I want to tell the story once again of how our Prison Ministry assessed the need to branch out and feed the school children at the Buell School, in case you missed it This is the orphan school Tracy’s Heart recently started for those children who are living with other families or neighbors, mostly single moms, but cannot afford school fees. The families are also too poor to feed everyone adequately. When the school began Tracy’s Heart donation base could not be stretched enough to include a daily meal for the children. Until they are, we decided the children really need daily food so we stepped in to help.
The two school rooms are hooked to the open kitchen area where the special porridge is cooked for the prisoners too ill to eat regular Congo food. Our co-workers told of how the children would clamor to help carry the humongous pans up the 3 stories of steps to the waiting vehicle, hoping a bit would spill out so they could lick it off their hands. Or scrape the overflow off the hot bricks where it had been cooked. At that moment we knew we had a new and immediate need to fill.
Plus, this group of school children were not faring well in school. Oh, they LOVED being able to attend school and they WANT to be there! They know without an education they are doomed to live in the same level of poverty as they see all around them. But without a proper diet with enough protein they are showing signs of Bwaki, a protein deficiency disease, and consequently are often ill or having a hard time learning, or staying awake. This disease will lead to death if not soon reversed. Their young bodies cannot sustain life or learning without quality food everyday. We had no “extra” money for this. Without more partners it meant a prison would likely get left out, but we’d deal with that *later. Never-the-less, we all agreed this project had to be taken on immediately. We sent someone out to buy plastic bowls and cups, sacks of rice and beans, oil, salt, onions and tomatoes and within 3 days the program began.
The recipients of our food program on the first day it was served at the school were so overwhelmed with joy at seeing the meal, their faces glowed with wonder and surprise, some even danced around! Without food in the mornings and little in the evenings, the children viewed this mid-day meal as a real “miracle.” For them, it could only have come from God. One young man had never before eaten anything in the middle of the day and he hoped it would continue. We don’t want to let him down!
Because we have added a school to our Prison Ministry Feeding Program, a new name had to be found for our brand. ”Hope for the Hungry was chosen. We are still under Heart for Central Africa Mission LLC, are in partnership with Tracy’s Heart, and continue the Prison Ministry. The new name allows us to grow beyond prisons alone. So we are hoping and praying more people will get involved.
*Later has come, read more on that in the next update.
We serve a minimum of 3000+ people and get a lot of bang for your buck!!
Costs: $2,500 per month but need
- Feeding 40-50 school children 6 times a week every month
- FYI: Congolese schools run 6 days a week
- Includes small salaries for 4 women who come to cook everyday
- A small prison is given 3 meals a week for a month, and includes 100 – 550 inmates and staff
- always in other parts of the country with the worst roads imaginable
- includes renting a truck and driver or several motorcycles w/ drivers
- often our co-workers have to stay overnight before returning
- A large prison handles 1800-2000+ inmates who are given 3 meals a week for a month at a time.
- Rice and beans in huge sacks are cooked by the inmates in vats over open fires
- Specialty porridge is cooked by our co-workers for those too ill to eat other foods
- Includes salaries for our faithful co-workers, purchasing food in quantity, women to cook, hiring transport and driver, plus firewood or charcoal (made locally) for cooking
Under His Wings, Jayn for the Harkemas
Heart For Central Africa / Hope for the Hungry
“And the King will answer and say to them,’Assuredly I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.” Matthew 25:40 NKJV
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