The Catholic Leader May 2018

In The Catholic Leader, May 27, 2018 p7

Brisbane charity gives food for African kindies

RELIGIOUS sisters and volunteers caring for kindergarten students in Malawi have picked up their latest ration of breakfast foods thanks to generous donors from Australia. The Canossian Daughters of Charity and a group of volunteers bought a year’s worth of grains to feed nearly 800 children in Malawi.

For many families, sending their child to kindergarten is a guaran- teed way to secure a meal. But the local food staple of rice and corn are difficult to come by, as the Malawi harvest time is between May and July. The timeframe is the equivalent of having the local Australian grocery store closed from August to April.alawi who would otherwise starve. The grains will be turned into nsima, a Malawian dish made with milled corn, rice and water and fed during mealtime to the children in the kindergartens.

Since 2016, Australian charity Project Kindy has financially sup- ported the kindergartens. Donations are sent to the Canos- sian Sisters at the beginning of the Malawi harvest. Project Kindy founder Donna Power said the charity provided nearly 800 meals a day, five days a week for the school year, which normally lasted nine months.

“This provides much-needed food security for these vulnerable children,” Mrs Power said. Next month the charity will hold its first trivia night at St Wil- liam’s parish, Grovely, to provide even more meals for the Malawi children.

– Emilie Ng

Good food: A volunteer for the Canossian Sisters’ Malawi kindergartens carries a bag of maize that will be turned into food for their 800 children.

Photo: Sr Josephine Allieri