Africa Children's Feeding Centers
In 2022, we had the privilege of visiting a feeding program in a fairly large village outside of Harare, Zimbabwe. It was lunchtime and about seventy-five children were lined up to receive a hot meal. It was probably their only meal that day. Families did not have food to feed their children. It looked like a well-run program that was doing fine on its own. Besides volunteers feeding the children, they also heard Bible stories and learned about God.
Surprisingly, the program had only been in operation for a little over a month. A pastor and his wife started it. They also had regular jobs and funded it until their savings ran out. It closed after operating for two months.
About a month after that, I was having a phone conversation with our contact in Zimbabwe, John Mutandwa. John and his organization, Faith In Community Aiders) had been working with the church in Glen View. In that conversation, I asked about the feeding program. That was when John informed me that it closed because the pastor and his wife ran out of funds. That was bad enough, but he continued on and told me several children had died after the program closed.
We had to do something.
We spread the word that our program was in need of assistance, and fortunately, a very generous donor came forward to help us restart it. With their support, we were able to purchase a new gas stove and provide funds for food. On the first day, fifty-two children showed up to receive a hot meal and to listen to stories from the Bible. Just a month later, we were serving two hundred and fifty children every day, and the program became a great success.
Thanks to the program, there are children who are alive today.
Once the first feeding center was running well, we were approached about a second and then a third program. As of this writing, all three are running and running well. There are now 564 children in our three programs in Glen View, Mataure, and Churu Farm. The three are located in different provinces in Zimbabwe. Even though we have invitations to start programs in other countries, our goal is to have programs in all of the provinces of Zimbabwe.
Churu Farms is so isolated that there are no roads to get there. It is a piece of land that was designated for poor people to use. There are not even any bathrooms there. Something else was missing. There were no churches in Churu Farms. As a matter of fact, there were very few Christians. As the feeding program began working there, it was determined that there were enough Christians to begin a church. A pastor was hired to move to the community and start a church. Praise the Lord for that.
There are so many more stories to tell and more photos to show. The bottom line here is there are children alive today because we listened to God's call to help these children. They are being fed physically and spiritually. Children and adults are hearing about Jesus Christ and accepting Him into their hearts.
There is more to do. More children need help with food, and more people need to hear about God's love for them. But we could not do it without your help. We hope you will consider what you can do to help. Please click on the Donate Now button to contribute or make a monthly pledge. Or contact us for more ways you can help.