Children queue to receive their daily free school meal
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Photographer
Plan staff
Photo Credit
Plan International
Region
West and Central Africa
Country
Sierra Leone
Orientation
Landscape
Programmes
Education, Food Security
Subject
Nutrition, Schools
Filename
202109-SLE-05.JPG
Rating
3
Date
01 September 21
Copyright
Plan International
Library Number
LN21169
Caption
It’s lunchtime in a primary school in Bo District, southern Sierra Leone. Clustered at desks and on benches, boys and girls of all ages are tucking into a hearty meal of rice and fish with leafy vegetable sauce. Others stand in line, waiting to be served by a team of cheery dinner ladies from the local community. If it weren’t for this school feeding programme run by Sierra Leone’s Ministry of Education and Plan International, many of these hungry children would be roaming the streets, or working in the local fields.
Like most of Sierra Leone, the districts of Bo and Moyamba are hard hit by the global hunger crisis. Crippled by the combined effects of deepening economic insecurity, COVID-19 and spiralling prices of rice and other agricultural products – which have quadrupled over the past decade - smallholder farmers who make up much of the country’s population are increasingly unable to find sources of income. As a result, student numbers in local schools have dwindled as children drop out to help their parents, because they are ill, or because their empty bellies mean it’s impossible to concentrate in class.