School feeding charity Mary’s Meals received £25,000 from the News Corp UK Giving Fund last year. Here is how the money is being spent.

Deborah, 11, has lost the use of one of her legs but it doesn’t stop her from walking miles every day to reach her school.

The Malawian girl is determined to make the long journey because she knows when she gets to school, she will receive a mug of nourishing porridge – sometimes the only thing she will eat that morning.

The daily meal is provided by the Scotland-based school feeding charity Mary’s Meals which was one of four charities selected to receive £25,000 from the News Corp UK Giving Fund.

Mary’s Meals provides a life-changing daily meal to more than 1.2 million children every school day in some of the world’s poorest countries.

The charity has used News Corp’s donation to provide 1,600 chronically hungry children at Chembera Primary School in Malawi with a meal every day for an entire year.

Deborah, who attends Chembera, lives in a small mud brick home which is starting to fall apart. Her family essentially live outside, using the house only for sleeping.

Before going to school, the young girl typically wakes at 5am each day to do chores around the house and help her father who works in nearby fields.

Deborah walks to school with her friends. Due to the distance, she arrives a bit late every morning.

Commenting on the food she receives from Mary’s Meals, Deborah says: “Phala [porridge] takes away my hunger and makes my tummy full.

“It’s difficult to be in class when I am hungry.

“Phala has helped me gain weight, I was too skinny before.”

Deborah is tiny for her age and it’s clear that she has experienced stunting from malnutrition in the past.

While she is capable of walking on her own and can run around playing with her friends, she walks with a limp due to a poorly-fitted wooden stump on her right leg.

After school, Deborah goes home and attends additional classes taken by a teacher who lives in her village, before doing further household chores, including fetching water and sweeping.

Deborah added: “School is important because it makes me literate. Reading is important, so you can finish school early.

“I want to be a doctor in the future. I want to help people when they are sick. I am taking extra classes to pass the exams.”

Deborah’s mum Ellen is doing the very best with what she has but the family is living in a precarious situation. The planting season has now begun and her mother hopes that they will harvest a decent amount this year.

Ellen is adamant her daughter will continue to attend school, saying: “Deborah is performing well in class, and she has energy now. When she comes home, she plays and she still has energy.

“It [Mary’s Meals] makes me happy, because sometimes I have to send her to school with no food, but she finds phala at school.”

• For further information on Mary’s Meals, visit www.marysmeals.org.uk