Summer - Royal Scottish Geographical Society

Making Connections
Mary’s Meals
Mary’s Meals was established by Magnus
MacFarlane-Barrow who was made a fellow
of RSGS in 2004.
Justinia is in the 6th grade at a rural
primary school in Bomi County, Liberia.
Every day she receives a hot meal of rice
and seasonal vegetables. The meal has
become a fixture in her life. Something she
can rely on. As a result she is reluctant to
miss a day of school. She hopes to be a
doctor when she grows up.
Her parents saw Liberia torn apart by
a brutal civil war that left the country
stripped bare and deprived a generation of
an education. Now, under the leadership
of Africa’s first woman president, Ellen
Johnson Sirleaf, Liberia is enjoying peace.
People have been rebuilding their lives and
communities, clearing the bush and
re-planting their farms.
With the help of the Mary’s
Meals school feeding
programme, more and more
children are going to school.
Mary’s Meals is currently
feeding 15,000 school
children daily in Liberia.
This assurance of a meal
makes a huge difference to
poor children. For a start, like Justinia, it
ensures their concentration improves once
hunger pangs are removed and they are
healthier. And so, they are enabled to learn
and gain the education that is their best
hope of escaping poverty in later life.
Mary’s Meals has grown rapidly since it
first began in Malawi in 2002. Today it
feeds over 350,000 children around the
world. The charity’s simple but effective
approach to tackling hunger, and its
commitment to keeping low overheads,
has attracted increasing support. Many
individuals, schools, churches and
businesses have taken up the challenge to
sponsor a school like Justinia’s, knowing
they are helping to educate children like
Justinia who will be able to play her part in
shaping the future of her country for the
better. And it is hard to put a value on that.
For more information on Mary’s Meals visit
www.marysmeals.org or call 0800 698 1212.
What Geography Means To Me
An insight
into the
life of a
working
geographer
Clare Richardson
RSGS Member of the
Edinburgh Committee
I
graduated with a
BSc in Geography
from Kings College
London and a Masters
from Cambridge
University before
pursuing a diverse
career which only made
me more passionate
about geography.
At university, nongeographers
seemed to view
us as those who studied place
names and coloured in maps.
But how can the historical
geography of capitalism,
third world political ecology,
European economics, the
study of the universe, not
fascinate? I was part of a
Medical Research Council
project in Jamaica studying
the influence of the socioeconomic
environment on
sickle cell patients, leading to
larger social questions being
addressed by the Jamaican
government. Similarly a
dissertation on the socioeconomic
impact of a refugee
camp on the host population
in NW Zambia, was a
fascinating field trip.
For me, this was just the
beginning of my interest in
international economics,
politics and culture and
it fuelled my passion for
travel. Further research was
undertaken by the University
of Lusaka and the Zambian
government. Meheba
Refugee camp was considered
a huge success story as
refugees became self sufficient
and positive contributors to
the Zambian economy. It
also introduced me to the
UN High Commission for
Refugees and resulted in work
on the Kenya-Somali border
in Dadaab refugee camp. This
in turn led to work with the
European Commission in
Brussels promoting economic
relations between the EU,
Africa and South America.
Living and working abroad
became a part of life. The
analytical skills developed
at university became
increasingly useful. With a
year’s training in New York, I
became a commodity trader
responsible for the Asian
markets. The commodities
were minor metals, primarily
cobalt and cadmium and
regular trips to the mines
made interesting field
trips. A business trip to
the Gobi desert; watching
Shanghai develop into
today’s cosmopolitan hub;
being present at the naming
ceremony of a Japanese
family’s son; delighting in the
divine Thai culinary creations;
an insight into politics in
Korea; experiencing the
differing approaches to
business across the region,
and seeing so many beautiful
and different landscapes,
are but a few wonderful
experiences.
I now lead a more sedate life
based in Edinburgh having
moved into the world of
finance.
Geography defined my career
and is part of me. It taught
me skills that have shaped my
career to date. All of these are
so useful in life and having
them in my ‘toolkit’ opened
so many opportunities to see
the world and experience
its rich diversity. For me,
modern geography is an allencompassing
discipline that
foremost seeks to understand
the Earth and all of its human
and natural complexities—not
merely where objects are, but
how they have changed and
come to be. It is fascinating!