visit to the town was in 2017, but some images remain clear in my memory.

Each day at the school a team of volunteers prepare a simple meal for the children, maize porridge fortified with peanuts or vegetables if available. The children line up holding bowls, waiting for the longed for food. It is a very good feeling to be given something to eat when you are hungry ans so much of the delight seen on the faces of the children is about the comfort of a full stomach, but that's not the whole story. Even more important is the certainty of a daily meal. Poverty means having few choices and little certainty, many of these children have spent most of their lives living with uncertainty, less a question of wondering where the next meal might come from and more the worry about whether there would be another meal at all. This is why it has mattered so much to continue a feeding programme throughout the school closures, if we don't feed these children then it is entirely possible that no one will and they will go to bed hungry.

Hands Around The World want to say a big 'thank you' to those people who faithfully and regularly donate to this cause because thanks to you the children at Pizz School are not only better able to learn, but they are also able to feel secure in the knowledge that when they are hungry, food will come. It's hard to learn when you're hungry, but it's also hard to feel safe when you live with uncertainty.