canada
4 September 12, 2021 catholicregister.org
BY WENDY-ANN CLARKE The Catholic Register
Despite challenges imposed by COVID-19, school feeding program Mary's Meals has hit the significant milestone of feeding two million hungry children every school day. After starting in 2002 feeding just over 200 children in Malawi, it took the organization 12 years to hit the one million global feeding mark. In the journey towards two million, the registered charity founded by humanitarian and en- trepreneur Magnus MacFarlane- Barrow was able to cut that time in half to six years. Sheri McConnell, executive director of Mary's Meals Canada, says with the continued growth of the movement and support of volunteers and donors in Canada and across the globe, they hope to reach another million more in half the time. "We're praying and believing that we can hit that three million mark within three years," said McConnell. "We celebrate the two-million milestone, but the action piece is our hope that others would join us in a deeper way so that we can move towards hitting that three-million mark sooner than later." Mary's Meals provides one nutritious meal a day to some of the world's hungriest children in 19 countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America, Eastern Europe and the Caribbean. Issues brought on by the pandemic including school closures have further com- pounded existing challenges in these nations. With a different situation in every country, staff and community supporters on the ground have had to remain nimble as they have worked to maintain their objective of providing children with a meal a day. Without in-person classes, the primary vehicle to provide meals was impeded, but the program team pivoted quickly and were able to provide meals to commu- nities instead. In India, one of the nations most severely impacted by COVID-19, after a pause for safety reasons Mary's Meals has been able to get back to feeding children in that country as well. Navigat- ing on-again, off-again school closures, McConnell says people in the communities themselves have stepped up to fill in the gaps in helping get meals to children who have not been able to go to school. Community distribution parcels include personal hygiene products to help prevent the spread of COVID-19 and food to help feed families for weeks or even a month. "Our commitment is that our work won't stop," said McConnell. "Even during the challenging times, parents and guardians who prepare the meals would cook them at home for the children or a temporary place of education depending on what was going on with the schools in that respective geographical area." Many children in these commu- nities have to walk several hours to get to school, and once they arrive are often too tired to learn. In many cases the Mary's Meal might be the only meal they get in a day. The organization works to make a long-term sustainable impact by continuing to provide a daily meal in a place of learning. "When we're serving daily meals in a place of education, obviously it helps the most vulner- able to go to school, but what it does is it gives them the freedom to learn and to fulfill their potential," said McConnell. "We're seeing students who've grown up being a part of the Mary's Meals school program who in turn grow up and they stay in school usually and go on to have opportunities to pursue further education. There are so many stories of where they come back and come into a place of even volunteering as adults. And then their brothers and sisters are able to join our feeding programs. By supporting children and their families it has the potential to be a ladder out of poverty." Amazed by the generosity of Canadians who have stood with them throughout the pandemic, Mary's Meals continues to look for unique ways to partner with people and organizations across the nation to carry the vision forward. At just $26.40 to feed a child for an entire school year, McConnell says with faith and creative energy the possibilities are endless. "As we love God, I think we are compelled to action, whether we're loving our next-door neighbour that lives beside us but also not forgetting our global neighbour," said McConnell. "Even in these difficult times, we see that we as Canadians can make a difference. I really believe that God honours that and will bless us as we bless others. I'm just so thankful for those who have gotten behind us."
St. Mike's students to explore TRC
BY MICHAEL SWAN The Catholic Register
As students filter back onto campus, one small group of first- year students at the University of St. Michael's College will be thrust into one of the most difficult, uncomfortable and important problems this nation faces. Christianity, Truth and Rec- onciliation is a new course in the Christianity and Culture program of Canada's largest Catholic uni- versity. The course will be based on the findings of the Truth and Recon- ciliation Commission. More than just reviewing and analysing the 7,000-page 2015 report of the TRC, the new course will be a response to the 94 Calls to Action the TRC issued. "Is this the Church responding? Yes. Is it adequate? No," said course instructor Prof. Reid Locklin. L o c k l i n hopes the new course will be the beginning of the Catholic u n i v e r s i t y seeking a new rel at i onship with Indigenous Canadians. But it's just the beginning. "If St. Mike's sort of said, 'We're offering a course, so we're done,' that would be a disaster," said Locklin. Locklin is partnering with the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre at Algoma University in Sault Ste. Marie, Ont., in present- ing the course. That partnership will allow students to do transcrip- tion work and oral history projects with residential school survivors. Shingwauk is home to the archives of the Shingwauk Residential School, the Jesuit-operated St. Peter Claver Residential School and St. Joseph's School for Girls operated by the Daughters of the Heart of Mary in Spanish, Ont. They will also meet a panel of survivors - virtually this year, but in future Locklin hopes students will meet survivors in their own communities. It's the kind of course students of all sorts, not just Catholic students, are hungry for, said third-year political science student Naomi Addai. "Considering the climate, this course would be a good thing to have on the university campus," said the student of Ryerson Uni- versity, soon to be renamed. (Given Egerton Ryerson's pivotal role in designing the model for residential schools, the university has decided to drop the Ryerson name.) "As a student, something a little bit more interdisciplinary, that looks at the subject widely, would be what I would appreciate." To study both Indigenous and Christian perspectives on the history and effects of residential schools would be an opportunity for real understanding, she said. "We're not teaching Indigenous Studies. We're teaching the rela- tionship between the Christian Church and Indigenous people, and the problematic, and the life- giving relationship there," said St. Mike's president David Sylvester. "Catholic universities have committed themselves to this and St. Mike's has a long journey ahead on that road." Locklin has spent two years de- veloping the course, seeking part- nerships with Indigenous people who will keep the course grounded in Indigenous reality. While the American scholar of Hinduism might seem an odd choice to teach this course, Locklin spent a year volunteering on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota, helping out at the Jesuit-run Red Cloud Indian School, where he was witness to the crisis colonization has brought to Indigenous culture. Pine Ridge has the shortest average lifespan of any district in the Western hemi- sphere at just 47 years for men and 52 for women. "For a while, I've been thinking about how to incorporate Indige- nous knowledge into my teaching," Locklin said. "We're really trying to think about this course in the context of thinking more broadly about how our college programs - as well as the (graduate) faculty of theology - how they're all called to respond to the TRC. It's not supposed to be a one-off. It's supposed to be one instalment in a broader effort."
Course seeks new relations with Indigenous
Two million meals ... and counting
Reid Locklin A child in Madagascar enjoys a nutritious daily meal in a school canteen that is supported through Mary's Meals and its donors.
(Photo courtesy Mary's Meals)
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