Brasio and Beyonce

Beyonce has a long walk to school. Her home is far away, about 5km, and it’s a journey she says makes her “very tired”. On the way, she has no-one to walk with, yet she does this long walk every day, in the pursuit of an education that her father hopes will help her to have “a better life”.

If you had visited Danckwerts Primary School in Zimbabwe before Mary’s Meals was introduced, you’d have noticed Beyonce sitting separately from the other students at break. Her dad, Brasio, was ashamed of how little he could afford to give her for lunchtime, so much so that he would tell her to go to a secluded place at school to eat so nobody else could see her meagre rations. It’s a time he struggles to talk about, and the tears escape as he describes the plain, leftover ‘mielie meal’ he used to send her to school with.

Lunchtimes for Beyonce are different now, as the giggling schoolgirl sits laughing with her friends. Now, she receives the same lunchtime meal as her classmates – a mug of fortified corn-soya porridge from Mary’s Meals – and Brasio says this is a huge relief.

Beyonce’s story has a difficult beginning. Her mother abandoned both her and her elder sister when Beyonce was just a baby. Neighbours alerted her father to the two girls crying in a locked room, and he has looked after them on his own ever since. Single fathers are uncommon in Zimbabwe and Brasio is uncomfortable with the situation at times, but he clearly loves his children and is committed to supporting Beyonce as much as he can.

With the elder sister no longer at home, Brasio and Beyonce live together in their small, one-room home. There’s no electricity and the bed takes up one side of the room with some makeshift shelving opposite. The corner across from the door is their kitchen with a few cups, a small stove and a half-empty bag of maize.

Brasio gestures around their home and says: “If you look around you will see that we don’t have enough. I am struggling to get food for both of us. I have to look after Beyonce, her school is very far away. “It was difficult when there was nothing to eat at school and Beyonce would come home and there was nothing here either. But earlier this year, Beyonce told me she would now be getting Mary’s Meals. “From that moment, I was not worried about her going to school without anything because I knew that she was going to get a meal there. It has become a relief to me. The only hope I have is the feeding program; it is something that is helping me to take care of her. I cannot send her to anyone else. It’s the only way she can get a proper meal.”

As a young single father, Brasio is faced with many responsibilities. He copes as best he can, but the pressure can take its toll. When he learned that Mary’s Meals’ commitment to Beyonce and her classmates was long term, it lifted a weight of worry for him.

He told us: “I thought it was going to be for a short period of time, I didn’t know it was a permanent program, coming in to feed every day at school. I am happy now I know there is a promise that this feeding program is going to go on.

“Now a child will know that even when it is hard at home, they should just go to school. After eating porridge, a child is stronger and has energy and can continue to learn and they are not stressed at home. They are going to concentrate at school because they now know there will be food daily.

“Beyonce has always liked going to school, but now she is happy – she even comes back and says: ‘I had porridge at school, and I am still full, I am still ok’. I see that this programme has helped children who are being looked down upon to start accessing education. If Mary’s Meals can continue doing that to other children, that would help so much.”

The wider social impact of Mary’s Meals on these children is recognized by the teacher in charge of the program too, who says: “Things have changed because the children have got porridge here. Now every child is at par. There is now equality. And now no-one says I am better [than another pupil]. Everyone knows they are going to get their cup and are going to enjoy their meal. No-one says I am better than anyone.”

Beyonce doesn’t like to dwell on the separation she once had to face from her classmates, but she’s honest and open about the impact of not having enough to eat on her physical health.

“Before the feeding program, I would feel very weak after going to and from school. Sometimes I would have to walk to and from without eating anything. Maybe there was nothing at home to take to school and then at school, there was nothing too. It was the whole day without having something to eat. Sometimes my dad would give me a little money, but it was not enough to get anything meaningful for the stomach.”

Beyonce is a bright student; she speaks in English when she can and has a quiet confidence about her. Her dad says she can be shy, but sometimes he sees her dancing when she thinks that he is not around. Apparently dancing is a passion they both share. She jokes about becoming a pilot because: “they get better renumeration that any other job I know. It would be exciting! Aeroplanes only take a small number of people, but they pay so much money!”

And she tells us how much she likes soccer. She thinks girls are the best at playing so she prefers to play with the girls than the boys.

There’s a serious side to her humour though. She likes running after the ball when she plays soccer because: “when you are chasing the ball you are exercising, at the same time you are making yourself healthy and avoiding so many diseases.”

Behind dreams of soccer and a high-flying career, Beyonce has a simple explanation of the impact of Mary’s Meals and the change it has brought to her life. “I like learning and having a good time with my friends, but after that I also enjoy the meal I get at school.

“The porridge is so good and tasty and also for children like us who don’t carry anything to school, it helps us. After eating the porridge we can start concentrating, we can also write like any other children in class.

“I try my best at school. Education is important to me, I see it as an escape route for the way that my mother left me. I hope that one day I will be successful, I will help my father who has helped me since I was a toddler. I hope that one day I will also help other children and other people to have a better life.”