See how your generosity is changing lives!

• Savings Group Saves Family of Six in Burundi
• Mozambican Family Rebuilds After Cyclone Destruction
• Ethiopian Widow Becomes Thriving Farmer

 

Savings Group Saves Family of Six

Etienne and Ephrasie and their four children struggled to have enough food to eat each day. Both parents are farmers and they work hard to grow crops like bananas, beans, maize and potatoes. Unfortunately, their plot of land was so small it could not produce nearly enough food to feed the whole family. Etienne would often have to look for labor jobs elsewhere to earn enough money to feed his family, but it was always a challenge.

Fortunately, caring donors like you stepped up to help Etienne and his family. When FH began working in his community, they created savings groups. Savings group members are trained on how to save, using the few resources they have. Later, they can take out loans to start small businesses or improve their household activities, such as farming. 

“Before being a member of one of the [savings groups] supported by Food for the Hungry, I did not know how to save money,” said Etienne. “I used to think that saving was only for people who have a lot.”

But Etienne joined the group and began to save a small amount each week. He soon started receiving interest on his saved amount, and after a year of saving he received a generous share of the entire group’s saving. With this extra income, he bought a goat and rented more land to grow beans and maize. He is hoping that his goat will soon give offspring so he can sell it and use the money to purchase fertilizer for his new land. 

“I am so thankful for FH’s support to Mwumba community,” he said.

 

Mozambican Family Rebuilds After Cyclone Destruction

Mozambique is experiencing its worst food insecurity emergency since the drought of 2015, due to the devastating tropical cyclones Idai and Kenneth that made landfall in April and March. Thousands of families lost their homes and their crops.

Luis and Maria were among the many that were affected. With their home destroyed, they had no food or hope. After the cyclone hit, the family went to the health center in their community and stayed there for three days.

“We were suffering,” said Luis. “When help came, we finally returned home. Fortunately, the tin platings from my home were recovered and placed back on my roof.”

But that was just the beginning of their rebuilding process. With their crops destroyed, Luis and Maria had to start over in growing new crops. Because of the support of friends like you, FH was able to respond to this disaster quickly and provide families like Luis and Maria’s with vegetable seeds and shelter/kitchen kits.

“We feel happy because we are going to be able to sell the crops we are growing and make money,” said Luis. “We first started with pineapple, which we sold and bought another field. Now we are growing maize. When the harvest comes, we will consume some of the food and sell the rest [for income].”

Luis and Maria hope to earn enough income from selling crops to one day build a resilient house that can withstand future disasters. 

 

Ethiopian Widow Becomes Thriving Farmer

Dinkie Kebede is a 50-year-old widow with five children. She has always worked hard to grow enough crops to feed her children. However, she was dependent on unpredictable rainfall, often leading to poor harvests. And after her husband passed away, she had to sell their livestock in order to make ends meet and cover the food gaps. She did not want to keep livestock at the expense of starving her children.

“We were eating small portions of food twice a day just to sustain our lives,” said Dinkie.

Fortunately, generous supporters stepped in to help through FH programs. She received training on horticulture crops and fruit productions. She also received much-needed items such as a watering can and seeds to grow tomatoes, Swiss chard, potatoes, cabbage, and apple seedlings. FH staff also helped install a hand-dug water well so Dinkie would always have water to use for farming. 

Since these changes, Dinkie has been able to successfully grow enough vegetables and fruit to feed her children and sell at the market for extra income. She even made enough money to make improvements and add a room to her small home! 

Excited to see more changes in the lives of the most vulnerable in Africa? We are too — learn more ways to join us in our work.

---

About Food for the Hungry

Food for the Hungry (FH) is a Christian humanitarian organization that seeks to end all forms of human poverty through life-changing development programs. Since 1971, FH has been going into the world’s hardest places to respond to human suffering and graduate communities out of extreme poverty. FH currently serves the vulnerable in over 20 countries globally. For more information about FH programmes, visit https://fhuk.wpenginepowered.com/.