Hope Notes 26

25 Years of Ending Poverty

The roots of Food for the Hungry PAGE 3

The Good Life

How do you define poverty? PAGE 9

Hope Delivered

Simple gifts with lasting impact PAGE 13

Recipes

Tasty drinks from around the world PAGE 16

Heroes of Transformation

Meet Afrose Akter PAGE 18

Cropping Out Poverty

New farming methods change lives! PAGE 20

A Child, A Community, and You

Phanny's story from stuck to thriving PAGE 23

FROM THE PRESIDENT

This past year, Food for the Hungry Canada reached an incredible milestone – 25 years! After humble beginnings aiding communities affected by the Rwandan gencide in 1994, we look back on our organization’s foundation and FH Canada’s history of fulfilled promises and thriving communities.

In this issue of HopeNotes, you’ll read about the courageous individuals who have worked hard to transform entire communities. It started with FH Canada’s founding Executive Director David Collins’ faithful first steps. Still today Afrose Akter, a long-time FH staff member in Bangladesh, is tirelessly spreading life-saving health information. And Florencio, a farmer in Guatemala, is growing a better future for his kids and fellow farmers. There is determination to make a difference!

FH’s story is a story of hope for countless people in partner communities. It is a story of responding to God’s call and of God’s faithfulness. This is your story too.

I’m so grateful to be here for this anniversary. Thank you for your part in his journey! Your encouragement has transformed entire communities – and there’s so much more good on the way! Let’s end poverty together!

Gratefully,

Shawn Plummer President & CEO

ISSUE 25 SPRING 2019

Food for the Hungry (FH) Canada’s seasonal publication, celebrating stories of hope from partner communities around the world.

Editorial: Eryn Austin-Bergen, Colton Martin, Mark Petzold, Michael Prins Design: Tyler Anaya

Contributors: Afrose Akter, Beth Allen, Katie Rae Bode, Ben Hoogendoorn, Karen Koster, Tanya Martineau, Daniel White

Food for the Hungry (FH) Canada is a Christian, non-profit organization dedicated to facilitating sustainable, community development in order to bring about long-term transformation for those stuck in poverty.

Through project development, Child Sponsorship, and emergency relief, FH Canada strives to relieve all forms of poverty—physical, spiritual, social, and personal.

Our Purpose:

To end poverty, one community at a time. Our Promise:

To graduate communities from poverty in 10 years.

84.6% Building Sustainable Communities

10.8% Invested to Generate Income

4.6% Administration & Running Costs

As a Certified Member of the Canadian Council for Christian Charities, FH Canada meets the stringent standards set by the CCCC for accountability and organizational integrity.

CHARITABLE REGISTRATION NUMBER: 132152893RR0001

FH CANADA

1-31741 Peardonville Road, Abbotsford, BC V2T 1L2

T 604.853.4262 | TF 1.800.667.0605

Celebrating 25 Years

LOOKING BACK AT FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY CANADA'S FOUNDATION

1971

Food for the Hungry is born

Dr. Larry Ward

was a deeply spiritual man with a heart for the poor and a passion for God’s Word. Dr. Ward was the first managing editor for “Christianity Today,” a thriving Christian publication that opened his eyes to the hunger crisis in East Africa. After coming face to face with the suffering of millions and being struck by the reality that 40,000 men, women, and children were dying daily due to hungerrelated causes, Dr. Ward was overwhelmed with a burden to do something. In response, he prayed Isaiah’s words: “Here I am, Lord, send me.” The result? Food for the Hungry was born.

Our Foundation

“He upholds the cause of the oppressed and gives Food to the Hungry.” - Psalm 146:7

1987

Child Sponsorship Begins!

1988 Moving North

Food for the Hungry begins sharing its global story and raising support in Canada. The Canadian Food Grains Bank and FH Japan were among our earliest partners. They boldly forged a foundation to establish a permanent operation in Canada.

1971, Cambodia

1993

From hand-outs to hand-ups

From a small US relief agency to end hunger to a global movement to end poverty, it only took a few decades for FH to respond to the deep need to walk with communities on their longer journeys to thriving. It was our new president, Dr. Yamamori of Japan, who brought FH squarely into a new era of upholding the cause of the oppressed.

The Early Vision

God called and we responded until physical and spiritual hungers ended worldwide.

Dr. Larry WarD

Dr yamamori 1971, Ethiopia

Celebrating 25 Years

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY CANADA'S EARLY DAYS

Former Christian and Missionary Alliance (C&MA) missionary and pastor David Collins becomes FH Canada’s first Executive Director! David passionately believes every Christian is called to ‘uphold the cause of the oppressed’. Collins also firmly believes that empowering the poor to end their own poverty is critical to sustainability.

1994

FH Canada

Officially Opens!

“The love of Christ compels me to do everything I can to help those less fortunate than myself. It’s been said it’s better to teach a man to fish than to give him a fish. Sustainable development is about helping people learn how to find their own solutions. It takes time and requires a willingness to build relationships and trust.” [FH Annual Report 2001]

1995

It's About Thriving Communities

1994

Canadians Begin Sponsoring Children

DaviD CoLLins

1994, Rwanda

Child Sponsorship becomes the catalyst to launch FH Canada as a support office in our own right. Within just 10 years there are 2,643 sponsorships! By 2020, XXXX of children have been supported by over XXXX Canadians passionate to end poverty for the least of these. Such encouragement for families in need cannot be quantified, but over 25 years, that means over tens of thousands of letters or photos between kids and their sponsors!

FH hosts paradigm shifting meetings to articulate a new philosophy for alleviating the suffering of the poor. These “Vision of a Community” meetings held in Kenya gathered FH leaders from around the world to solidify our biblical worldview and develop integrated solutions to the integrated challenges that materially poor communities face.

One of the earliest websites was simple but ahead of the standard for charities raising child sponsors.

Celebrating 25 Years

2000 2000

Hope Delivered Launching a New Millenium

FH Canada steps up to host the International Staff Conference in Vancouver, BC. FH workers from all over the globe gather to share their experiences living and working in partner communities. They discuss what the problems of poverty really look and feel like, and what they observe as the root causes. Hosting the meetings helps FH Canada build relationships within the FH family and position itself as a thought-leader among the affiliates.

2001

The Gift Guide

FH seizes upon a unique opportunity to align international communities’ medical needs with Canada’s nationwide medical equipment upgrade. The FH International Medical Equipment Distribution (IMED) program launches in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and receives millions of dollars worth of technologically “outdated” but fully functional medical equipment. IMED relies on its army of big-hearted volunteers. Alongside a small team of FH staff, they refurbish, pack, and ship equipment and supplies to communities all over the world in desperate need.

Over the course of 17 years, IMED ships 344 containers of life-saving medical resources at an estimated value of over 51 million dollars. IMED’s immeasurable global impact rescues tens of thousands of people from suffering and death.

2001

The first Gifts for Change Gift Guide is delivered to Canadians! Behind its punny and lighthearted talking animal characters lie and ingenious way to help families in need – it’s a practical way to change lives! Through the Gift Guide, Canadians provide practical items (like goats and vegetable seeds) to families fighting poverty, in lieu of giving to a loved one during the Christmas season, birthday,

Canadians Begin Sponsoring Children

Christian musicians begin using their influence to personally invite Canadians to sponsor a child. The earliest advocates include Brian Doerksen and Jon Neufeld. Others include High Valley, Don Moen, Lecrae, and Toby Mac. On their 2016-17 Hootenanny tour through western Canada, Tim Neufeld & the Glory Boys help raise over 2,800 sponsors for kids in Cambodia.

Tim Neufeld with sponsor children in Cambodia.

Celebrating 25 Years

2005-2014 Ben Hoogendoorn as President

Ben Hoogendoorn becomes president of FH Canada. “I was just some little mechanic guy from Vernon, BC," he says. Ben’s genuine love for people makes it possible for him to connect with fishermen in Cambodia, mothers in Guatemala, farmers in Uganda, and donors in Saskatchewan. His decades as a business owner helps tighten the ship at FH Canada. At the heart of his leadership is relationship. “The people we call “the poor” taught me so much more than I learned out of any book. Their genuine contentment—you go to their home and hear them pray thanking God for what they have!” Ben’s biggest institutional legacy will become fiscal responsibility and end-to-end transformation by connecting donors to developing communities.

Communitites Begin Graduating!

Graduation, in 10 years – a bold purpose and promise! It takes time – to listen and help communities both see and pave a way out of poverty. But when it starts to happen, it works. FH’s focus on nurturing community ownership and sustainability begin to bear fruit. It was only the beginning! This is the first of almost yearly graduations thereafter.

2005 Mado Adi, Kenya Graduates!

After surviving a brutal civil war, the community of Chuuk partnered with FH to overcome decades of poverty. Within just eight years, Chuuk is flourishing! Upon graduation, over 400 community members are participating in savings groups and giving their extra savings to the sick and elderly. According to Ben Hoogendoorn, “Farmers are using and improving on FH farming techniques. The fields we visited were healthy and pest-free, and many are fully organic.” The farmers were so industrious they had taken the six cows FH gave them and multiplied them into 200!

2007 Chuuk, Cambodia Graduates!

he first cluster of communities officially graduate from poverty under FH’s 10 year child focused model! These four villages succeed in dramatically improving the quality of life for pastoral farmers. They increase access to healthcare, build new classrooms and teacher housing, de-silt a local dam, reforest large plots of land, and stimulate new jobs. Best of all, former sponsor children now work in local schools, shops, and government helping to keep Mado Adi a thriving community.

2006 San Cristobal, Guatemala Graduates!

Thanks to local FH staff who work day-in and day-out in the Alta Verapaz region, Guatemala sees their first communities graduate! Families celebrate new varieties of corn for longer growing seasons and better nutrition. They pride themselves in their water treatment facility, refitted medical centre (thanks to IMED!), a new middle school, and parents who are proud of their kids’ educational success. Several graduates go on to college and return to San Cristobal as teachers.

Ben Hoogendoorn 2013, Burundi

Children in Pamuc, San Cristobal laugh together.

Celebrating 25 Years

2010

Makhai, Uganda Graduates!

“Celebrating and exiting and letting communities do it on their own is not a normal thing in the charity world—but why should we stay on indefinitely, forcing dependency?”

For decades the people of Makhai believed their village was cursed, condemned to poor academics, failing crops, and unhappy marriages. In 2001 one FH staff member began showing them it is possible to live beyond the curse and to envision a new community. Children began performing well in school, land was revitalized, incomes and savings grew. They even pulled together to build a trade school and medical clinic. Makhai becomes a model for graduation, and their leaders invite neighbouring villages into partnership with FH. The communities of Bufukhula, and Nashisa and Marare would graduate in 2013 and 2019, respectively

— Mark Petzold

Poverty was overcome.”

Poverty is radical and needs a revolutionary solution! This call challenges Canadians to rethink poverty and its solutions. Boot Camp is born—a weekend workshop built on FH’s key principles and lessons-learned. It serves churches, businesses, and other Canadians to see that “it’s about relationships” – not the rich, the poor, or quick fixes. Where will yoy fit in? To date, over 120 workshop events take place across Canada, hosting thousands of curious minds. Today, the interactive workshop carries the name “Ending Poverty Together Workshops.”

“He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” - Micah 6:8

Bernie Willock as President

Bernie Willock takes the reins as President. With his keen business sense Bernie builds a lean and strong team, increasing staff buy-in by increasing financial literacy and transparency. Bernie ambitiously raises the amount of financial support FH sends partner communities and champions its core value of “relationship first.” Bernie says, “What has defined FH for 25 years? Walking with, rather

Education For Canadians

2010 Poverty Revolution Boot Camp

2012

2013

2015

Helping Without Hurting Conferences

Bernie Willock

2015, Ethiopia

Dr. Brian Fikkert, co-author of best-selling book When Helping Hurts and founder of The Chalmers Center, shares his innovative insights to hundreds of Canadians at FH-sponsored conferences in Edmonton, Vancouver, and Calgary.

“We lost our job in Makhai, Uganda. The reason?

Celebrating 25 Years

2017 Relief and Humanitarian Affairs

IMED

The stream of medical equipment flowing from Canadian hospitals slows, shipping presents new challenges, and the IMED program slows to a halt. At the same time, an escalation in natural and man-made disasters reshapes the immediate needs of those trapped in poverty. So, FH once again expands its efforts to bring relief to vulnerable families, many suffering as refugees. God grants FH a seat at the table of some of the most influential global meetings to determine the direction of aid for millions of people.

2017 Shawn Plummer as President

With nearly a dozen years living cross culturally and seven years as a director at FH Canada, Shawn Plummer assumes leadership. Having worked and lived in places like Eritrea, Iraq, and South Sudan, Shawn sees how a partnership approach is critical. “Working from biblical values that offer a community that worldview is really valuable. Involving the local church and building their capacity to reach out to their own communities is a model you just don’t see secular organizations doing.” Shawn guides FH Canada through its change of the IMED program, and renews its passion for Child Sponsorship.

Endingpovertytogether.org is launched

Next-level edudcation! FH Canada’s position as a poverty-expert opens up collaboration with over two-dozen (and growing) other like-minded charities to launch online articles, videos, and more about poverty in Canada and abroad.

1998-2020 Turning the Pages

“Reaching Out” is first published as a fourpage, single colour periodic newsletter. In 2007 it is revitalized as “Hope Notes” to celebrate sponsor children and their families, church fundraisers and ftrips, and communities graduating. Twenty six issues later, it’s grown into a seasonal magazine that faithfully tells the story

of ending poverty. Thought provoking articles, compelling photographs, heart-felt storytelling, and humourous anecdotes – authored by staff members in the communities, to donors who visit their sponsored children – make each issue Hope Notes stand out as a message of hope.

Since 1994, Food for the Hungry Canada has walked with 69 communities on a journey toward sustainability—they’ve graduated. With your support, we are actively helping 77 communities in 8 countries on their way from stuck to thriving!

“In light of the unparalleled suffering we see today, we want to engage the world of relief with a mind toward long term development strategies.”

Lindsay Brucks, former Director of

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY CANADA'S WORK TODAY

shaWn PLummer 2017, Uganda

Written by Eryn Austin-Bergen

What is “the good life”?

A newly renovated Joanna Gains home with a farmstyle kitchen sink? A vacation to the family cabin every summer? A fresh-off-the-lot SUV with all the bells and whistles? Private schooling for your kids? A safe and financially secure retirement?

Some of us are living that life right now while some of us are still striving for it, but most of us already enjoy (and take for granted) the day-today comforts that underpin that good life. Hot water and electricity. Convenient and tasty meals. Advil for our aches and pains. A clean and orderly home. Up-to-date gadgets and highspeed internet. Unlimited entertainment. Indoor climate control. Comfortableness. Convenience. Pain-free living.

I thought about these things as we bumped down a pothole-ridden road in my brother’s old Jeep. It had been nine years since I was in in rural, sub-Saharan Africa. The bright red clay earth, the radiantly green crops, the expansive blue sky stretching to embrace a flat horizon—it was breathtakingly beautiful.

But also, strange.

I couldn’t help but notice that the young crops were haphazardly planted on any available patch of land, including garbage heaps on the edges of town. It was also the middle of the rainy season; the sky should be crowded with rolling thunder, cracks of lightning, and a daily deluge of life-giving rain. Instead, Zimbabwe is straining through its worst drought in one hundred years. The people are staggering under the weight of an economy devastated by corruption and decades of mismanaged infrastructure. There is suffering in the present and little hope in the future.

We drove past a cluster of worn-out mudbrick homes. Tattered clothes flapped in the breeze on a makeshift laundry line. A woman sat in the dirt with her two toddlers by the doorway of her house. They looked aimless and bored. I thought about my good life and felt suddenly sad.

As a North American I am surrounded with messages

One of the radical things about this perspective is that a person can be materially poor but living the good life to a much greater extent than a materially rich person.

that the good life is one of comfortableness, free from lack or struggle. It’s a lifestyle we organize our priorities to achieve—modern home, a secure job, a reliable car, a savings account, holidays at the lake cabin, and the resources to buy things we need as well as things we want. To the contrary, the mother we passed was living a day-to-day struggle against poverty that was sure to be painful. Her family likely lacked sufficient food, money, clean water, medicine, housing, and more. She must be miserable and unsatisfied, I thought. Her experience of life in poverty was surely less worth living than my good life of ease and convenience. I felt sorry for her.

Whether we see it in run-down farming towns on the Prairies or thousands of miles away in Africa, poverty often leaves us feeling sad and distressed. In their paradigm-shattering book, “When Helping Hurts: How to alleviate poverty without hurting the poor...and yourself”, Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert affirm that there is something “uniquely devastating about material poverty. Low income people,” they assert, “daily face a struggle to survive that creates feelings of helplessness, anxiety, suffocation, and desperation that are simply unparalleled in the lives of the rest of humanity (Corbett and Fikkert 2012, 66).”1 Not having enough food in the cupboard to feed your child breakfast. Not knowing where the rent money will come from. Not having a doctor when you’re sick.

Yet while Corbett and Fikkert acknowledge this painful plight of the poor, they don’t define poverty as a lack of money or things. They don’t define it as sitting on the ground outside your home watching the laundry dry. Instead, they take what we normally think of as poverty—not having stuff—and place it in a subcategory designated “material poverty”. This is the demographic living on less than $2 a day.

"The goal is not to make the materially poor all over the world into middle-toupper-class North Americans: the goal is to restore people to a full expression of humanness."

The families who don’t have access, who don’t have options, who struggle to meet their basic physical needs. It’s real and it’s painful. But it is not the be all and end all of poverty.

Poverty, they boldly assert, is ultimately broken relationships.

As Christians, they frame our experience of life in the context of four foundational relationships—with God, self, others, and creation. “The triune God is inherently a relational being, existing as three-inone from all eternity. Being made in God’s image, human beings are inherently relational as well. … These relationships are the building blocks for all of life. When they are functioning properly, humans experience the fullness of life that God intended (Corbett and Fikkert 2012, 54).”

Poverty, on the other hand, is anytime one or more of the four foundational relationships is broken. “Poverty is the result of relationships that do not work, that are not just, that are not for life, that are not harmonious or enjoyable. Poverty is the absence of shalom in all its meanings (Corbett and Fikkert 2012, 59).” One of the radical things about this perspective is that, under such a definition of poverty, a person can be materially poor but living

— Brian Fikkert

the good life to a much greater extent than a materially rich person. The good life, they assert, is biblical shalom—peace in all areas of our lives, not just the material. “In the New Testament, shalom is revealed as the reconciliation of all things to God through the work of Christ.”2 It is an experience of life where nothing is broken and no one is missing. Social connectedness. Happy marriages. Helping neighbours.

According to Fikkert, our Western culture has predominately failed to produce this good life. “The goal is not to make the materially poor all over the world into middle-to-upper-class North Americans, a group characterized by high rates of divorce, sexual addiction, substance abuse, and mental illness.” Instead, poverty alleviation is to do the hard work of seeking shalom, of reconciling relationships. And that takes our humility, time, commitment, personal sacrifice, and wisely invested donations. But Fikkert warns, “until we embrace our mutual brokenness, our work with low-income people is likely to do far more harm than good (Corbett and

Fikkert 2012, 61).” In other words, we have to start not by trying to “fix” the mother sitting on the ground with her children, but with a long, hard look at our own lives. Do we have shalom? Do we experience the presence of God in all areas of our lives? Does all of the shiny stuff we accumulate really deliver “the good life”?

According to recent studies, Canada, in spite of our economic success, is experiencing an epidemic of loneliness. Acute loneliness resulting from our lifestyle choices is causing “heightened rates of depression, anxiety and irritability [and] is now being associated with potentially life-shortening health issues such as higher blood pressure, heart disease and obesity.”3 Persistent loneliness may even be more harmful to our bodies than smoking 15 cigarettes a day.4 In 2016 Statistics Canada reported that nearly one third of our population lives alone.5 And in spite of our technological ‘connectedness’ researchers found the more time we spend on social media the more likely we are to feel socially isolated.6 Mental illness is also on the rise with 41 percent of Canadians from

all ages falling into the “high-risk” category.7 And an average marriage today lasts only 13.7 years.8

These findings point to incredibly high levels of relational brokenness in our communities, meaning high levels of poverty even among the materially rich. “Every human being,” Fikkert maintains, “… is suffering from a poverty of spiritual intimacy, a poverty of being, a poverty of community, and a poverty of stewardship (Fikkert and Corbett 2012, 59).”

Myself, included. In spite of years of working on it, my own anxiety is not entirely under control. I live tens of thousands of miles from family and move too frequently to develop long-lasting friendships. I drive a fossil fuel car, use a cell phone, buy single-use plastics, and throw away unnecessary food waste every week. I have brokenness in my relationships with God, myself, others, and creation. I must now sit down in the dust next to a fellow mother and count myself among the poor.

But I can’t stay there! Corbett and Fikkert assure us there is hope. If I as a privileged North American Christian can overcome the materialism of Western culture in my own life and learn to see poverty in more relational terms, I can help open a door for mutual transformation.

One way to begin is simply by recognizing that a person’s material poverty does not mean their lives are necessarily less meaningful, less full of joy and purpose, less dignified than ours simply because they don’t have stuff. Those suffering material poverty— particularly in the Global South—are experts in many areas where we—the relationally and spiritually poor—fail. They have so much to teach us about prioritizing family and community. They have so much to teach us about faith—trusting God when the future is uncertain. They have so much to teach us about creation—conserving natural resources and getting the most out of what we already have.

We, in turn, can recognize this wealth they have and give them the dignity and respect they deserve. We can share our friendship and sacrifice our resources to help them create a sustainable environment to alleviate their unique and unjust suffering.

All of us are on the spectrum of poverty. You, me, and the mother in Zimbabwe. We are each in the midst of being reconciled, of becoming more whole, more the people God created us to be. The good life, I think, is not the pursuit of a newer car or a bigger house or a secure retirement. It is not convenience or comfortableness. It can’t be. We were made for relationship, to love as God loves—passionately, radically, unreservedly, sacrificially, until the last broken bit is mended and the last little one brought safely home. Relationships are costly. They are gritty, and demanding, and sometimes painful. They are far from convenient. But when reconciled through Christ, they produce a deep, and lasting experience of purpose, joy, and shalom. And that, my friends, is the good life we’re really after.

[1] Steven Corbett and Brian Fikkert, "When Helping Hurts," Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2012

[2] https://www.thenivbible.com/blog/meaning-shalom-bible/

[3] https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/national-dealing-with-loneliness-1.4828017

[4] https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/national-dealing-with-loneliness-1.4828017

[5] https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-an-epidemic-of-loneliness-threatens-canadians-health

[6] https://montrealgazette.com/opinion/opinion-an-epidemic-of-loneliness-threatens-canadians-health

[7] https://globalnews.ca/news/3417600/why-more-canadian-millennials-than-ever-are-at-high-risk-of-mental-health-issues/

[8] https://www.butterfieldlaw.ca/divorce-statistics-in-canada-a-snapshot/

"The fact that all of humanity has some things in common with the materially poor does not negate their unique and overwhelming suffering nor the special place that they have in God's heart." — Brian Fikkert

Hope Deliver ed

For years, partners like you delivered hope to thousands through the Gifts for Change Gift Guide—one simple gift at a time.

Tigist’s Tomatoes

There was no food on the table, and Tigist was desperate. Her five children were hungry. She’d been growing maize for years, but with each harvest her farm yielded less and less. Her family was facing extreme poverty.

Then someone like you bought her Fruit & Veggie Seeds from the Gift Guide! FH taught her how to grow them using new and sustainable techniques. The first crop of tomatoes she sold brought in the equivalent of $160! In a few short years, Tigist’s

situation was totally transformed. She can now pay her children’s school expenses and feed them fresh, nutritious food. She’s even planning to buy a dairy cow with savings from her tomato sales.

Irene's Ham-azing Gift

Abandoned by her husband, Irene worked hard to keep her children alive through farming, but she couldn’t pull them out of poverty. Then someone in Canada bought her a Gift Guide Pig. Irene was overjoyed! Her pig gave her a new sense of hope; soon it had five piglets. She gave one to a struggling neighbour and sold the other four piglets to buy health insurance and cover her family’s immediate needs.

Irene joined a Savings and Loans group and saved what she had left over from her piglet sale. She then borrowed $22 from her group to rent a larger plot of farmland to grow and sell tomatoes. Her income went up! Irene purchased a dairy cow. She upgraded her roof from leaky thatch to sturdy metal. She bought new clothes for herself and her children. Thanks to one little Gift Gide Pig Irene transformed her poverty into thriving.

Irene, Rwanda Tigist, Ethiopia

Suzan's New Future Sokoan's Sweet Solution

Suzan was a child bride. Severe poverty forced her parents to marry her off as a teenager in exchange for the cattle her husband gave them. But through the gifts of compassionate donors like you, Suzan got a second chance. Gift Guide Sewing Machines made it possible for FH to train uneducated women in her village with the skills they need to lift their families out of poverty.

At 32 years of age, Suzan is now one of the most successful women in her community. She quickly learned crocheting and tailoring and attended FH’s adult literacy classes. She rents a small building where she sews and sells clothes and other crafts she and her apprentices create. She also volunteers with FH to teach teenage girls who drop out of school. “I now feel I am an employed teacher because they keep me busy and proud of my work,” Suzan laughs.

Suzan, Uganda

With a bright smile and tenacious spirit, 64-year-old Sokoan pastors a growing church in Cambodia. In the past, she struggled to support her children and grandchildren who depend on her for food, school fees, and more, as well as her congregants. But thanks to receiving a Gift Guide Hive of Honey Bees she now tends a flourishing bee farm and has more than enough to share!

Sokoan trained several people in her church to also keep bees. Working together, they used the early proceeds from their honey to build 12 new hives and a comb-spinning device to make honey extraction easier. They produce over five litres of honey per week! The group is even learning how to breed queen bees, which can fetch a good price with other beekeepers. Each year Sokoan’s profits increase, making it possible for her to provide for her family and continue her work as a pastor.

Sokoan, Cambodia

Jacinta's Life Hacks

Jacinta has 10 children—TEN! Thanks to the Gift Guide's Life Hacks for Moms she has a support group of other mothers all trying to do the best for their families. Trained by FH staff, Jacinta has become the Leader Mother of her group. She dedicates her time and resources to practice the health, hygiene, sanitation, and nutrition lessons she learns from FH.

Jacinta daily helps the sick in her community and supports FH staff health workers. She regularly visits

families in their homes, providing advice on the best ways to stay healthy. Jacinta also talks to families about domestic violence. The time she invests into her community and her tireless efforts to personally support those who need a helping hand has made her somewhat of a local hero. Through Life Hacks for Moms gifts, FH currently trains 36 Leader Mothers in Jacinta’s community who are committed to seeing their families overcome poverty.

Inspire more women like Tigist and Jacinta. You can give practical and life-changing gifts at www.fhcanada.org/gifts

Jacinta, Guatemala

Winter Spring

Whip up some of the tastiest drinks from around the world! Across partner communities, coffees, teas, and fruit drinks are part of

Ginger Chai Tea

EAST AFRICA

• 3 cups of milk

• 4 tbsp of black looseleaf tea

• 2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

• 1 cinnamon stick

• 10 cardamom pods (or ½ tsp ground cardamom)

• 6 cloves, crushed

• ½ cup sugar

1. In a saucepan, add milk, tea, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, and sugar.

2. Bring milk, tea, and spices mixture to a simmer.

3. Pour through a fine sieve into mugs. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and serve hot!

Atolillo GUATEMALA

• ¼ cup long grain rice

• 1 cup water

• 3 ½ cups milk

• 2 ½ tbsp sugar

• 1 cinnamon stick (or ½ tsp cinnamon powder)

• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1. Soak the long grain rice in water overnight.

2. Drain the rice and blend it in a blender with 1 cup of milk.

3. Strain the rice milk through a fine sieve, like a cheesecloth.

4. In a saucepan, mix rice milk with the remaining dairy milk, sugar, and cinnamon stick. Simmer mixture for 15 minutes.

5. Remove from heat and remove the cinnamon stick.

6. Stir in vanilla extract.

7. Sprinkle with ground cinnamon and serve hot!

gatherings, traditions, and relaxation. From hot, rich, and creamy flavours to cold, fruity and tangy, you’re covered here. You’ll find something that hits the spot as winter turns to spring!

Passion fruit

CAMBODIA

Sitwonad "Limeade"

HAITI

• 2 passion fruits

• ¼ cup sweetened condensed milk

• 1 tbsp sugar (optional)

• 1 cup milk

• 2 cups crushed ice cubes

1. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a cup.

2. Cut the passion fruit in half and scoop the seeds into the cup with sweetened condensed milk.

3. Add milk.

4. Whisk together for 30 seconds until passion fruit flavours thoroughly infuse the milk mixture.

5. Pour over ice and serve.

• 4-5 limes

• 1 cup of sugar

• 1 tsp almond extract

• 3 trays of ice

• 4 cups of water

• mint leaves (for garnish)

1. Squeeze lime juice from limes.

2. Over medium heat, dissolve sugar in 3 cups of water for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat.

3. Whisk in lime juice, almond extract, and one cup of water.

4. Pour over ice and serve! Garnish with fresh mint leaves.

MEET AFROSE AKTER

From grassroots to glass ceilings, Afrose Akter is shattering stereotypes of female leadership in Bangladesh. Married as a teenager, Afrose is now a 37-year-old mom with a career as FH’s Area Team Leader for Char Borobila. Her role has huge responsibilities – leading the local FH development team, reporting to FH donor countries, liaising with local leaders, and forming personal relationships with community members. Afrose is one of thousands of unsung heroes of transformation – the FH staff who live, work, and serve with impoverished communities as they move from stuck to thriving.

Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What do you like to do in your personal time?

A: I read books, mostly novels. Sometimes, I listen to music and sing. I give quality time to my family, talk to them and help them in many household activities. I am a mom to two daughters – Sumaiya [a college student] and Rubaiya [in Grade 8]. Besides that, I love to visit different places. My friends say I am a hard worker, very loyal, and I value friendship. I like to mingle with people in the village. I am a very adaptive person, always ready to move forward and address challenges. I believe in integrity of heart, stewardship, and servant leadership.

Q: What led you into community development work?

A: My study in social work. When I saw the poor, my heart cried out for them. My inner spirit told me to do something for them to release them from their bondage of poverty.

Q: Did you grow up in a poor community yourself?

A: I was born in a small village, but it’s beautiful. You can find green everywhere and feel the touch of real Bengali tradition. There is a crooked mud road with trees at both sides. There are many ponds and pools full of fish and crabs. The fields are full at harvest time. There is a government primary and secondary school. My grandfather was actually very rich and had a good influence in our village. He was the head man. People came to him for advice, to resolve any problem, and for guidance. He helped the poor in our village and provided them some work for their livelihood. My father was very simple, a farmer. My mother worked in government and my brother is a schoolteacher in our village.

But I fell prey to child marriage.

Q: That must have been difficult. How young were you? Did it disrupt your education?

A: I got married when I was in 6th standard [late elementary level]. Usually girls cannot continue their studies after marriage in our context. But I was fortunate. My cousins inspired and encouraged me to pursue higher education and a career. When I completed my Bachelor of Arts (BA), I got a job as a Project Officer at an NGO. Then I completed my Master of Arts (MA) in Social Studies in 2008.

Q: How long you have worked with FH?

I started my journey as a Community Animator [FH staff who work within the community teaching and facilitating] in 2003 and became an Area Team Leader in 2012.

Q: What does a typical day at FH look like for you?

A: I start my day with prayer and devotions with my colleagues at 8:30 AM. Then have team feedback on previous work and set targets for the new day. I check my emails, answer them, and make a plan for the team. After that I go out to visit community groups or children’s clubs. Sometimes I visit the children’s houses and also their schools to check on their progress. After lunch I work on reporting. In the afternoon we have a team debrief to discuss challenges and find solutions to meet our targets. At five o’clock we leave our office.

Q: What do you love most about your role?

A: My favorite thing about my job is working and interacting with people who are left behind. I choose this job for mainly two reasons: to make the community or village free from poverty and hunger, and to inspire the community people to fulfill their God-given potential. I love working closely with my team and guiding them to address challenges or issues while working with the community.

Q: What is one of the most memorable experiences you’ve had in the community?

A: When we started work in Char Borobila in 2012 it

was really challenging for me to make the community people and leaders understand the vision, values, and purpose of FH. They had some bad impressions about NGOs. We started a dialogue that involved discussing past pain and gave them opportunities to share their hopes for their community. We listened to their past grievances. Our willingness to listen built a powerful bond with them later on. We invited them to our program and went to them to ask their guidance and prayer for our work. Through this relationship building process the people now have a sense of togetherness that is helping us work in this community. Now, they love and respect all FH staff.

Cropping Out Poverty

Written by Colton Martin

Before partnering with FH, many communities farmed and gardened in ways they had done for centuries. While traditional farming methods are important, it’s also necessary to incorporate simple new agricultural techniques that keep soil healthy and diversify crops. As FH partners with communities, many are looking for better agricultural success. Implementing these new practices are the first place to start.

New crops mean better nutrition for communities. Children are receiving much-needed vitamins from these new vegetables.

FH hold agricultural training sessions to help farmers get on board with new agricultural techniques. They tell farmers that rotating crops on their land helps preserve and rebuild nutrients in the soil. Composting and mulch blanket techniques enrich soil and lead to better yields in the long run.

Here’s how some new key farming techniques are making all the difference!

BEETROOT

Beetroots are a superfood packed with vitamins and minerals! Along with providing essential nutrients to a daily diet, beetroots lower blood pressure and contain antioxidants that help lower glucose levels and prevent diabetes. The leaves can even be eaten as greens, just like spinach!

Mulch Blanket

Farmers in some regions are trained to create layers of mulch and sticks over their gardens, around the crops. These mulch blankets emulate the layer of leaves and sticks you’d find naturally under the canopy of a forest. The decomposing layer stops evaporation and keeps the dirt moist. It also prevents erosion and runoff. To top it off, weeding isn’t always necessary because the layer of mulch smothers weeds.

Crop Rotation

Crop rotation yields so many benefits for farmers. Instead of planting the same crop over and over again, switching the type of vegetable in any given plot of land can do a lot for soil nutrition. By rotating crops between root vegetables, leaf vegetables, and fruit vegetables, nitrogen is replenished in the soil. It even stops pests from spreading. Many farmers struggle with pest problems because certain bugs infeste specific crops. Rotating their crops takes away the homes of certain pests.

Composting

Composting is a widely-used technique of enriching soil, but this practice has become a staple in FH partner communities. Farmers are trained on mixing compost ingredients—how much green matter, food waste, or wood to include in it. Since implementing new composting techniques, farmers report greater yields and healthier crops.

AMARANTH

Amaranth provides both grain and leafy greens. It’s a hardy plant that grows in many types of soil. The grain is similar to quinoa and it is high in protein. The leaves can also be eaten as greens which really help supplement the family diet with even more vitamins and minerals.

SQUASHES

Pumpkins, butternut, watermelons, and zucchinis are all squashes that provide families with additional nutrients to their diets. They thrive in warmer weather where many FH partner communities are located.

COFFEE

Coffee is a crop that many families in FH partner communities grow to sell. It’s been a great way for many to boost their household incomes! On top of that, making tea from coffee leaves is also known to prevent inflammation.

A Greener Vision

Florencio envisioned more for his community. He’d grown up in Villa Hortensia II, and since he was a kid, many things had been the same. The majority of his community were subsistence farmers, and they’d planted the same crops year after year, in the same way.

Florencio thought back on the way he was raised. “Previously we had no idea what other crops we could produce in the community. Our parents and grandparents had taught us only to grow güisquil (a type of squash), corn, and beans and this allowed us to eat.” The entire community had stuck with the same methods of farming for generations.

And for generations, his community had been stuck in poverty.

It seemed like his life was running along the same track. Now that he was married with children, were his children destined for the same life as well?

In 2010, Food for the Hungry began working alongside leaders in the community of Villa Hortensia II. As FH staff presented community leaders with a vision for developing the community, Florencio jumped on many of the ideas.

Inspired to change his children’s lives, he became an advocate for agricultural training groups in the community. He knew if the farmers could become more successful, the income and the health of the community would grow as well.

“Thanks to FH, I have learned a lot about crops. Since FH started working in the community I have always participated in the workshops, I have learned ideas that will never die.” For the past eight years, Florencio has been leading a group of 10 farmers.

He was pleased to see that the new agricultural methods were having an effect on the community’s children. “Previously we thought that our children were well fed when they ate enough tortillas; now, I have

noticed that the children that eat more vegetables, do not get sick that often, are more alert, and grow faster. Now the families vary their diet.”

Thanks to Florencio’s leadership and FH training workshops, the community of Villa Hortensia II has been blessed with better nutrition. And it’s unlocked more opportunities for the young people in Villa Hortensia II, including Florencio’s children. “I was very happy to see my son graduating, I never had this opportunity and this is thanks to the work of the community leaders. My son now wants to become an Agricultural Engineer, like the FH agricultural facilitator,” says Florencio, with tears in his eyes.

Florencio’s passion for farming is contagious, and so are the techniques he’s been teaching in workshops. Families are starting up small kitchen gardens, and farmers are growing healthier crops. These changes aren’t just the fruits of farming workshops, they are the yields of a thriving community.

I want to see healthy children, without malnutrition, and a thriving community that looks after their own development. May children succeed, may they fulfill their dreams, may they have a better life than I had.

—Florencio, Guatemala

A Child, A Community, and You.

Written by Colton Martin

Child Sponsorship doesn’t just transform the life of a single child— it changes the whole community. By developing leaders, training teachers, and equipping farmers, the resources from your sponsorship have a wide-reaching impact.

Take Phanny, for example. Once a family started sponsoring her, everything changed - for Phanny, for her family, and even for her neighbours.

Her sponsor’s generous support meant Phanny could attend school. It also helped fund the life-saving health workshops her parents attended. It allowed them to join a savings group where they could work with their neighbours to save and plan for their future, together.

These positive changes are creating a healthy community and a healthy family where Phanny will also grow and thrive!

FROM STUCK

“Before I was very shy and seldom talked. I was shy because my family was poor. I love playing with other children but I only had a few friends. I did not feel important.

“Our home was always not in order. We did not clean our surroundings; we threw our trash everywhere.

“I remember that my sister and myself always got sick. I had stomach aches and fevers.”

Our community became better. Many things changed. Even the way we value education for our children, how we take care of our surroundings, and our relationship inside our home and in our community.

Leann,

TO THRIVING

“We now practice the things that we learned, such as drinking only safe water. They [FH] taught us to boil the water first or filter it before we drink because sometimes germs live in the water.

“We pick up trash from the roads, and we write signs [instructing others] that they should not throw their trash anywhere either. We also planted trees in our backyard.

“I am now more friendly and brave. I share my ideas with my friends.

“I would like my community to continue to support their children, like what my parents are doing for me and my younger sister. My dream is to finish my 12th grade and pass the National Exam. Then, I will tell my parents that I can’t wait to go to university!”

Learn how you can impact a child like Phanny at fhcanada.org/child

—

Phanny’s mother

At Food for the Hungry Canada, it’s all about thriving communities. But creating a self-sustaining community takes time, and children in hard places need food today. To meet this need, FH Canada ships containers with millions of servings of nutrient-packed soup mix to vulnerable communities struggling to piece together a balanced diet. FH Canada partners with the Fraser Valley Gleaners and the Okanagan Valley Gleaners, who make this dried soup mix from donated vegetables. They cut, dry, and package fresh vegetables like onions, tomatoes, lentils, and green beans free of charge, ensuring that the nutritious vegetables last until they reach the bowls of vulnerable children and families.

9% onions

15% carrots & peppers

20% yellow & green beans

20% lentils & pinto beans

10% tomatoes & potatoes

10% green beans, peas, & yellow wax beans

fhcanada.org/soup

10% tomatoes

5% parsnips

1% salt & parsley