Food For Thought | November 2014

FOODfor THOUGHT R E P O RT S F R O M T H E F I E LD

November 2014

pg. 2

Poverty’s Dead End pg. 4

Earthquake’s Devastation Still Felt pg. 6

You Lifted a Poor Family’s Burden! pg. 7

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Reports from the Field

The Sad Toll of Malnutrition The toddler’s body was as taut as piano wire, but her eyes followed her mother everywhere.

When she began to cry, the heartbreaking whimpers echoed through their adobe home in rural Nicaragua. Her mother soothed her by reading from the Bible.

Little Jubelkis cannot walk or talk. Her little body was weakened from malnutrition and she contracted spinal meningitis.

November 2014

Before she fell ill, Jubelkis was learning to walk. Jubelkis’ father was starting to build a fence to keep his daughter from tumbling down the mountain. Now the fence sits unfinished.

T

hough she is 18 months old, Jubelkis is immobile. All she can do is cry or smile.

Not long ago, Jubelkis was a healthy, growing girl. She laughed, and had begun to talk. She called her pet dog “Tita.” She learned to feed herself. She learned to walk. Worried about his only child tumbling down a steep incline outside their home, her loving father started to build a fence to protect her.

And then disaster struck.

Her little body weakened from malnutrition, Jubelkis contracted spinal meningitis. She started having horrible seizures.

It takes two hours to get an ambulance to the remote area where the family lives. By the time Jubelkis got to the hospital, she had stopped breathing for several minutes.

The medications Jubelkis requires cost about $10 a month – money that Nelson and Belkis must scrape together when they can barely put food on the table.

Nelson tries not to dwell on the lost potential of his daughter, and the joyous little girl who once clutched his hand as she toddled alongside of him. “She was such a happy, laughing girl,” he said.

You can help answer the prayers of this family. Your support can give Jubelkis and many other suffering children like her the food, medical care and comfort they so desperately need.

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Jubelkis’ mother sings gospel songs and reads from the Bible to comfort her little girl when she cries from pain.

Jubelkis survived, but suffered severe brain damage.

Her parents are tender and loving. Every night, Nelson and Belkis get on their knees and pray for their little girl. Despite all their troubles, the couple is filled with a deep, steady faith in God. Prayer gives them solace.

“I have read beautiful things that talk about miracles. I ask God for a miracle, that He heals our daughter,” Belkis said.

Her mother either sings gospel songs or reads from the Bible when Jubelkis starts to cry. “Then she stays still and listens, and eventually falls asleep,” Belkis said.

NICARAGUA:

19% of the population is undernourished.

Half live on less than $1 a day.

(World Food Programme)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Reports from the Field

November 2014

Poverty’s Dead End The boys have only a few blankets spread on the dirt floor to sleep on.

No Way to Live The children – especially 6-year-old Carlos and 8-year-old Edgar – suffer greatly living in a hovel made of scraps of rusted metal. The tiny space provides little shelter from the cold and rain.

“When it rains it pours inside…” Faustina said.

There are so many gaps in the roof and holes in the walls that when it rains at night, the boys are shuttled from one corner to another by their mother in hopes of staying dry.

Only a few thin blankets shield the children from the bitter cold at night. Without a bed, they sleep atop a cold mud floor huddled up together for warmth. “I feel sad because I am always worried about the children, because it is cold…” Faustina said.

Little Carlos suffers from frequent nosebleeds and headaches because of the constant cold. “I cry because my nose bleeds, because it is cold,” Carlos said.

Faustina tries to hold back the tears as she explains how worried she is about her children.

Six months ago, four small boys woke up fatherless. Without warning, their father died in his sleep. Now their mother, Faustina, struggles to provide for her young sons.

O

nce the boys’ dad passed away, they were forced to leave their grandparents’ home. Having nowhere to go, they came to live in a tiny, open-air hovel owned by their uncle perched high on a mountainside.

Nowhere to Hide The wind whips around the mountainside, shaking the thin metal walls of the house, terrorizing the children. Every time the wind blows, it’s a reminder of a frightening ordeal. Not long ago, a tornado tore through the area and ripped the roof off of the family’s shack, hurling it down the mountainside.

The four young boys were in the house with their mother at the time, and were terrified when their tiny house started shaking and the roof began to tear off. Not knowing what else to do, they all screamed, clutching each other tightly in a corner of the shack.

“When the winds came, I felt a lot of cold, and then there went the roof. We all cried,” said Edgar.

Carlos said, “We hid. We hid in the corner.”

Edgar, Jose and Carlos faithfully pray with their mother daily for relief from their living conditions.

Miraculously, all four little ones and their mother were physically unharmed, but the emotional scars from the traumatic event remain.

Every storm brings back terrible memories for the brothers. “The children are afraid of the cold, wind and getting wet,” Faustina said.

No Way Out Because Faustina can only earn the equivalent of about $1.25 a day scavenging for metal scraps to sell, or working in the fields, there is not enough to improve the children’s living conditions. Sadly, none of the children have ever been to school.

Faustina stands with three of her children in the middle of their tiny house, which is riddled with holes and gaps in the walls.

“I want my kids to go to school so they can learn, because if you don’t know how to read and write, you can’t get work and get ahead…”

Faustina said.

You Can Make a Way Your generous heart can make a way out of poverty for hungry children like Carlos by providing food and school supplies. You can give cold and vulnerable little ones a safe home to grow up in. Your selfless giving can create the kind of bright future that Faustina prays for her children to have.

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GUATEMALA:

4th highest rate of chronic under-nutrition for children under 5.

53% of the population lives in poverty.

(World Food Programme)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Reports from the Field

November 2014

Earthquake’s Devastation Still Felt Alina holds her son, Jean Wisle, 8, close to her inside their cramped shack in Leogane,Haiti.

How do you rebuild your children’s lives after a natural disaster?

S

ince the 2010 Haiti earthquake, Alina has been forced to shelter her three growing boys in a tiny, rusted-out zinc shack.

In the United States, we have federally funded disaster relief programs to help people get back on their feet, but Alina and her sons received nothing.

The boys, Jean Wisle, 8, Marc Antoine, 9, and Onald, 13, live in Leogane, Haiti, which was the epicenter of the earthquake.

Their current shelter is in terrible shape. The holes in the walls and roof let the rain, bugs and rats in. “Everyone stands when it rains,” Alina said. “We stand in the driest spot.”

And no matter what time of day it is, their shack never cools down. “It’s like we’re cooking when we’re in here in the evening,” Alina said.

The nights are the most frightening. Alina worries about the safety of her sons. She can’t remember when she last slept through the night. Alina said she is always listening, and waiting for something to happen.

Alina doesn’t have a government disaster relief program helping her rebuild. Instead, she relies on God. She is showing her sons how to rely on Him as well. “I know God hears me, because every morning I wake up and I’m here and my children are here,” Alina said. “So I know God hears me.”

In the corner of the shack, a pile of broken, rusted rebar and other scraps of metal lay in a sad heap. “That is for our new home,” Alina explained. She has been collecting these discarded “building materials” ever since the earthquake, but she is losing hope of being able to build a proper home for her sons.

Jean Wisle and his two brothers have also given up hope of receiving an education, because any money their mother is able to earn goes straight to feeding them. “I have no strength. I have no money.... In the last year I haven’t been able to send them to school,” Alina said. “I have no money for food. I try to buy food on credit, but I’ve done it too many times and people won’t give me credit.”

“We have to go to bed hungry, and wake up hungry.”

You can replace the hopelessness of families like Alina’s with hope for a better tomorrow. Your generosity can help feed, shelter and provide an education for children like Jean Wisle, Marc Antoine and Onald. You can be an answer to prayer for little ones in need.

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Before &After

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Reports from the Field

NOW: Thanks to generous donors like you, the Easy family has a new Food For The Poor home, and the youngest children are back in school.

A

fter David’s father, a security guard, was shot and killed on the job, the family was left without any support. David’s father had begun constructing a home next door to their shack – which lacked water and sanitation – but he died before he could finish.

It’s a miracle David’s mother, Asenett, was able to care for her severely disabled eldest son in such terrible conditions. To move around the stuffy ramshackle home, she hoisted 16-yearold Clinton onto her back, while avoiding rotten floorboards that were caving in.

But generous donors like you helped relieve this poor family’s burden. Thanks to God’s grace and your compassion, these children now have a new Food For The Poor home. Their life has come to more closely resemble their name.

“I’m glad for it because down there it was a pit,” Asenett said, while standing on the porch of their new home. “I give Him thanks because I was here with no help, and I see the help come.”

Asenett means that literally. She recalls the day she stood outside her shack and felt like she and the children couldn’t go on any longer. She prayed.

“I say ‘God, I need some help.’ And I find out the same morning I was praying was the same morning [Food For The Poor-Jamaica staff] came along,” she said. “I was giving God thanks!”

Every day, this thankful mom and her children thank God for relieving their burden, and for the love of people like you. What a blessing you are! •

THEN: Ms. Easy and her son, 5-year-old David, in front of their old shack.

You can view a short slideshow of what Asenett Easy’s life was like before compassionate donors like you stepped in at: www.FoodForThePoor.org/easy

November 2014

To watch a slideshow about the families in this newsletter, go to

To view more photos and learn more about the families in this newsletter, go to

www.FoodForThePoor.org/poverty

www.FoodForThePoor.org/notes

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