At Our Core

Early yesterday morning we brought a number of our international partners together for a Zoom meeting; we invited those who are on the front lines each day, distributing food to the desperately hungry. Christina, Tim, Sue Walker and I managed to gather six partners from Uganda, Kenya, India and the Philippines. I had set an hour aside, but we talked for a full two hours. The meeting had several purposes:

• It was the first time some of them had ever met each other.
• It gave an opportunity to describe the unique challenges they are facing as they seek to get food to the very hungry in their communities (in fact, some are actually threatened with starvation).
• They were able to share creative ideas among themselves.
• We were able to encourage them, to express our deep appreciation for all they are doing, and to pray for them.

It was so important to give these partners the opportunity to share their stories with each other. At the same time, hearing accounts of what is going on in the slums and villages was a very sobering experience. Our partners, and those working with them, are making huge sacrifices that we in the West cannot fully fathom. They are laying everything on the line: their personal finances, their time and energy (they are working extremely long hours every day), and their own personal safety and health.

It is important for those of us living in the West to understand that in the developing world, the economic structure for the poor has not changed in millennia––the laborer works all day, then he receives his pay for that day; this is how he provides food for his family’s dinner. There is no monthly paycheck; there is no unemployment or welfare. When the businesses and farms were shut down by the government in response to the pandemic, that day, all financial provision ceased.

Since the time of the early church, history records that with each plague that came, it was the Christians who put themselves in danger in order to care for the sick and the needy. Once again, this is true. Here are just a very few examples from yesterday’s meeting:

• When Richard’s team in Kalonga, Uganda arrived at “the widows’ land” with enough food packets to feed everyone (250) for two weeks, they were met with great emotion from the community. They had run out of food; in their hunger, they had been eating the seed meant for planting this season’s crop.
• Trinity and his team live and work in two slums in Kampala. The residents live in a “rabbit warren” of shacks and winding lanes. There is no land available to even plant vegetables. Trinity worked with a man who owns a grocery store, to purchase enough food for 400 families (abut 2,400 people). He then distributed tickets to each household. On Saturday, they will exchanged the tickets for the provisions––enough for two weeks. In this way, the people will not have to gather in unsafe crowds. As well, Trinity is helping the economy of the two slums.
• The Impact Australia team has been working for over a year now on getting water filters to thousands of school children and hundreds of homes. Building upon this network of relationships, our Philippine partners are distributing family food packets through east Samar with great efficiency.
• Joseph, our partner in rural west Kenya has been overseeing the operation of a school for poor children. Once the pandemic began in Kenya, the government required that all the children return to their homes. However, sixty boys and girls had nowhere to return to. Joseph and his team are providing full care for them, including feeding the children. This had become extremely difficult, since the ten churches that usually provide financial support have all closed down.
• Annabelle, our partner in Kampala, has 16 teenaged girls and their babies living with her and the Remnant Generation team. She shared stories of beaten and abused girls showing up at her door with nowhere else to go. (Domestic abuse is skyrocketing in Uganda and Kenya.) No-one is allowed to walk on the streets. We listened as the Africans exchanged stories of being beaten with sticks by the soldiers and policemen who patrol the streets. So, getting groceries is a great challenge (no private cars are allowed out). They are now scrambling to find bulk supplies of corn flour and beans, since the store shelves are largely empty.
• Some of our partners have discovered that there are many families who have no access to fuel, so the team must transport cooked food, as well as the food packages.

These are only a few “bare-bones” stories from two hours of sharing, crying and praying.

Impact Nations began 16 years ago with two words: Rescuing Lives; it is our mandate from the Lord. During this pandemic, we are paring everything down to one thing: we will feed the hungry in the poorest nations where we work. The global situation has meant that, for now, we cannot visit houses to distribute water filters; men and women cannot gather in our various training centers or small businesses; the children cannot attend Hope & Care School; we cannot operate medical clinics. But we can do our best to ensure that men, women and children do not starve. By providing food, they can live.

Join us in this great purpose. 100% of every gift is going directly to our partners so that they can purchase food. Often, money that is given today, actually becomes food in someone’s hand three days later. We can do this. For many in the West, it is a frightening and uncertain time. In the face of that, I ask you to give what you can so that our brothers and sisters in Africa and Asia can eat.

Together for the sake of Christ,

Steve

1. Now I want you to know, dear brothers and sisters, what God in his kindness has done through the churches in Macedonia.

2. They are being tested by many troubles, and they are very poor. But they are also filled with abundant joy, which has overflowed in rich generosity.

3. For I can testify that they gave not only what they could afford, but far more. And they did it of their own free will. (2 Cor 8:1-3)