The Hungry Season

December through April is known as "The Hungry Season" here in Malawi. This year’s hungry season is the worst in a decade.  It's almost a survival game that reminds me of that science fiction novel, The Hunger Games, in which Katniss Everdeen defeated all odds.

Like Katniss, these Malawian villagers are facing insurmountable odds, fighting "hacker jackers" at every turn: endemic tropical diseases, ongoing hunger, illnesses inflamed by starvation, flooding, decaying walls and capsizing roofs in mud homes, 66% inflation since last year, and unemployment that seems to be 95% in the village (my uneducated guess).

Some days I just want to hide in a corner, cover my eyes like I do in a scary movie.  I’ll just wait for the bad part to pass. The agonizing scenes eventually end...right? Who bought my ticket for this movie anyway?

Oh yea, I did. We did. Don, me, Annie…and God.

The Hungry Season is a frightening movie that I'd not prepared for!

At times, on certain days when the needs are so great, it feels like we've been hit, punched, slapped, and knocked down -- all from the reality of the Hungry Season.  So yea, I've felt a little beat up, but really, nothing as bad as how beat up the villagers must feel.

Families like the one on the left have been showing up daily, with malnourished babies and skinny, dirty, crying children .... all so hungry.

Heartbreaking every day. Still, I see God providing at every moment. And He provided amidst the craziness when we first came back from the U.S in late January. I only see that now as I look back...

Don was away the first 4 weeks we were home (in Kenya), so Annie and I with our new house guest, 16-year old Abigail Mora from Temecula, CA rolled up our sleeves to help the Hope Village staff as best we could. 

Every day brought more emergencies.  Entire villages with no food.  Malaria outbreaks.  Malnourished babies.  Mysterious illnesses. Families with no homes.  Children with no clothes. Teenagers expelled from school (because they lacked the proper uniform or this term’s fees).  And so many hungry.

This mother with four children was homeless -- no food, no clothes, no supplies. Hope Village generously agreed to rent her a home and provide her some food until we could do a proper assessment to find out her story, her needs.

After months of heavy rain, the roof of a widow's home caved in completely
and she had to move out. Here's a picture of it. We will be able to help her rebuild soon.

Every day, families, widows, grandparents, blind, disabled, teens, children, nursing moms and too many to remember have been standing here at Hope Village: “I’ve not eaten in two days. Do you have something?”

The most common requests for aid are coming from mothers with children and no husbands.

God provided skills

Paul Gill, Hope Village director, took on the roll of clinician in the Hope Village Clinic while Don was gone. He hired Chikumbutso (one of the sponsored teenagers here) to translate every morning, since he goes to school late afternoon. Paul and Chikumbutso were seeing 20 - 30 people per day--not all were sick--as many were here looking for food, money, roofs, school fees, clothes, you name it.  Paul was quick to mobilize procedures for us to assess, prioritize and act upon all of the most needy requests.  The girls and I were there doing our best to help get it all done. God provided the skills.

So many of the sick have come to Hope Village clinic during the Hungry Season.

God provided funds

Our daughter Brittany and her husband Kevin raised some funds through their network of friends late last year and sent them with us in January.  We were fortunate for this gift to use as a ministry, and immediately some of it found its way to help a few of those who were starving.  God provided the funds that flowed from their friends' hearts.

God provided maize 

A local sugar cane company, Illovo, made a surprise visit here one day and donated 150 bags of maize for us to distribute.  God provided this gift!

God provided even more funds

Hope Village director Paul Gill and his wife Tracy started a campaign to raise money to help feed the hungry this year … the first time they’ve had to do this in the six years they have been here.  A few were moved to donate funds to help feed and to help provide wages for villagers in need of work.  God provided an abundance of funds at just the right time!

How you can help:

If you’d like to help, you can click on this link to Paul and Tracy’s site to raise money to Feed the Hungry:  http://www.justgiving.com/hopevillagefeedthehungry