Back in Africa

Man, do I love this continent!! This past week we've had the opportunity to revisit a few FTH Every Child Every Day sites as well as some new outreaches where children are receiving a hot & nutritious meal courtesy of the friends and partners of Feed The Hungry.

Brian Bush, LeSEA's Middle East Correspondent and Meg Gorecki from Doug Shaw & Associates traveled to Kibera, Kenya (the world's second largest slum); Bulenga and Banda, Uganda; and even up into Yei, Sudan to chronicle how a simple daily school lunch program is making a huge difference in the lives of children that are hungry... for education. At New Generation School in Yei about 90% of the children have lost either one or both parents to AIDS or the war. Pastor Stanley has brought these precious ones under the shadow of God's loving arms and is creating a expectation of promise and hope by allowing them to dream again.

FTH President Pete Sumrall, Lamar Austin, Dr. Todd Coontz, and I followed behind Brian and Meg, touching base with our operational partners in each place. This has been Dr. Todd's first trip to Africa and he's travelled like an old pro and has learned the true meaning of the phrase 'T-I-A'... This Is Africa! If anyone needs an unforgettable lesson in the power of patience, just come to Africa with us sometime... you'll be glad you did.

Hope to post some photos shortly either here or on at feedthehungry.org; the expressions of the children are priceless and thier joy is nothing short of contagious!

News from Darfur, Sudan

Over the last few months, Feed The Hungry has sent containers of meals to Niger, Benin, Liberia, Sudan, Uganda, Kenya, Zambia, and Swaziland. Most have made their way through Customs & government red-tape and into the hands of people in real need of NOW help.

Two containers carrying 541,720 fortified rice & soy protein meals destined for the people of Darfur have gotten 'stuck'... momentarily. Please take a minute and put a prayer before the God of Heaven & Earth that these two containers will get 'unstuck' and speed their way to South Darfur.

This is a photo of Haija, a semi-blind widow. During one of the Darfur food distributions in 2007, Haija showed up as the trucks were unloading their grain and began to pick up the bits and pieces that fell from the 50 kilo sacks. The workers told her, "Come back tomorrow, that's when the distribution will take place." But she continued to 'glean' what she could. Haija and the unknown widows, women, children, elderly, and others having to get by day by day are why we have to see the two containers in Port Sudan released and on their way to Darfur asap.

I love the simple, powerful, clear cut take-it-or-leave-it way that Jesus communicated with those who followed him and expressed their questions & concerns.

"With men these things are impossible, but with God all things are possible"... even liberating 42 tons of much needed food supply from the hands of an apathetic and antagonistic government bureaucracy. Jesus followed up by saying "All things are possible to him who believes"-- trusts in, relies on, and clings to.

When we come to him with questions & concerns, he puts the ball back in our court and points us upward to trust in, rely on, and cling to the God who considers our "impossibles" nothing more than ordinary.