There’s not much that is more critical in people’s lives than food. Helping people with food support has been a constant theme in MEPO’s work, wherever MEPO is in the world. Malnourished children, pregnant women, sick adults, and children who need more protein – these are the populations that MEPO hones in on and finds a way to offer them nourishment.
Even if it is only for one day, the day that a weak child or a famished adult can enjoy a hot, nourishing meal is a day of strength and joy, flavored with the awareness that someone else cares about them.
Over the past 18 years, MEPO has provided support in these areas around the world in a multitude of ways:
Nepal
- MEPO organized a free meal for nearly 400 poor women and children and beggars near Pashupatinath, a holy site where many poor people and children hang out in Kathmandu. The people received abundant servings of rice, lentils, two kinds of vegetables and fresh water. The food was served under a colorful tent from decorated tables, so that the day was about more than just food – it was about people realizing that they are not alone in the world, and that beauty and joy are possible for them, even if just for one lunch and a relaxed afternoon.
Families living in the Manohara slum dwellings near the Manohara River just outside of Kathmandu that were hit particularly hard by the end-of-monsoon floods were given financial aid to replace some of their belongings and food that was destroyed by the floods.- One month food ration of rice, lentils and cooking oil was given to a small orphanage in Boudha, Kathmandu.
- Particularly poor and sick people near the Swayambhu Temple in Kathmandu have been helped with medical aid as well as been given assistance and supplies to start their own small vending business.
- After the awful earthquakes of 2015, MEPO gathered funds and provided food support to residents of Dhotar, a hard-hit village 3 hours from Kathmandu.
Afghanistan
- Afghanistan has some of the most delicious bread in the world, and yet for many Afghans, that is nearly all they can afford to eat. MEPO has held gatherings at their mother-child care clinic in Kabul offering meat stew to pregnant women and small children. They have often bought large quantities of meat and distributed it to struggling workers on the street who are thin and undernourished, pulling heavy loads all day long.
- And the children of the MEPO House of Flowers Orphanage in Kabul receive three hot and nutritious meals every day, ensuring their growth and development during childhood.
Bhutan
Four very poor families in remote rural Bhutan were provided six months of dried food, such as red rice, cooking oil, dried fish, milk powder (from September 2012 to March 2013) and extra cash for the education of their eldest child. They were also provided laundry detergent, soap and shampoo.
A school in downtown Thimphu (the capital) was given funds towards its in-house food program for 40 underprivileged children at the school who cannot bring their own lunches.
India
- MEPO has focused much of its work in Varanasi, in India, in the slum area called Nagwa. Children and adults who were suffering from diseases and were undergoing treatment often needed nutritional support to improve the work of the medicines they were taking. MEPO provided this nutritional support so that families could buy meat and other protein sources as well as fruits and vegetables to improve their health.