Book Review - The Shed that Fed a Million Children

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The Shed that Fed a Million Children

By Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow

 

This book tells the extraordinary story of how a salmon farmer in rural Scotland comes to start a charity that has fed over a million children.   

The story starts when a family sitting around the dinner table learns of an appearance of the Virgin Mary to some teenagers in a placed called Medjugorje in Yugoslavia.  This event changed Magnus’s life and the lives of others. 

Magnus’s family is devoutly Catholic so he and his brother made a pilgrimage to Yugoslavia to visit the place of the Mary sighting.  While there he experienced a feeling of deep joy unlike anything he had felt before.  He became convinced that God existed and re dedicated his life.   This was the spark!

When Magnus and his brother heard of the needs in war torn Bosnia close the village of the Mary sighting,  they decided to take a truck of supplies to help the area.  This one time road trip grew to become Magnus’s life work.  When he returned to Scotland people continued to reach out to him for help, leading him to leave his job, sell his house and direct all his efforts to feeding the world’s poorest children.

The book goes on to tell of all the places where Magnus was able to help the down trodden.   As the needs were presented, the miracle of the needed funds or equipment became available.   This commitment developed into Mary’s Meals which aims to provide chronically hungry children with one meal every school day, encouraging education that can lift them out of poverty later.  This has become a global charity, which encourages grassroots fund raising.  The web site states $31.70 can feed a child for a whole school year.

At times I found the book a challenging read as the timeline of the events was hard for me to follow.  However, the work that Magnus and his associates accomplished is miraculous.   

The book is worth reading to see the power of God in changing lives.  Magnus was changed by the Mary sighting in Yugoslavia.  He was a teenager when this happened and ever since he has spent his life relying on his faith in God to help others. 

 

Reviewed by Linda Cliff

If you would like to see a video called Child 31 follow this link

To learn more about Marys Meals in Canada go here.