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This International Day of the African Child, We Recognize the Importance of Education and Nutrition in Central Africa

on  June 16, 2023

Commemorated every year on June 16, International Day of the African Child is a day to remember and honor the lives of the brave children who protested in 1976 in Soweto, South Africa, seeking access to higher-quality education. International Day of the African Child also serves to recognize and inspire people across the globe to address the challenges that children in Africa face daily, including food insecurity.At Rise Against Hunger, we work with in-country partners to distribute nourishing meals, often through school feeding programs, which improve access to education and daily nourishment from the meals provided at school. We know the journey toward self-reliance and bright futures out of hunger and poverty starts with a meal for students like 14-year-old Bavon in Central Africa. Bavon lives near Lubumbashi, one of the largest cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Both of his parents have passed away, so he now lives at Magone, a boarding center run by our partner Salesian Missions, where he receives nutritious Rise Against Hunger meals containing 20 vitamins and minerals. Helen, a community partner, explained that Bavon’s unstable childhood caused him to previously get sick often, but now she’s noticed that his health has improved. Bavon said, “Since I have started eating [the meals], my health has improved due to the vitamins that are found in the meal.”Bavon also attends a primary school near Magone. He is in the sixth grade with dreams of becoming a builder. He said the meals provided at Salesian Missions boarding center give him the strength to focus on his studies to achieve that dream. The adults around him believe he will achieve his dream, too. Nicole, an organizational coordinator at Salesian Missions, said, “He embodies hope and seems to be motivated for a better future.” Helen agreed, saying, “He is a boy who dreams of one day being a builder and, given the way he studies, he will eventually achieve his goal of being a great builder.”Will you join the movement to end hunger this International Day of the African Child?  Hope thrives alongside nutrition. Together, we can continue to provide meals across the globe in support of overcoming food insecurity and hunger by paving the way toward a brighter future for children like Bavon. 

About the Author

Strength, Stability And Hope

The gift that filled Nelly’s table.

“We were yielding very little, and the crops could not sustain us the whole year,” Nelly remembers. As a mother of seven and a farmer with two decades of experience, the stress of inconsistent yields was all-consuming. A poor harvest not only strained her family financially, but also limited their own meals to just two a day. Their story reflects that of many in their fishing and farming village near a lake in the Karonga district of northern Malawi. Here, heavy rainfall makes conventional farming methods nearly impossible. The entire village is, quite literally, saturated in food insecurity — a reality that leaves families struggling to survive season after season without a dependable source of nourishment.

In 2019, Nelly began participating in Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience, a sustainable agriculture project implemented by Rise Against Hunger in partnership with the Foundation for Community Support Services (FOCUS). The project works with 3,100 smallholder farmers in Malawi’s Karonga and Mzimba districts to strengthen food and nutrition security by improving production methods, nutrition practices and household income.

Just one year later, Nelly was ready to expand the variety of crops on her farm. What land once only produced maize began to flourish with sesame, cowpeas, rice and groundnuts during the rainy season (summer), as well as maize and vegetables during the dry season (winter). Through climate-smart agriculture training, she learned new techniques like manure making, pit planting and mulching, crop rotation and intercropping. Equipped with these tools, Nelly’s farm began to thrive.

After the 2023–2024 growing season, she sold enough produce to purchase an ox cart. Her harvests in 2024-2025 season yielded over 500 pounds of crops, including 22 bags of groundnuts, seven bags of maize, 12 tins of sesame and three bags of rice. With this surplus, she was able to invest in a motorbike, which she now uses to transport African doughnuts (mandasi) that she cooks and sells — creating yet another source of income for her family.

The transformation reaches far beyond her finances. Nelly now has the stability to provide for her husband and children. “I am able to eat different food types, pay school fees for my children and fulfill the visions that I have made with my family,” she beams. “I am now sleeping peacefully without any fears of food or paying school fees for the children.”

Her leadership has also grown. Today, Nelly serves as a leader in the Harvesting Prosperity and Resilience project, teaching other farmers in her district to adopt climate-resilient, labor-saving practices. By sharing her knowledge, she is multiplying her impact — empowering her neighbors to experience the same transformation she has achieved.

Across Nelly’s community, food and economic security are on the rise. Lombani, a government extension officer for the region, explains, “I can see the community is being transformed in the sense that in the area, there is food, income and nutrition security. Development is also happening at the household level.”

Nelly reflects on what it means to invest in holistic programs that address the root causes of hunger: “We are now healthy people. Children are going to school after eating their breakfast, having high yields and different types of crops due to conservation agriculture practices. With the support from the project, we have food, and we can access other food items from the market after selling our produce.”

This is the gift that fills: a future full of stability, strength and hope. It fills tables with food, families with security and communities with the resources to thrive. It’s an investment in futures rooted in resilience and hope.