Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me” (Matt. 25:40).
The children in our neighborhood have occupied a large spot in our hearts and lives for many years. We have paid school fees and hospital bills; we have replaced dirty rags with clean clothes; we have put shoes on naked feet and shared innumerable meals with hungry kids. For a while we have been thinking about how better to help the children, always careful not to remove responsibility from their parents.
At the beginning of this year, we discussed how and whom to help in a more structured and wise way. First we made a list of all the children in our immediate neighborhood who had lost one or both parents, or who live with grandma because the parents left them for whatever reason. Quickly, we came up with more than 25 names! Many parents, especially single parents, struggle to make ends meet and take care of their children. There is no such thing as day care in this part of the world. Often the kids come home from school at noon hungry (many don’t get any breakfast), and nobody is home. Mother and father are at work in the fields or in the woods gathering firewood. Worse, there is often no food in the house or only a little left over from the night before. A few hours later, the children need to go back to school, often still hungry. You can imagine how this affects their capacity to concentrate and learn.
So, in February, we launched a feeding project. We bought place settings for 30 and bags of rice, beans, corn, onions, salt and other essentials. We hired a cook, set up tables and benches and started the adventure. On the first day we had a huge amount of food left over. On the second day it was barely enough. By the third day we had figured out the right quantity. Now every day for lunch, Monday through Thursday, 25 kids age 5 to 18 get their bellies filled.
When the kids arrive at noon, they first line up to wash their hands. Then they are all seated. We sing or say grace, and then the room gets very quiet! The shouting and chatting ceases, and every mouth is busy chewing. When the kids are full (sometimes we have to tell them, “You are full now!”), they go outside and play for a while with our student missionaries, Havila and Cintia. Then they line up again at the water pump to fill their buckets and go to the showers. It is very common for people here to shower in the middle of the day before going back to work or school. By 2:30 p.m. we make sure they are on their way back to school. When the place gets quiet, our cook cleans up, and we briefly discuss what needs to be purchased for the next meal.
Ever since we started this project, many children have come back to us after school in the evening to play some more and to take another shower. Some even come on Sundays to do their laundry. Most families have to carry their water from the village well, which can be quite a distance. Here the kids can get water from the pump and have to carry the bucket only a few meters.
In a few months, summer vacation will start. We hope that our SMs will have learned enough French by then to not only play with the children, but also to tell them Bible stories. After all, we want to fill not only bellies, but souls as well. Please pray for these children, that we would be able to lead them to Jesus, their Friend, Brother and Savior.
