A future for Morgado – one daily meal changed everything

School feeding changed everything for Morgado

As a child, Morgado Culembe and his family had to flee from their home in Bocoio to Lobito during the civil war in Angola. There, his father managed to find a house for the family. But earning enough food for the family was a big challenge. His father was a civil servant and in times of war his salary was anything but secure.

“Sometimes there was nothing to eat at home. I wasn’t allowed to go to school because I had to help my mother at the market. We sold sugar, soap, rice and noodles there. However, this had a bad effect on my ability to read. We also often went to bed hungry,” recalls Morgado.

But then new hope flickered. They learned that ForAfrika was distributing food to people displaced by the civil war in a nearby church. “We were given meals there three times a week, mostly maize porridge and beans. Then we were also given ForAfrika’s maize and soy porridge at school,” recalls Morgado. From that moment on, he was also allowed to go to school, because the healthy meals were also a great incentive for the parents to send their children to school. “My mother even helped to cook the meals. Whenever the truck arrived with new food, we were delighted and helped to unload it and store the sacks in the school storeroom. Because we knew that we would get something to eat over the next few days,” says Morgado with a smile.

In dedicated commitment to school nutrition

Eleven years later, 23-year-old Morgado returned to his native Bocoio and applied for a job. He was overwhelmed when he entered the offices and realized that it was the same organization that had helped him and his family all those years ago. He quickly fell in love with his new job, for which he was recruited by ForAfrika. He even decided to pursue further studies. Today, Morgado has a degree in social sciences with a focus on pre-school education.

“As a child, I only had a few options. But as an adult, I have seen that there are programs that sustainably promote children’s education at school and beyond. ForAfrika not only offers school meals, but also gardening and the construction of wells. Entire communities benefit from this. School nutrition is a great incentive for me. School nutrition has helped me to stay in school myself. It has made me the person I am today. It’s not just a meal, it changes your whole life. An investment in school nutrition can build families, communities and much more. Because education is the foundation of society.”