Oban Times Letters to the Editor - 11.4.24

Help Mary’s Meals feed the young in war-torn Tigray

Having lived through the atrocities of war, millions of Ethiopians are now facing emergency levels of food insecurity and hunger. 

The charity Mary’s Meals serves school meals to children in the Tigray region of the country, and sadly the stories we are hearing from Tigray are shocking. After the two-year civil war, so many children are still out of school, and many of those who are in school can’t learn due to debilitating hunger.

Before the conflict, Selemon and his parents lived a happy life. Now his father has suffered a mental breakdown and is unable to support the family.

With no food at home, nine-year-old Selemon comes to school without eating anything and sits in class feeling hungry instead of being able to focus on the lessons. He used to be bold and active in class, whereas now, he often seems to get confused when he’s asked a question. His teacher says: “He always gets sick. He even has a skin disease, which I think is a symptom of hunger. His family is one of the poorest.”

The past few years have stolen so much from Selemon. Mary’s Meals is striving to reach his community and start serving meals to the children in his primary school. Alongside our local partner, we are ready to expand our school feeding programme to more schools like Selemon’s but we urgently need more funds to do so. With your help we can reach these desperately hungry children with food and boost their chances of engaging with education again.

You can provide them with hope of a brighter future. Please visit marysmeals.org.uk to give what you can to our Crisis In Ethiopia appeal – at just 10p a meal no donation is too small.

Matt Barlow, executive director, Mary’s Meals.

Saving songbirds

With spring in the air, Cats Protection and Songbird Survival have teamed up to offer advice on the best ways to help reduce hunting of songbirds by pet cats in the hope of protecting the threatened population. Spring is a particularly vulnerable time for songbirds as it is the nesting and breeding season, which runs up to July.

It’s important to protect songbird populations from decline and cat owners and bird lovers alike can make a big difference by putting up nest boxes as well as not using pesticides in their gardens.

Top tips for reducing hunting:

• Play with your cat for 5-10 minutes every day as it allows them to exhibit their natural hunting behaviour and reduces their motivation to seek out prey.
• Feed cats with a premium, meat-rich food as it’s been scientifically shown to reduce hunting tendencies.
• Keep cats in at night to protect songbirds and your cats from possible road traffic accidents.

Visit songbirdsos.org/get-educated or www.cats.org.uk/garden-and-outdoors for advice.

Nicky Trevorrow, Cats Protection, and Susan Morgan, CEO of Songbird Survival.