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Six girls crowd around an open maths textbook, one pointing at the page, several of them smiling

Stories

One child at a time.

Behind every number on this site there is a child, and a cook, a teacher, a farmer or a mentor who made a school day possible. These are some of them, in their own words where we have them.

The stories

A family of a boy, a toddler, two women and an elderly man standing in front of a mud-and-stick house
Jose and his family at home.

A meal you can count on.

Jose Ubisse, Cumba Primary School.

Jose has been receiving our school meals ever since he started grade 1 at Cumba Primary School in 2020. Even though schools closed shortly after he started because of the Covid pandemic, he stayed enrolled and benefited from our food baskets until schools reopened and meals were served again.

He lives with his parents and two siblings. Jose's father is quite elderly, so his mother is the family's main breadwinner. She is a traditional charcoal maker, going out into the bush each day to cut trees and slow-burn them in earthen ovens to produce charcoal. It is a precarious livelihood, and sustaining the family has been a challenge. The little money they earn goes to buy food for the family, but they cannot afford school supplies.

Jose's parents say that MSLI is a good program, and it helps a lot in their community. Not only does the school lunch encourage students to go to school each day, it also gives their parents some relief: they know their children will get at least one good meal each day. Jose's mother has noticed that before the school lunch program, students didn't go to school as often, and commonly missed lessons. But now the situation has changed.

Lorena in a white blouse between her younger brother and sister, smiling in front of a mud-brick wall
Lorena (center) with her siblings at their home.

From school lunches to Avança+.

Lorena Baloi, Cumba.

Lorena is from Cumba village. She has attended school ever since our school lunch program began in 2016, when she was in the first grade at Cumba Primary School.

She is the main caretaker of her two younger siblings: her father has passed away, and her mother works in South Africa and only comes home at Christmas. Their uncle Arlindo and grandfather Jose also look after them, but they do not always have much to give. For Lorena, the school meals have been essential. Without them, she would probably have dropped out of school to look for work to provide for her siblings. Sometimes Lorena and her siblings go to bed without dinner, and depend mainly on the school lunch.

Lorena says that MSLI is a good program and it helps a lot in her community. Her favorite meal at school is rice and beans, and she enjoys studying with her friends. In 2025, Lorena joined Avança+, taking the school bus to Manjangue Secondary School every day. She is on track to graduate in 2028!

A young girl in an orange T-shirt and a floral skirt stands against a mud wall, looking at the camera
Catarina.

No more empty stomachs.

Catarina, Machua Community Preschool.

Catarina started attending our preschool in Machua village in 2024. Before, she was a child who got sick often, and her parents did not always have the means to give her the support she needed. Her parents left for their fields in the morning and came back around 5 or 6 in the evening. Her older sister went to school in the morning, then had to collect firewood before she could cook.

"Many times, Catarina could only eat something hot at around 2 in the afternoon," her preschool teacher says. "And Catarina was not the only one. There were other children who stayed home alone, played with their friends, and faced the day on an empty stomach."

Now Catarina comes to preschool. "Today, the children arrive and find something warm to eat, like porridge. Now they can play, study, and take part in activities on a full stomach."

Florência Alexandre Valoi, smiling, in a lime-green school coat on a veranda, her hands in her pockets
Florência Alexandre Valoi.

She came home to Candiza. The bus took her to grade 12.

Florência Alexandre Valoi grew up in Candiza, one of the three villages where we served our first lunches in 2016.

Florência was born in the community of Candiza, which has no secondary school. So that she could keep studying, her father, a charcoal trader, found a way to send her to Maputo, where she lodged with an acquaintance of his.

In the capital, Florência attended grades 9 and 10, but life in the house that took her in was very hard. Because she was not family, she was not always welcome, and she was humiliated more than once. She studied in the evening shift, and often came home from class to find the doors locked and had to sleep outside.

Faced with all this, she went back to Candiza with no hope of continuing her studies. It was then that our Avança+ program started its school bus service, and Florência began to ride it.

With that support, she finished grade 12. Today she volunteers at the Candiza Community Preschool, and keeps alive her dream of continuing her studies. Florência is deeply grateful to MSLI, and says the support she received was essential to finishing secondary school.

Misca Sérgio Ubisse, smiling slightly, in a red-and-black football jersey in a sandy yard between two trees
Misca Sérgio Ubisse.

Few children in Candiza finished grade 5. Misca went to college.

Misca Sérgio Ubisse ate our school lunches from grade 4 and was among the first to ride the Avança+ bus.

Misca was born in the community of Candiza where, as she tells it, few children finished grade 5. For a while she feared that would be her fate too. Despite the hardships, she dreamed of going further and continuing her studies.

From grade 4 she ate our school meals. Along the way she had to change schools several times, moving from Candiza to Ponguiné, where the meals continued.

When she entered grade 8 she joined the Girls' Education Program, which later became Avança+. She was also one of the first students to ride the school bus, support that strengthened her hope and her determination to keep studying.

Misca finished secondary school and, with the program's help, enrolled at the Higher Polytechnic Institute of Gaza (ISPG), where she is studying Public Administration. She still takes part in Avança+ activities, and says the experience changed the way she thinks and helped her make more thoughtful decisions. When she needs it, she can count on the mentors for help with English and math.

Her story is a message of encouragement to the other girls in the program: she urges them to take their studies seriously and never stop dreaming.

Samira Mandlate, smiling with a hand on her hip, in a white Avança+ T-shirt and jeans on red earth in front of a small house
Samira Mandlate.

The bus brought Samira home. Her mentors kept her in school.

Samira Mandlate, from Chate, joined Avança+ in 2023, in grade 10.

Samira was born in the community of Chate and joined Avança+ in 2023, when she was in grade 10. Today she is in grade 12.

After finishing grade 7 she had to move in with her aunt in Chicanhanine, in Guijá district, to keep studying: the nearest school was a long and dangerous journey from her community, too far to make every day. Many parents cannot afford transport, which is hard to come by anyway because of the state of the roads. When the Avança+ school bus started, Samira was able to move back home to her parents and still go to school.

Samira recently became a mother. Her mentors encouraged her to continue her studies, reminding her that a pregnancy does not have to end a girl's education. With the program's support she is still studying, and when she takes part in after-school activities she brings her daughter with her.

Samira advises the other girls in Avança+ to take what their mentors teach them seriously, and is grateful for the encouragement she has received to keep learning.