“Oh God, how can it be like this? It shouldn’t be like, these children should never be this desperate for food.” — Jodie McEwen
Summary
As a Feed The Hungry donor, Jodie experienced first-hand the daily hunger faced by children in Uganda’s refugee settlements. Her journey opened her eyes to their deep need — and the incredible impact your generosity can have.
Jodie’s story
Jodie is a Feed The Hungry supporter who gave to help feed hungry children through Take Away Hunger Day 2024. This year, she was given the opportunity to visit the children in Uganda.
As it turns out, she was not quite ready for what she saw on the trip. She sat down to share a little of her experience…
“When I got invited to come to Uganda, my gut feeling was like, yes. And I was like, I should probably chat to my husband and pray about it… before I just make a decision. But my gut reaction was, yes, I want to go”.
This is an amazing opportunity. I’m a donor for Feed The Hungry and it was just too good an opportunity not to see first-hand the work that they do.
These children have an incredible strength. A lot of them are orphans. They have been through war. They’ve walked for days on foot, or they’ve been grabbed by a stranger and just told to run. So often they’re totally separated from their families.
And yet, these kids have resilience and strength and the desire to make a better life for themselves.
They’re really keen to study; they’re desperate to get to school.
I didn’t expect the heart wrench. I knew it would break my heart but… there’s nothing that prepares you for the moment when a child says, “This is the only food I get all day”.
On the first day, we arrived at one of the schools at lunchtime and I got to see the beautiful women cooking in these enormous pots the size of a washing machine… The kids were hungry and I got to help.
So I’m crouched on one side of this big pot with the teacher on the other side, and the kids bring us their plates and we scoop rice and hand it on and then the next one, and the next one, and that sounds simple and orderly but the crush of kids, I wasn’t prepared for it.
You could feel it – they were hungry to come forward because this was the only food.
I was just overwhelmed by this enormous surge of desperation and, in that moment, I was like, “Oh, God, how can it be like this? It shouldn’t be like this. Children should never be this hungry in the world that we live in. Nobody should.”
I’ll never forget that as long as I live.
I’m a donor and I believe in what Feed The Hungry does. Take Away Hunger Day is so important.
As a mother, how could I not want to feed these children? I want to do everything in my power to make sure that those kids have food for the next day. That they have a meal that will help them concentrate and learn and get through to the next day.
