By Brian Taylor BBC Scotland political editor

Three girls in a village facing the fear of impending starvation.

There are fears that the "hungry season" will arrive early

Tiamike is the oldest at the age of seven. Her name means Praise the Lord.

Her sister Bridget is just five, Sarah is three. Their family name is Kennedy.

Little Bridget, plainly malnourished, stands shyly wearing a kilt as we learn their story.

It is the tradition in Malawi that marriage brings the man to live in the woman's village.

Tiamike, Bridget and Sarah lived with their mother and father in the rural village community of Linthipe, just 20 miles outside the capital Lilongwe.

Collective care

Their mother died. Their father abandoned his children and moved back to his own village.

Now the three girls live on their own.

The only regular care they have comes from Rose, a 15-year-old girl who looks in on them.

Other than that, they are dependent on the collective care of the village - or rather villages. Linthipe is a collection of 39 tiny settlements.

They sup solemnly alongside their friends and neighbours, gathered into the collective effort to stay alive

The core is a feeding station funded by Scottish aid. Here, 1,200 children come each day to receive a nourishing meal of soya porridge.

If they didn't get it they would, in all probability, starve.

The unyielding scourge of HIV/Aids has meant that any of the children are orphans, brought to the feeding station by other women from the community.

They sup solemnly alongside their friends and neighbours, gathered into the collective effort to stay alive.

We had travelled to Linthipe with First Minister Jack McConnell, who is on a week-long visit to Malawi.

Severe famine

I stood and talked to several of the women as the children supped their porridge nearby and the pot bubbled with a new batch.

Rosemary Ng'oma, a university lecturer, translated for me. She explained that many had died in a severe famine three years ago.

The villages now fear that famine is about to return.

She told the story of Joyce Sanoya, who has four children.

Jack McConnell is on a week-long visit to Malawi

In that famine three years ago her sister and her sister's husband died. She now cares for their seven children too.

Joyce is understandably fearful for the future.

The reason is rain - or rather the lack of it.

The rains were very poor earlier in the year, which means the maize crop is bad.

That means the "hungry season" which normally begins in December may start a couple of months earlier and may be more severe.

Sense of spirit

The feeding station is critical. It is funded by Child Support, a Scottish organisation set up by Dr Josephine Muntili - a Malawian who currently lives in Edinburgh.

I met her mother, who still lives in Linthipe. With intense politeness she offered me a cold drink.

Despite the fears, there is a sense of spirit here. The welcome was warm.

The children laughed with excitement at the gifts brought for their school - books, a radio, BBC pens and pencils and four footballs which the Scottish press pack bought from a street trader in the city of Blantyre.

Fund-raising drive

The women greeted us with joyous traditional song. Their dignified determination in the face of persistent crisis is simply magnificent.

In the long-term, of course, the best help they can get would be to improve the overall economy of Malawi, perhaps by enabling the country to trade freely.

But for now the first minister will next week announce a new drive to co-ordinate fund-raising for Malawi and the distribution of those funds.