On Sunday night in church a guy preached about taking 'good news to the poor' not just being about benevolence but about helping people be transformed and empowered in the situations they are in to make a difference. And this furthered my thinking on the topic.
There is a long-standing argument that food parcels are not the way forward except in an emergency, as they encourage dependence. Unfortunately in this area of the world, there are too many small children who have no food and would count as an emergency case. When I'm taking food into school and a small child says they are hungry I'm not going to send him or her away with nothing, but I'll give them whatever I have.
However, in the school where I'm working there are currently 350 children who have been orphaned and often go hungry. Given that this part of the country has the highest prevalence of HIV/AIDS infections and poverty, the situation is unlikely to be solved overnight. There will be many children for many years to come who pass through this school and need help. On one hand the sheer number of children is overwhelming. Thankfully the school receives donations to feed these children twice a day during the school week. It's not enough, but it's much much better than nothing. Whatever we manage to raise and buy for the the 40 orphans with whom I work closely also gets added into this and it's exciting when we're able to make a real difference by giving a child some food.
Following on from this, and in discussion with the School Principal, I'm coming more and more round to the idea that it's not just about feeding the kids, but also about training and providing for the older children to help themselves. The smallest children, like in Grade R, can't go out and find their own food, they are dependent on whatever we can give them. However, the older children, from about age 13-18, they could be helped to help themselves. Many of them are managing a home outside of school as well as studying. Basic and essential skills could really benefit them.
So I'm in a researching phase right now. I'm thinking about projects such as vegetable gardens, or chickens, where the children are given a starter and training to look after their project and they then sell on the surplus of what they've tended and produced. There are many projects like this and I want to choose the one that would work best with my children. My thought is to set something up with perhaps 10 of my older children, mostly boys, and then if this works we could expand it for the rest of the orphans in the school. It's an exciting time as we look into the possibilities. If anyone has experience of these projects or can recommend anyone to help out, please get in touch. Otherwise, please pray for the way forward in this, that the appropriate projects can be found and established at the right time.
