Feed the Hungry

Feed the Hungry
Every Child Every Day

Wednesday 27 April 2011

Drought in Uganda

Here are some of the pictures of food distribution to the refugees and the hungry in a place called Kosovo in Kampala where thousands of people are going hungry because of the raise in food prices. This was our first experiment on knowing how to handle the feeding as we establish feeding centres during this very trying moment in our Country. These pictures  of women lining up with their kids to
have most probably  their only mean for the day are becoming commonplace in Uganda.

Below is an article in Uganda newspaper last week which highlights the depth of the problem across the country. Feed The Hungry are continuing partner with Solomon in his ministry to supply  meals every day for the children under his care. With an outpouring of grace we can help our brothers and sisters in Christ know that love knows no boundaries.  

 

Famine hits Teso, Acholi regions Wednesday, 13th April, 2011  
      E-mail article               Print article
By Milton Olupot and B. Namboozo

PREGNANT mothers in Teso and Acholi regions have resorted to eating termites and leaves for survival, due to acute shortage of food, Parliament heard on Tuesday.

Soroti Woman MP Alice Alaso stunned the House when she said some people in the north and eastern regions had started eating rats owing to the acute lack of food.

“In Teso, we are suffering, we are hungry and I believe there is enough money in the Government coffers to salvage us,” she said amidst, murmurs of ‘shame’, ‘shame’, and ‘shame’, especially from the opposition politicians.

Refugees and disaster preparedness minister Prof. Tarsis Kabwegyere caused uproar when he demanded that Alaso gives the numbers and names of women who were feeding on termites.

Several MPs, angered by the minister’s statement, demanded that the Speaker, Edward Ssekandi, pronounces Kabwegyere out of order because of what they called insensitive statements from him.

Ssekandi, however, did not heed to their call and simply asked the minister to find food for the people.

HELP TODAY @ feedthehungry.org.uk and find out how for the price of a take away meal just (£4) we can provide 100 meals.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

Take Away Hunger

Four pounds | one hundred meals

You may be wondering how we can send 100 meals around the world for only £4.

It is made possible through a team effort – A fellow charitable organisation donates food, free of charge -we then cover the transportation costs to strong, established ministries we know and trust. We ensure that large 40ft containers, filled with 920,000 meals, get right to the people who need them most. Thus, it costs only £4 to send 100 meals almost anywhere in the world!

The meals we deliver are a combination of rice, soy, dehydrated vegetables, minerals and vitamins. These highly nutritious meals are designed to be easy and safe to transport; simple to make with only boiling water; and culturally acceptable worldwide. While the meals were designed to save the lives of severely malnourished and starving children, the ingredients will also improve the health, growth and physical wellbeing of children who are no longer in immediate danger of starvation.

We have seen firsthand how a simple daily source of basic nutrition can dramatically improve a child’s life. Little “Mercy” arrived at one of the orphanages at the age of eight months—her mother had died a month earlier.  Mercy was terribly malnourished. But today she’s a healthy and happy little girl. As with so many children who arrive damaged by malnutrition, it was the fortified rice especially that “brought her to life.”

It doesn’t take much to be part of the answer; we can do something to take away hunger, for as little as £4!

For the cost of 1  burger take-away, you can take away hunger for 100 Thai street children! For the cost of       1 Indian take-away, you can take away hunger for 100 abandoned Indian children! For the cost of  a fish and chip take away you can provide 100 hot and nutritious meals for hungry children in Romania!

By partnering with us as a Take-Away Hunger supporter you would be  supporting  over 30,767 children among 20 ministries in 20 countries: in refugee camps near Irene Gleeson in Kitgum Uganda; in orphanages like Charlie Milbrodt’s in North Thailand; among outreaches to street children like Mercy & Grace in India; and the Bread of Life orphanage in Romania. These children not only receive hot nutritious meals every day, but are fed spiritually through the ministry of our partners.

You can help! We can’t do everything, but together we can make a difference to these children in their time of need. Be part of the solution to ending world hunger by becoming part of the team effort by making a regular commitment as a Take-Away Hunger supporter.

Thank you and God bless you for your compassionate gift in response.

Visit our website @ www.feedthehungry.co.uk

Tuesday 12 April 2011

North Sendai earthquake Tsunami disastrous area visit

4-6 April 2011

Partner Church : Tokyo Bible Church, 3-40-4-2F Matsushima, Edogawa-ku, Tokyo 132-00311 Japan
Senior Pastor: Ps Makoto Fukuda
Ps Makoto is an extremely humble man, speaks Excellent English, graduated in a Goldcoast Australian Bible College, his father is 76 years old this month and has planted 18 churches in Japan. His father  also planted the Tokyo Bible Church, probably his last one, and passed to his son, Makoto, to pastor. The Church also runs a Christian school, bible school, a government registered NPO .  This church is well connected with international churches in Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea.

On the day of the earthquake and Tsunami hit, Ps Makoto received so many emails and calls from friends all over the world, asking what he was going to do about it, he prayed and seek God’s face and was led to help Ishinomaki and Onagawa in North Sendai area to serve the needy people; both places suffered greatly in the shake and Tsunami, both Ishinomaki and Onagawa seaside town’s houses almost got totally wiped out and flattened.   He immediately called a church in Ishinomaki, to find out if Ps Ito, his family and his church was alright. The church was damaged slightly, with water up to 2.5M high came in, everything got wet, thank God not one church member was lost.
Ishinomaki Christian Church became the base for Tokyo Bible Church to reach out to the needy.  Despite the damage within the church and their members’ houses suffered too, many came forward and wanted to participate this compassion ministry and offered help. 
4th April 2011
We made an overnight stop over in the city centre of Sendai, outwardly everything looked peaceful and quiet, looked closely, you would find many shops were closed, even after 3 weeks, one could tell where water had been, cracks could be found on walls, streets, many shattered windows, now covered by a plastic sheet. Many planned activities were postponed indefinitely. The Japanese braved this disastrous adversity well, we visited one tea shop Centre called Shalom, working with Tokyo Bible Church, they opened up the tea shop, invited those have needs to come in to sit and share a moment with them, to have a cup of tea, to talk about their trauma. 
We spent our night in a local inn, the atmosphere was very tensed, this place always shake, to the Japanese it was norm, to us, I packed and slept in such manner, I would be ready to run! It was kind of like carrying a knife round your neck, you don’t know when it would fall.
5th April 2011
Next morning, we continued the journey to Ishinomaki, as we got closer, we saw rubbish of all sizes and all kinds were everywhere.  Cars were blown into paddy fields, square structures that might have been houses before, some houses only left with iron rods, boats got landed on shore in the middle of the road, bars along bridges were bended and twisted,  it was hard to describe the enormous devastation in front of our eyes, yet in its best Japanese tradition, they tidied up their rubbish and lined them up nicely, waiting to be picked up by cleaning trucks, and it was no small task, every imaginable household items could be seen, piles of floor tatami, fridges, washers, cookers, clothes, sofa, all that have gone through the salty water, not a lot could be saved, shops and homes alike.
A team of 15 including pastors came from Tokyo Bible School, they came to help to clean up Ishinomaki Christian Church, so that it could be re-opened, for the neighbor to come into the church to take needed food or resources. To take a rest, and to hear the Good News.  It is also the temporary base for TBS to store their materials, from this base, they could reach out to the people in North Sendai.
We met with Pastor Hirai, who shared with us what happened on the day of the earthquake and Tsunami. Later Ps Makoto asked him if he could find some storage space in the city as an office and warehouse to use.  Few hours later, Ps Hirai called back, and said to follow him. It turned out he has a parking lot, and since the devastation, no car parked there, and he would give half of the parking lot to TBS to use free.  We praise God for this small miracle. With a base, Ps Makoto could do some long term planning to benefit and help the people in Sendai. As we moved around town, we saw some food companies sent out trucks to cook noodles for those with needs, and the line was very long. The hungry need is very real. Not one shop was opened, nothing was available for these folks. Even you have money one could not buy a thing.
Later we met and talked with Pastor Ito, the senior pastor of Ishinomaki Christian Church, he urged Christians all over the world don’t forget Japan, please pray for Japan, please help Japan. Then Ps Sawa of this church denomination in Tokyo made a plea to Christians to pray for hope, many left with no hope, many need Jesus, as he led us to pray, we all felt his heart of desperation and pain for his countrymen.
We went up to the top of a mountain, which must have been a scenic spot once, we took a look at the coastal city, what city? There was nothing there, just rubbles, broken houses, empty lots; Ps Makoto said the first time he came, he was speechless, he saw what happened to the town and he could just cry, what happened to the people, what happened to all these houses. The first time he came here, he saw bodies floating. 

We then went to what was a primary school, now became a shelter center, the school was slightly damaged but was safe to have refugees there – the centre took in 400 people, each could have a space about the size of a single person floor bedding.  Having escaped with nothing but only what they wore, they entirely depended on government and the generous donation from people, from as simple as a piece of soap to clothing, shoes, bedding etc. 


 

Evening temperature in North Sendai was around zero degree C without heater in the classrooms.  The school auditorium became a resource centre, kitchen, announcements posting place.  Volunteers like TBS came to cook for the 400 people.  The refugees only got two meals a day, breakfast and dinner.  Many groups took turn to cook, refugee residents would drift in to see what’s on the menu, would go around the room, to search out what they need, any new clothing arrived that could suit them or fit them.

On the first floor, big poster of names was posted, for those come in to look for survived relatives or friends.   Sometimes, a relative found a missing relative, the reunion was a bit of a sweet sorrow.  Medical team would come and would pay visits to make sure the old and sick are alright. Sometimes entertainers would come in to sign songs to encourage the residents.  The afternoon we were there, a famous Christian TV singer came.  Herself lost her parents in the last Kobe Earthquake, so she knew the pain and sorrow, she came to encourage the residents. 



Typical Japanese fashion, to enter the shelter building, one still have to take off shoes, wore slippers ! One floor would be for children, one floor for sick people etc. 

We got the only two rooms in the city that night in a hostel, despite this is the place where major earthquake took place 3 weeks ago, tonight I felt safe.  With 7 of the TBS volunteers all cramped into my room, to borrow the shower, tonight we would be fine, tonight we stayed together to share about God’s goodness.

6 April 2011

We went back early in the morning to cook breakfast for the residents in the School, people drifted in to look at the red bean soup with mochi inside, so yum yum, they would grab a chair and sat down,  waiting for the rice to be cooked and made into tuna onigiri (tuna rice ball).  Our team was serving them, inviting them to sit down, or helped carry their food to their rooms.  They went “shopping”, looking through new piles of clothing that came in yesterday or this morning, to see what would fit them. Behind us, another team was preparing curry rice, children hovered around us, wanting to help, afterall school was impossible, all the kids were “on holiday”.  Today the news said Tokyo Electric Company would compensate 1000 Yen (US$12) per family, in serious protest, they changed the words to say this is a temporary compensation and Government promised to compensate 1M Yen to those that lost their house or farmland.  The rebuilding would be a long way to go. Stories began saying  many survivors began to kill themselves, they felt no hope, the owe banks lots of money to do their farming or fishing business. Trauma counseling must take top priority too.

After the clean up, and we took another look at the car that got blown into the school swimming pool, it was an odd sight, with the Defense Army standing by, being helpful. We moved our food truck to Onagawa, another very hard hit place, almost 90% + wipe out.  The two shelter homes we drove past were of Government run, the residents would have sufficient supply.  North of Sendai is a very hilly place, many smaller, not so easy reached villages.  (CRASH is working on South of Sendai, which is flat land),  TBS decided to help these people, the local term calls them Home Refugees, their houses were not damaged bad enough for them to leave, but it was enough that they did not have electricity, water.  This village we entered in, as soon as the cars stopped, we could smell the fishy rubbish smell, they were said not to clean up but wait for government. But their village got no one died, government would not think it serious to help, yet these people have no food, no clean water, some houses were seriously damaged, no toilet facilities, no hot water to bath, no cooking facilities.  TBS stopped the vehicles, calling families to come and to take what they need, it was like a mobile mini-supermarket, but alas, two babies need pampers, we forgot to bring; we also forgot to bring baby formula. One lady said her baby had no clean pampers, no clean water to bath or wash the bottom of the baby, she was so afraid the baby might get rash.  One family managed to borrow a generator, but no fuel, what to do, so they used the generator carefully, and let the other families taped into the electric generator as well.
Our team began cooking for the villagers too, when they heard a food truck came, they began coming out of their homes and was happy to have visitors and food. They had not eaten any fresh vegetable or fruits for a long time, no one would take any produces from Fukushima area.  They asked if we could bring them fresh vegetable the next time.  TBS became their life line, became visitors in their dark nights, to bring comfort and hope. These Home Refugee received no help from the Government.
One 84 years old lady was telling us, they used to live by the river below this village, when the Tsunami hit, her husband told them to keep running to the mountains, they must not run along the river, and they listened to him and ran for their lives towards the mountain. Now they all came and stayed with their daughter.
Onagawa, received the full blown of the Tsunami, the water was as high as 20M, along the coastal town, not one house could withstand the full force of the hit, cars were everywhere like broken abandoned toys. Houses collapsed, out of shape,   Farmland, fish farm, many trees were totally destroyed.  

I was not sure if I was looking at a war-torn zone or a Toledo hit area. 

 We must continue to help Japan.  Not because it is in Asia I say that, because this country needs Jesus, we missed the opportunity to evangelize in 1948, in 2011 God gives us another chance, dare we do less? 

The total population in Japan is 127,076,183 making it the world's tenth most populated country in the world. People estimated there are 0.5% Christian population, but reality is probably 0.1%. 


Friday 8 April 2011

A mustard seed of hope

3,373 confirmed deaths…
6,737 confirmed missing…
1.6 million live with 5km of the coast…
380,000+ people have been evacuated…
500,000+ living in temporary shelters
2,852 bridges destroyed…
827 roads destroyed…
8 railways destroyed…
40,000 homes destroyed…
1.4 million homes have no access to water…
1.25 million homes have no access to electricity…
3.2 million homes are running out of gas…


Japan.

  
  

I don't know about you, but that's a lot of numbers. Especially when living in a town with a population of only 11,000 people, I rarely encounter more than a few hundred people at once. And I think when faced with a lot of numbers, we are quick to become apathetic. Because we can't relate, and then life gets in the way.

   I believe there is a way out. A way out of apathy, of indifference, and of that numb feeling when you witness devastation second hand - prayer.

   Prayer can seem at times tiny, insignificant, even pointless. But I believe God is listening and responding, passionate and powerful. Jesus makes a promise.

"Take this most seriously: A yes on earth is yes in heaven; a no on earth is no in heaven. What you say to one another is eternal. I mean this. When two of you get together on anything at all on earth and make a prayer of it, my Father in heaven goes into action. And when two or three of you are together because of me, you can be sure that I'll be there." (Matt 18:18)

  Sometimes we can give, in fact a lot of the time we can give. However, when we can't give financially, prayer is key. If we spend time investing in prayer, God will invest in it too. He will make it happen in Heaven, He will take action, He will respond.

   He replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” (Matt 17:20)

   Jesus talks about faith here, a passage I know well but find hard to grasp and put into action. Someone wise once told me, focus on the mustard seed rather than the mountain – look at what you have rather than at the scale of what you’re praying for. Try to fix your eyes on Him rather than on your open hands.


   The exciting thing is that the way out starts here, in playing with the possibility that your prayers matter, and grow and transform people’s lives. When guilt ends, once it stops being about us, we focus on others, and that’s when hope begins. And we’re not supposed to keep hope to ourselves.

Today hope is needed in Japan, let us be encouraged to pray and consider that the little we can give can be a mustard seed of hope watered by the grace of God, in the barren landscape of devastation.

Partner with us today at www.feedthehungry.org.uk

This Article is written by Ruth Jesson one of the growing number of young people who are partnering with Feed The Hungry in the UK.