A charity inspired by the Catholic faith with a vision to see each child fed and educated is moving into Lebanon to provide school meals for 1,000 children.
Rather than be overwhelmed by the statistics – over 1.1 million refugees have crossed the border into Lebanon since the beginning of the Syrian civil war five years ago – Mary's Meals is committed to action.
"Like so many others around the world, all of us at Mary's Meals have been deeply moved by tragedy unfolding in and around Syria and the desperate plight of those forced to flee from their homes to escape the conflict," the head of programmes, Fiona Gilmour, told Christian Today.
"For a number of months, we have been looking into how we can best help to alleviate the suffering caused by this greatest humanitarian crisis of our time".
Mary's Meals is hoping to "provide a glimmer of hope" amid the "carnage of the conflict in Syria" through offering school meals to children in Antelias, on the outskirts of Beirut, enabling them to be both fed and educated.
Its vision is to provide one good meal to some of the world's poorest children every school day and is "named after Mary, the mother of Jesus, who brought up her own child in poverty", according to its website.
"Like all parents, those Syrian mothers and fathers who had to leave their homes want more than anything for their children to be fed and educated, so they can hope for a future beyond this current misery," founder and CEO Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said in a statement.
Mary's Meals "will soon begin serving school meals to a small number of Syrian children who have settled in Lebanon, along with their Lebanese classmates," Gilmour said.
"Lebanon has taken in a greater proportion of refugees per head of capita than anywhere else in the world," she said. This has placed "great strain on the country and we will be supporting both Lebanese and Syrian communities through our work there."
Mary's Meals is committed to community engagement and empowering the locals with whom they are working.
"It is absolutely essential to work hand in hand with the local authorities," said Gilmour, explaining that the Lebanese Ministry of Education and Higher Education has been involved in the design of the project.
Both parties have benefited from the partnership. The government has welcomed the school feeding programmes as it is struggling to respond to the overwhelming demand of the refugee crisis, and Mary's Meals has benefited from the authorities' expertise and local knowledge – they "know best where the need is greatest".
The feeding program will not be limited to Syrian children, but all those enrolled in the school, including local Lebanese children.
"Community engagement, empowerment and ownership is key" to the project, and the charity "will involve Syrian and Lebanese parents of the children in the project equally, with the families being responsible for the lunch preparation," Gilmour said.
Mary's Meals has collaborated with Dorcas, a Dutch relief organisation that has been working in Lebanon since 2013, as "their experience allows us to identify and respond to the existing needs of communities."
Mary's Meals is experienced in working in conflict areas and responding to humanitarian crises, having worked previously in West Africa during the Ebola crisis and in Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
