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Mission in Haiti

Extract  from Doreens Story on Mission In Haiti

I was privileged to take a team from Victory Christian Centre (Edmonton, Canada) to minister with FTH in Haiti this past March.  VCC has been a solid FTH partner in Canada for many years.   It was also a young team, the youngest member being 13 years old, but they conducted themselves responsibly and compassionately.  I would take this team anywhere!

Our host for the trip was Victory Compassion/Homes for Haiti, under the direction of Pastor Rod Baker.  This is a new partner ministry for FTH, feeding over 1400 people every day, with a potential of many more.  In addition to Pastor Rod, there was 5 other staff who work with the ministry.  All are passionate about Haiti, and very dedicated to bring hope and help to the people they serve.  They are wonderful people, and will be solid partners for FTH.

During the 8 days of ministry we had on the ground in Haiti, we managed to prepare and distribute over 200 Family Food Paks (3 Kg Corn, 1Kg Pinto Beans, 1Kg Refried Beans), as well as deliver bulk food to 4 orphanage sites. 

Each day began with assembling the food paks, according to the need for the day’s distribution.  From there we hopped in our fancy transportation – an open truck bed with wooden seats – and began to our first location.  Once we arrived at our destination, the team greeted the children for a few minutes and then set up for a time of ministry.  Each program was approximately 1 hour.  The team involved the children in group games, sang songs (they learned the chorus “God’s not Dead, He’s Alive” in Creole, which was a big hit in every location), performed skits, and told Bible stories.  They communicated through an interpreter because no one understood English, or even French...solely Creole.  After the program was over, the team gave out gifts to each child.  They brought a significant amount of gifts – and not just lollipops!  I have never seen such generous, organized, and thought out giving from a mission team before!

JENELLIA’S VILLAGE

Our first stop was to the village of the girl who cooked for us during our stay.  The village had a small church (pastored by US missionary Donna Bryce, who has been there for 35 years), and a water well.  The whole village came out to watch the team’s presentation, and to receive the FTH food paks.  We distributed food to roughly 50 families.

C.A.D

We visited a government run institution in Fond Parisen, called CAD (Centre for Action and Development) 3 separate times.  It is a transitional home for child rescue victims (almost all have been severely sexually abused).  The government brings the children here until they are able to place them with extended family or a foster family.  Therefore, some children are only there a short time, while others can remain for years.  It is a heartbreaking place because there isn’t proper oversight or leadership, and not a completely safe environment for children.  Victory Compassion visits and ministers to these children twice a week, doing their best to bring the love of Jesus in every way they know how.  It is very difficult for them when they encounter situations of neglect or abuse perpetrated on the children, because they have no recourse to appeal to.  On Sunday morning, when we went for a service, I encountered a girl of about 10-11 years of age crying.  I then noticed that her hand was swollen like a balloon and causing her a great deal of pain.  I thought for sure it was broken.  Through the interpreter we were able to glean that her name was Karolina, and she came for the service from another orphanage (wouldn’t say which one) where one of the leaders had smashed her hand TWO DAYS PRIOR.  I was absolutely crushed that she had been in that kind of pain for 2 days.  I immediately prayed for her healing.  Nothing happened at first so, using my North American flawed wisdom, I began to ask the American mission staff if there was a medical clinic we could take her to.  Long story short – there was no medical intervention possible.  It was such a stark reality of how these children live, and I couldn’t fathom it.  So, as the service began I just sat with the girl and held her hand gently in mine and continued to pray quietly.  After about 15 minutes I noticed the swelling had gone down significantly.  I asked one of the team to verify this, and they agreed it was less swollen.  I began to ask her to move her fingers, and she could move all fingers except her thumb.  I continued to pray as the service went on.  At the end of the service we called her up for prayer, and the team and all the children stretched out their hands in agreement for God’s healing power to touch her.  By the time we left an hour later she could move all her fingers, including her thumb, and the swelling was down enough for me to check that no bones were broken, and there was no pain.  The following Wednesday we returned to CAD for another service.  After a few minutes I felt a nudge at my side, and there was Karolina, with a big smile and a perfectly normal, functioning hand!  God is good! 

Another cool testimony from CAD is that the team’s give away for the girls was Barbie Dolls.  Afterwards we heard that the girls had been specifically praying for Barbie dolls, because it seemed like an impossible prayer!

Feed the hUngry is comitted to working in Haiti, to help build a future for these children, bringing hope out of adversity. If you would like to partner with us. visit http://www.feedthehungry.org.uk/ to learn how you can help

4200 miles in one week

What motivates a person to spend 3 days, 12 hours a day driving a vehicle full of food and clothes to Romania and Bulgaria?

This can only be a for the need of the 1400 children that Feed The hungry provide for in 23 different locations right across Romania, from Bread of Life orphanage in the Carpathian Mountains in the north to Giurgiu located on the Danube River on the Southern borders of Bulgaria.

Thanks to the heart response of every who donated clothing, food, catering equipment and toys for these children, this trip would not have been possible. This is a story about partnership and teamwork, a story that happens in many different ways and many times each month across every continent in 29 projects in 21 different countries, but a story worth telling.

Over the past year Feed The Hungry have been developing a program to allow a rapid expansion of resources in Romania, establishing a warehouse facility in partnership with Bread of Life, enabling the distribution of food on a regular basis to each feeding program location. This facility has enabled us to consider branching out into the Baltic countries, and prayers and research program to locate a suitable partner in Bulgaria was initiated. After careful consideration a suitable program was established in Plovdiv to assist families with children with disabilities.

Children with multiple disabilities, complex health needs and acquired brain injury pose a huge problem for their parents, as there are no facilities to help them, therefore needing constant care means that they have to stay at home, in the main these are usually single parent families, falling through the inadequate benefit system, they are left with out an income and very little state help, isolated by their circumstance they feel trapped and alone and in many cases suffering from malnutrition.

With the help of Feed The Hungry the Christian Centre at Plovdiv have opened their arms to the needs of these families. Initially we are starting to reach out to 100 families with the vision of helping 250 families in Plovdiv city alone. It is with such a cry of help from those in need that brings to life the plans and purposes of God to his children, providing these families with a weekly support visit and much needed supply of food.

Behind the scenes our logistics team in Southbend action a 40ft container of Food which this time is gifted through suppliers arranged by our Canadian office, and made available through your support from around the world to be sent by sea to Romania, a journey of 4 weeks. Whilst here in the UK your support enabled me to transport clothing, toys and food to join up with the food from America, in the process our German office had been gifted some medicine and medical equipment which I was able to pick up on route.

A journey of 1800 miles to Bucharest which took 3 days, arriving in 30C of heat exhausted but relieved to locate the warehouse, we secured the vehicle and fell into bed and comfortable slumber.

Day 4 having dropped over nearly a ton of supplies we then went to initiate a new feeding program for 70 kids in one of the poorest areas of Bucharest. The church here was desperate to provide a feeding program for its community, but without adequate resources as most of its congregation is out of work. Feed The Hungry was able to resource the kitchen, tables, chairs, and steel tableware. By resourcing 3 more tables and chairs sets we are now able to provide for 100 kids in this church, sometimes it’s the little things that need to be provided that opens avenues of hope.

Later that day we loaded up with the food that had arrived from Canada, only a few days earlier, ready for our onward journey to Plovdiv. We also used this opportunity to support our friend s in Romania by dropping monthly supplies in Giurgiu. And Ruse a partner church to Giurgiu based in Bulgaria, a further 250 miles later we arrived in the National Christian Centre Plovdiv and greeted ecstatically by Vessi and Svetlo Petrova.

For Vessi and Svetlo their family and the Church this is a big step of faith to break out into communities and families, breaking with old formats of providing group supports and having to engage with the families in their homes, families that are in need of not only physical help but relational support. Please pray that doors would remain open for them to build on these new found relationships and build bridges for these families to feel part of the community again.


For this Christ has died that we might have fullness of communion with the Father and in him be able to poor out His grace and love to those around us.

For Feed the Hungry this was a breakthrough moment, dealing with new cultural customs and linguistic challenges. Feed The Hungry will be working very closely with the Church family to provide them with supporting materials and workshops to develop the program, of family support that bring Hope and Life into dark places.

If you would like to know more about  feed the hungry please go to http://www.feedthehungry.org.uk/

Thank you for taking time to read this blog

THE TWINS AT KING SOLOMONS ACADEMY.

Report From Pastor Solomon from Kampala Uganda
January this year as we prepared to open the school for our first term, many women visited our school, these included very old women,widows and those neglected by their husbands leaving with them a challenge of taking care of the kids.

One of the ladies whose kids were screened and accepted because of her very bad situation was Nyinabarongo, a title given to a mother of twins.The two boys were in a very bad shape. They were very skinny because of chronic hunger , had no clothes, they had a very bad eye problem, one has failed to heal and needs a specialist and we don’t have that money yet, the type that Dr.Carl calls” throw away kids that we turn into winners”.

As you can notice, apart from the eye problem of Isingoma, his name meaning first born twin son, they look well fed and well dressed in their school uniform and happy. The three months we have been with them is a huge blessing to their lives and the change can be notices easily by everybody.

For kids like these, and a few who were dropped and left at our school, we are planning to have a dormitory built at our school to allow such kids to stay in our hands and we take full and good care of them starting with our second term that starts in mid May 2012.

When I look at the sacrifice of keeping these kids in our school and also see the impact and the hope we give such kids, I say, it is worth it.

We still believe God to help save Isingomas eyes.Thanks for always believing in us and supporting us to keep the doorsof the school open to such kids.

Yours Solomon

Thanks to support of people like you we can provide hot nutritious meals specially mixed to provide a healthy diet, tht makes all the for these twins. All it takes is £4 to provide 100 meals enough  meals for one child for 3 months.

Become an Every Child Every Day supporter online at http://www.feedthehungry.org.uk/ to sow a seed of lasting hope in a childs life. 

Testomony from Cambodia

Testomony from Cambodia Mission Trip 2011 ( make sure you look at the video)

In November of 2011, along with the organisations Feed the Hungry and AFCM Australia, I was blessed with the opportunity to go on a short term hunger exposure missions trip to the nation of Cambodia with a small group of schoolies aged youth. I didn’t know what to expect as I had never been to a third world country before but knew that I would be challenged in my outlook on life and the world we live in.




Our team spent most of the week based in the province of Kampong Thom. Our main mission for the week was to help and support the Local church and the ministry they were running in Kampong Thom. Each day we would travel to a few different villages, some were close only 30-40 minutes by bus and others took us up to 2 hours by bus/foot and boat. In each village we had the opportunity to minister and play with local children through games and Bible stories-with help from our translators. We were also given opportunities to minister and share our personal testimonies to the adults or village leaders to encourage them in their faith. Most importantly we would help to prepare a meal for the children that we were ministering to, rice and a vegetable that had been purchased locally through the support of Feed the Hungry. The meals were so simple yet so life impacting-By providing a hot meal to these children 3 times a week, the pressure is removed from their families and instead of the children working in the field, they can have the opportunity to attend school and gain a better education.

Over the course of the trip my life was impacted greatly, and can be summed up into three main points.

The first is the attitude of the Khmar people-their selflessness. Everywhere we went in each village the need was so great and almost incomprehendable. Yet their ability to share everything they had was amazing. We live in such a blessed country where we have so much and yet still want more, even in our excess we fail to give, we never share or seek out ways to bless others-we are always putting ourselves first and trying to increase our own possessions. Yet these people who have nothing are always looking at ways to share with each other-whenever they experience increase, they share it out and look for ways to help each other. I was encouraged to no longer seek increase for myself, but to look for ways to give and help others who may not be as blessed as I am.

The second thing that has left an impact on my life from the trip was the healing power of God that we experienced. One afternoon we were in a small village and a close friend and I were asked to give our testimonies to the adults and elders there, after sharing with them we asked if there was anything we could pray for and one by one they began to ask us for prayer for healing in their bodies-we began to put into action what we had learnt about laying hands on the sick and seeing them recover. We prayed for sore backs, sore knees and headaches. Then they brought to us a little girl who had sores all over her feet and could barely walk, after praying over this young girl she stood and walked pain free. We give all the glory to God and we were so encouraged to experience God’s healing power first hand.

The final thing that has had a major impact in my life back in Sydney is my career focus. Before going to Cambodia, I had previously deferred a university degree and worked full time in a real estate office and was busy establishing a career for myself in the real estate industry. While in Cambodia I had the opportunity to speak with many of our translators and other youth that were still in high schools in the local area- and all the conversations led to me asking what they were planning to do after they finished their high schooling. One by one I heard these young people tell me of the dreams God had placed in their hearts, whether it be to go to university and study business so they could come back and help build up the local church, go to study law so they can come back and represent the locals in their home village or become a teacher and help teach English and Sunday school. Each of these young people had one thing at the centre of their dreams…Others. They were all planning to help others, help build and support the local church and it was all for God, none of them were trying to climb the social ladder of success, none of them wanted to be rich and famous. This made me think "what am I really doing with my life?" I have so many more opportunities to make a difference yet the choices I had made were so success focused and self-centred. God spoke to me so clearly about my life on that trip and I thank Him for it.

Since returning to Sydney, I have begun a degree in Agricultural Economics at the University of Sydney and when complete, I plan to travel back to Cambodia and help with the nation’s economic development.

During our trip we saw extreme poverty and experienced almost unbearable temperatures; we saw how one bowl of rice can change a child’s life, and how the power of God’s love has the greatest impact of all.

Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Matthew 22:37-40

Anna van Schie

(Pictured)

 A life changing experience  for a a young lady that saw how she could make a difference not only in the short term but for the rest of her life, In partnership with Feed The Hungry these young people have allready made a difference in helping provide food for the children you see in the video, spiritual food in there journey with them on the mission trip and a legacy of hope for the child that was healed.
 
 You to could be part of this adventure by partnering with us today, for only  £4 pounds a month you could provide 100 meals for these children, thats 1200 meals in a year. A mustard seed of hope that brings wells of blessing to children in desperate need.
 
Donate today at http://www.feedthehungryuk.org/node/44 or email me at gwilliams@feedthehungry.org  if you wold like to know more about Feed The Hungry
 
Thank you

From 600 to 1400 fed every day in Romania

Visiting new developments for our feeding program is never easy,. Conditions for giving the go ahead would not at times meet normal criteria for governmental standards of Hygiene, Health and Safety, and many other criteria that we would class as essential within our daily environment.

Very near to the centre of Bucharest we visited one of the proposed new city sites for providing a feeding program for children in some of the poorest areas that I have seen in Romania. Located in an alley way off the main street, it was a surprisingly big church that had an attendance of around 80 people. To reflect on the nature and outreach that the church was reaching into, the pastor described how one of the mafia type gangster’s wives had recently come to the Lord.

The heart of the church was to reach out to the people in the area and bring hope to the children that lived in squalor and chaos, to provide food yes but also an education and a hope that they could have life beyond their current circumstance.

Poverty here could be measured within a contained environment of blocks of flats, streets and communities that could be identified with and be appalled at. Our next port of call was to an area called Love Field which took our emotions to a deeper level and one of admiration for those who are called to work there and a heartfelt pang for the situation of those who lived there. Unable to take the vehicle onto the site for the mud, we had to walk down a path strewn with human faeces.

A shanty town built on reclaimed land once used for a dump for construction material, with a ramshackle collection of clay brick, pallet wood patchwork walls and tin roofed huts, with no electricity or mains water, right in the middle of Bucharest. In the midst of the squalor sat a hut used as a church which will be turned into a feeding centre by the congregation, run by a young man, who had spent 7 years in prison who now had a vision to work with ex convicts, who the majority of those who lived in the commune where, having to live under such conditions as they had no support and less opportunity to find a mainstream job.

Rejected by society, they have not turned against it, but having found hope in Christ, turned to look at how they could reach out to the local community to help, provide food and an educational program to the most vulnerable of children in the surrounding area. What love is this that breaks down walls of human reasoning, core values that resonated with us at Feed The Hungry, to help the unloved and rejected, and to bring a hope and a future to those in need.

Read more about the different places visited and the new  feeding locations opened on our full report on http://www.feedthehungry.org.uk/ . The difference you can make today will pour out an avalanche of grace on these children for with every £4 donated we can provide 100 meals to provide meals to over 35,000 children Every day

Thank you 

Gwyn Williams

Operations Manger

UK and Ireland

Romania Snow Crisis

Subject: Romanian Crisis


To the Feed The Hungry Team.
I need to present a situation to you for your advice. In Romania we have many requests for help from churches, families, and from the village officials and CPS department. Entire villages are covered with snow, cutting off the people from deliveries of food and basic supplies. The army is now digging some of these houses out of the snow but it is a slow process.

We have a good supply of food and winter clothing at our warehouse in Bucharest that we could use to help the most desperate of these people. But before we try to make our way through the ice with snow chains on our truck, I wanted to first get your guidance concerning our supplies. Do we hold back the food for future use at our Feeding Centres or could we have a quick response now to the most desperate requests for help? If we do help now, what is the extent of the help? What is the limit? I can send you the money for the container of beans that we spoke about but this will not arrive until later, possibly to help replace some of the food that we use for the crisis now. But even with the bean container, we will still be low on can goods and soup mix.

I want to stay within the guidelines that FTH sets for using the food. I can raise a little money to purchase bread and other necessities but I could do much more if we could use a portion of our supplies at our Bucharest warehouse.




Please let me know your suggestions. We will stay within the limits and guidelines that you set.

God bless you and all of the staff at FTH

We received this request from Bread of Life in Romania asking if we could release some of the ECED inventory in their warehouse (soup mix, beans, canned goods) for emergency distributions to people trapped by the snowstorms outside of Bucharest. Of course we said “Yes” and told BOL to use up to 50% of our goods for emergency relief.


We have a lorry ready to go from Germany but is as yet unable to get through safely. We are also looking at what we can do to supplement this by sending a container of Food , clothing and blankets from the UK, if you can help please let me know. email me at gwilliams@feedthehungry.org or if you would like to donate towards thids crisis please go to http://www.feedthehungry.org.uk/
 
 
Gwyn Williams
Operations Manager