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Marita Wyson is a 14-year-old orphan from Malawi. She used to miss school regularly because she was too hungry to concentrate in class or was working to earn money to buy food for her frail grandmother and younger sister.

Marita said: Â鶹APPœWhen you feel hungry, it can be difficult just to stand up in the morning.Â鶹APP� 

But now she is going to school at Chirimba in the countryÂ鶹APP™s Machinga district and is feeling stronger Â鶹APP“ thanks to the global charity .

The Scottish-based organisation began by feeding just 200 children in Malawi in 2002. Today is has announced it is now providing one million of the worldÂ鶹APP™s poorest children with a nutritious meal every day they attend school Â鶹APP“ keeping them in education and helping them to escape poverty in the future.

We are thrilled to announce that MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals is now feeding ONE MILLION children every school day!

Â鶹APP” MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals (@MarysMeals)

MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals works in 12 countries across four continents, setting up community-run school feeding programmes. It encourages children Â鶹APP“ who may otherwise be forced to work, beg or forage for food Â鶹APP“ to go to school, where they can receive a nutritious meal that helps them to concentrate on their studies.

In Malawi, where the expansion of the programme enabled it to reach the million mark, celebrations are being held at Chirimba Primary School, one of the latest schools to benefit from the generosity of MaryÂ鶹APP™s MealsÂ鶹APP™ supporters.

Marita lives with her grandmother Doris and sister Maria. After the childrenÂ鶹APP™s mother died in childbirth a few years ago, Doris found it increasingly difficult to provide for them.

But MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals is now helping Marita Â鶹APP“ one of 1,035,637 children being fed daily in countries that also include Liberia, Kenya, Zambia, Haiti and India. In Malawi, enrolment at schools in the MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals programme rises by an average 24% in the first six months.

Marita said: Â鶹APPœWe are so happy to be receiving this food in school. The phala [the vitamin-enriched maize porridge MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals serves in Malawi] is making a huge difference.

Â鶹APPœIt makes me feel strong and I am able to understand what my teachers are telling me. My grandmother doesnÂ鶹APP™t have to worry so much about how she will provide food for me and my sister.

Â鶹APPœI am determined to do well at school because I know how important getting an education is. I have promised my family that I will not fail.Â鶹APP�

TodayÂ鶹APP™s celebration in MaritaÂ鶹APP™s home town includes speeches, songs and theatre pieces, all written and performed by the school pupils and community volunteers. MaryÂ鶹APP™s MealsÂ鶹APP™ founder and CEO, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, joined invited guests including government education officials and village chiefs to mark the occasion.

He said: Â鶹APPœIt is quite remarkable to think that a million children are now eating MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals every school day in some of the worldÂ鶹APP™s poorest countries. The extraordinary ways in which this work has grown and developed have continually surprised me and filled me with a sense of mystery and awe.

Â鶹APPœIt would not be true, though, to say that I never expected our work to grow so big. I have long felt that the vision of MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals Â鶹APP“ that every child receives a daily meal in their place of education Â鶹APP“ is so compelling, and people of goodwill so numerous, that it must be fulfilled.

Â鶹APPœI am struck by the fact that this landmark can be regarded as no more than just Â鶹APP˜the first millionÂ鶹APP™. With 58 million children out of school today and many millions more around the world chronically hungry, it is clear that our work has only just begun.Â鶹APP�

It costs just £12.20 to feed a child with MaryÂ鶹APP™s Meals for a whole school year. The nutritious daily meal draws chronically hungry children into the classroom, where they can receive an education that can help them escape poverty in the future.

The charity now has support from fundraising groups across the globe Â鶹APP“ in Australia, Austria, Canada, Croatia, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, UAE, UK and USA Â鶹APP“ as well as from celebrities such as film star Gerard Butler and singer Celine Dion.