Going to Bed Hungry

Today, we were teaching crop diversification, with our main focus being on the benefits of and how to grow sweet potatoes.  Then, on our way home as we were passing through a certain village, a young mother, maybe 18 years old, a girl who had attended my  Dignity classes a couple of years ago, came by the road to motion for us to stop.  

We have been waved down more times than I could count while passing through the villages, and each time, we brace ourselves to be ready to deal with practically anything - need for emergency medical care, a death, or simply someone who wants to sell us produce or a friend who is happy to see us.  So, this girl was actually the fifth person who had stopped us today.  

This girl timidly approached George's side of the vehicle, just by our interpreter who was sitting in the back seat. When we asked what was on her mind, she said, "No one in my family has had anything to eat for three days. Could you please help me?"  George and I discussed her need briefly among ourselves, and when we agreed on a certain amount, we slipped it into her hands and asked her to not tell others, because that is what Jesus told us to do. She nodded her head in agreement, then we asked her to give God thanks, because the gift we gave was from Him. 

For the past week, we have been telling our supporters in the US about the famine that is causing much hunger here in Malawi right now.  These are people we have relationship with, people we know and love. Our goal is to not only help them survive the famine, but that they also get a brand new start and become skilled at growing sweet potatoes, a much more nutritious crop than maize.

We know that many people in the villages are going to bed hungry and that without timely interventions some people will starve. When this young woman came to the road  to beg and we looked her in the eyes, the famine was no longer abstract. The reality of hunger became very real and immediate. 

We are asking that you give generously to enable us to implement these emergency interventions for our friends (250 believers) in the villages: 

Distributing seed for vegetable gardens
Teaching the importance of implementing crop diversification 
Teaching the nutritional benefits of  sweet potatoes 
Teaching how to successfully grow sweet potatoes
Distribution of sweet potato shoots to plant 1/4 acre per household. 
Distributing bags of emergency staple foods

www.surefoundationministry.com 

Sure Foundation Ministry
PO Box 30332
Winston-Salem, NC 27130