A Full Life Feels Good! - Feed The Hungry

It feels good when you have a full life.

It starts with a full belly and the tremendous contentment that brings. Next a head full of knowledge is the critical tool to escaping the poverty cycle. However as a Christian non-profit charity with over 30 years experience we know you can never really have a full life, unless Jesus is at the centre.

That’s why whenever we operate, we want to feed the hungry, body, soul & spirit.

We are so grateful for an amazing tool that helps us to achieve this – the fortified rice meal – which provides a hot and nutritious meal for 216,605 children in 20 countries around the world.

It Feeds The Body.

Did you know that the UN estimates that over 815 million people go to bed hungry every night?
Some children are able to scrounge scraps of food but rarely, if ever, does it have the nutritional value they need. Our rice meals are mixed with dehydrated vegetables, soy for protein and are fortified with a special blend of vitamins and minerals – such as Vitamin C that promotes wound healing, or Vitamin A that improves vision – so that children grow up healthy.

Pastor Herbet in Uganda has seen the impact of the fortified rice meals first hand. Sickle Cell disease is a horrific malady affecting 20% of the Uganda population, with a tragic mortality rate of 80% for children under 5. They are more susceptible to infections and more prone to bleeding. As the cells break down the process causes great pain as the cells frequently block blood flow requiring hospitalisation for treatment.

A young child, named Precious, was brought to Ps. Herbert’s orphanage with the condition. Through prayer and access to the fortified rice meals, Precious no longer has to visit the hospital every month to receive treatment and pain relief.

Precious has been hospital free for two years now.

“I am a witness before God of the nutritional value of the fortified rice meals.

Her look, her appearance, her life has changed totally!

I would say to everybody out there, who is supporting FTH, you may not feel like you are feeding the hungry. But your contribution is felt somewhere… I feel it… I can feel the help.”

– Ps Herbert Bjorndo

It Feeds The Soul.

Visiting the Chanrom Refugee Camp school in Kiryandongo I was delighted to spy a chart of academic performance in the principal’s office. The Primary Leaving Exam (PLE) showed that since the school first opened (2010 – 2013) only one student achieved the top result of Division 1.

The Full Life feeding program began in 2014 with immediate results – five Division 1 results and repeated again in 2015. In 2016 the year of my visit, an outstanding result was recorded of fifteen Division 1 results. Deputy Principal Stephen Msambo proudly informed us that every student who sat the PLE – passed – A first in the history of the school! Something Mr Msambo directly attributes to the beginning of the feeding program with our fortified rice meals. Division 1 is the top 1 percent in the entire country!

The provision of hot and nutritious meals had the immediate effect of increasing attendance and improving the natural capacity of the students to learn. They were able to build their ability to concentrate, to retain knowledge and to comprehend what they were being taught.

We believe a good meal in the right hands can change lives.

It Feeds The Spirit.

One of the many victims of acute hunger is your self-respect. When you have not eaten in several days your desperation will begin to open up pathways that you would never have considered before. In Nicaragua families routinely, scavenge through rubbish dumps looking for items to resell. Manuel from Bluefields is such a young boy in our Full Life feeding program. After some time, our local church partners invited Manuel to a church camp, a getaway for fun. On the last night of the camp there was a church service and an altar call was held. Manuel responded, and gave his heart to Jesus.

Afterwards he told Kendra Doutt, our missionary partner in Nicaragua, that he no longer believes the lie. She asked him what lie? “That I am worthless like the rubbish I dig through every day. Now I know that God loves me. God thinks I am worth more than anything!”

Manuel’s story tugs my heart, and I never tire of sharing it. Time and time again, we have found food to be that small key that opens hearts to the gospel. We don’t force anyone to convert to our faith, or join our church or any such nonsense. We feed the hungry in Jesus’ name but without strings attached. They come to us afterwards, and ask why we do this wonderful thing… and that gives us the door of opportunity to share about the good shepherd.

On behalf of Manuel, and Precious and the hundreds of thousands of children receiving a full life around the world today. I just want to say thank you… thank you so much! You are heroes to the children.

Voice for the Hungry,

Benjamin Evans

Director
FTH Australia