Celebration lunches, chocolates and a glass of fizz will be on the menu this Sunday, 30 March, as families get together for Mothering Sunday.
But for one group of women in Plymouth, the table will be bare – except for leaflets, stickers and other material demanding an end to child hunger and poverty.
Six local women are taking part in a 24-hour hunger strike as part of the Mother’s Manifesto campaign. They and their supporters will be at Plymouth Sundial between 11am and 4pm.
It’s one of several regional protests taking place across the country, including one outside Parliament, where a Mother’s Manifesto group are hunger-striking for five days. This will be the third hunger protest at Westminster, where MPs have been asked to pledge support for national and international action.
A local, national and global issue
The Mother’s Manifesto campaign focuses on women and children as the ‘disproportionate victims of current and ongoing food poverty’, all over the world.
It states: “Because the food we eat is so globally connected, and so dependent on a stable climate, this Mother’s Manifesto and call to action on food insecurity necessarily includes requests for domestic policy, foreign policy and systems-wide interventions.”
In the UK, it’s about free school meals and a fair benefits system; but it also calls for government action to tackle the global climate crisis and combat food insecurity.
Food poverty is biting hard in Plymouth. Data from the Office for National Statistics/Department for Work and Pensions shows that around 30 per cent of children in the city are living in poverty, with an even higher proportion in particularly deprived areas.
One of the women taking part in the Plymouth protest and hunger strike is Rachel Ward Lilley.
She said: “The main thing as far as I’m concerned is the inequality, it’s so ‘in your face’ at the moment, between the super-rich and the very poor – not only the inequality in this country, but across the world.
‘We’re looking at children in the UK not having enough food, there’s global hunger, there’s a need for investment in sustainable and resilient food systems, which is very much about the climate, restoring nature and supporting farmland projects for long-term food security, and we should also be increasing the tax on the rich, the super-wealthy, by a small percentage – that would bring in billions.
“The overseas aid budget’s been cut, too, so reversing cuts to that aid budget is something we’ll be asking for.”
Inviting donations to Plymouth soup kitchen
Visitors to the Plymouth stand will be able to make a small difference straight away, by donating to the city’s Union Corner community-run kitchen. It’s open three lunchtimes a week and gives out free soup, sandwiches, tea and coffee to anyone in need.
Rachel said: “In Westminster the protest is going to be very different, with MPs and tourists around. Here in Plymouth we’re going to have people who want to help, and people who need help. We have a leaflet with QR codes and a list of food banks across Plymouth and places you can go to if you need help with food costs.”
The group at the stand at the Sundial are expecting to see plenty of families walking past on their way to or from their Mothers’ Day celebration lunches. Parents and children will be welcome to come and sit down and chat, and make a hand-crafted heart shape dedicated to a child either in their own lives, or in a troubled part of the world.
Rachel said the action is all about highlighting the causes of food poverty and encouraging people to take action:
“I think people are aware of the problem but not of the extent of it – and also that there is a connection, it’s not just one thing.
“I feel that at the moment, the situation is getting worse, not better – but there are things we can do.”
