Mary’s Meals at Mladifest 2024

Every year, the Mary’s Meals family gathers in the village of Medjugorje in Bosnia-Herzegovina to take part in the Medjugorje Youth Festival – or Mladifest, as it’s officially known. This year, more than 60,000 young people from 80 countries came together in August for six days of prayer, music and spiritual renewal at the Medjugorje Youth Festival. 

Festival attendees hear inspirational testimonies throughout the event from people whose lives have been changed in Medjugorje. Mary’s Meals was honoured to be given a testimony slot at the event. This slot is an opportunity to celebrate Mary’s Meals as a fruit of Medjugorje, while raising awareness of our work and providing a gentle invitation to join our movement.  

In previous years, the Mary’s Meals testimony slot has featured people who heard about Mary’s Meals in Medjugorje and were inspired to ignite the movement in their own country, as well as introducing young musicians who have received our daily meals to share their talents with the audience. 

This year, Sister Medhin Tesfay from our partner organization, Daughters of Charity, shared her experience and work with Mary’s Meals to provide vital daily meals to more than 110,000 schoolchildren in Tigray, Ethiopia. 

The crisis in Ethiopia 

Following an introduction by Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow – CEO and founder of Mary’s Meals – Sister Medhin spoke about the dire situation in Tigray, Ethiopia, following the brutal civil war in 2020–2022, and her tireless work to support destitute communities during and after the conflict. 

She also spoke movingly about how the two-year conflict created unimaginable suffering, hunger, and disease as the people of Tigray struggled to get the most basic necessities – and shared the tragic story of losing 13 members of her own family in a single day during the war. 

Yet, amid this darkness, Sister Medhin also talked about how Mary’s Meals is giving hope to the people of Tigray, through the simple act of feeding children in their place of education – a much-needed lifeline for families trying to rebuild their lives following months and years of displacement and trauma.  

Our youth ambassadors in Medjugorje 

The testimony slot was also an opportunity for some of our youth ambassadors to highlight the work they’ve been doing to support the Mary’s Meals’ mission as part of our Youth Ambassador Program.  

Dominik Authried, Lucia Hofer, Martha MacFarlane-Barrow, Terezka Treskova and Flavie Vionnet took to the stage to speak about the different ways in which they engage young people and raise awareness of Mary’s Meals’ work in their own countries. 

You can watch our testimonial slot at Mladifest 2024 in the video below.