A MILLION is a huge number in anyone's language, but sometimes it can be devalued.

One can flippantly look a million dollars; one can regard an unexpected encounter as a chance in a million. Just imagine, though, 1,000,000 children with full bellies who would otherwise have gone hungry, and one realises that this is a figure to be cherished. It represents a magnificent, yet humbling, achievement.

Today it is announced that the Argyll-based charity Mary's Meals is now feeding more than 1m children in 12 countries every school day - 1,035,637 to be exact.

This remarkable story began in 2002 when founder and CEO Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow visited Malawi during a famine and met a boy, Edward, whose mother was dying from Aids. When asked what his dreams were, he replied: "I want to have enough food to eat and to go to school one day." Thus a campaign was sparked which encourages poverty-stricken children to come to school, where they will receive a nutritious meal to help them concentrate on their studies.

The joy of this milestone is tempered by the knowledge that the work of Mary's Meals is still necessary. We all hope that a solution to global poverty will be found; until it is, one can rejoice at the thought of the good that man can still do against all the odds.