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The Children of MorningStar Shine: This Early Childhood Development Center Supports Education and Nutrition in South Africa

on  October 17, 2023

Every child deserves to be nurtured through an education and nutritious meals to healthily and happily grow. In South Africa, Rise Against Hunger Africa is working to make this a reality for many children through the Early Childhood Development Connect program, which provides donated meals to early childhood development centers (ECDs) in South Africa. The meals not only nourish the young children that attend the ECDs but also create cost savings for the centers to improve their infrastructure and achieve government certifications.

To celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are sharing stories from South Africa where ECDs, like MorningStar, are giving children the opportunity for education and nutrition. MorningStar is a level 4 Early Childhood Development Center in Johannesburg supported by Rise Against Hunger Africa’s ECD Connect program. MorningStar ECD started in 2008 with a passion to provide for and help children in an informal settlement area. With Rise Against Hunger Africa meals, children receive meals that nourish their bodies and support their education. MorningStar’s infrastructure has also flourished into a thriving space for 35 children ages 0-6, with a kitchen, outdoor area and multiple classrooms.

The children there are active and excited to attend the ECD, proclaiming with loud voices, “We are the children of MorningStar, We shine like a diamond.” Watch a video about MorningStar here to see a testament of ECDs and how working together creates positive impacts.

Sanna Mokoena, MorningStar Founder and Principal

The founder and principal of MorningStar ECD, Sanna Mokoena has seen firsthand how the ECD has made a difference to the children and their families. “It helps the children because [the parents] know that their children are in a safe place. They are being developed. They are being stimulated. They are being cared for, and they are safe. Also, they are having nutritious meals for the day.”

In addition to nourishing the children who attend MorningStar and supporting their development, the Rise Against Hunger meals also provided a better opportunity for the center to start saving. Through the generated savings, the ECD was able to advance in size and gain more resources for the children. Mokoena is proud to have submitted with the Department of Nutrition and how the Morning Star ECD has been prospering. “We started saving, when we received the Rise Against Hunger packet, parcels, and then now we started saving. Monthly we could buy things from step by step,” Mokoena said.

Irene, parent of a MorningStar child

A parent of a child who attends MorningStar ECD, Irene Muketa noticed a difference in the children. Her daughter, along with other children ages 0-6, participates in the ECD program. “It brings the appetite to our children, because our kids before, they never used to eat, they didn’t have an appetite. But after they ate Rise Against Hunger [meals] at the center, there’s a huge difference from our children. They’re so fresh. They’re so cute. They’re so active,” Muketa said.

Muketa believes the future is at MorningStar ECD. She explains that the children are receiving a foundation to grow through the community of MorningStar for a bright future. Sanna Mokena also has high hopes and dreams for MorningStar. “I’m dreaming big. I want to see MorningStar ECD complying in all areas. When I close my eyes, I would see extra classes, extra children,” Mokena said. MorningStar is one of the many ECDs being supported by Rise Against Hunger and seeing positive impact in South Africa. Learn more about the ECD Connect program here.

Will you join us in making a positive impact? Please consider donating $25 to help support bright futures and the nourishment of lives in South Africa and across the world.

About the Author

Audrey Kleiner is the Social Media and Communications Intern at Rise Against Hunger.

More Posts by Audrey Kleiner

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.