The number of people experiencing hunger around the world is increasing, driven by conflict, climate change, and the global pandemic.
The following reflection is from our emergency food assistance technical advisor Grant Hillier.
In my work with the Foodgrains Bank, I help our members in their planning to get emergency food to people caught in conflict, wars, hurricanes, drought, and other terrible circumstances. As you might guess, many of these places and situations where families need emergency help aren’t the easiest to work in.
Our emergency food being delivered in South Sudan. Look at those roads! We’re glad to report that this truckload of food was safely delivered to people in need. This project was supported by our member Canadian Baptist Ministries and their partner, Faith Evangelical Baptist Church.
Recently, I shared a report with my co-workers about unimaginable conditions being experienced by people in South Sudan.
Even as someone who’s spent their career responding to humanitarian emergencies, the recent reports and stories I’ve shared with my colleagues have been especially heartbreaking to hear.
For example, as a dad, I can’t imagine my two boys going without food. I can’t conceive of what it would mean for my wife and I to walk 10 days through a harsh landscape in search of safety and food and be forced to leave a weak child or grandparent along the way, in the hopes of getting others to safety.
Right now, families in South Sudan are being forced to make choices you and I can scarcely imagine. Some families are even calling 2021 ‘the year of hunger’ or even the ‘year of starvation’. Families are being forced to do things this year they could never have imagined in normal times.
I know such stories are difficult for us to hear. They aren’t easy for anyone. But we can do something to help, even from this distance.
Getting food to people experiencing hunger wouldn’t be possible without a collective effort. Will you make a gift today, to help people experiencing hunger?
It’s not just people in South Sudan who are in such desperate need. In Yemen, we’re hearing stories of children so malnourished they don’t have muscles left in their bodies. Parents have to choose between buying medicine for one sick child, or food for the others. Can you imagine such a choice? I can’t.
Your gift will mean emergency food for people in need, training and support to help people provide for themselves and their families in the longer-term, or nutrition education and support.
