Hunger Initiative

Undernutrition. Stunting. Wasting. Starvation.
 
These are just some of the challenges faced by people living in the Kingdom of Eswatini (formerly Swaziland), but the children suffer the most. 
 
In 2009, Heart for Africa began an initiative helping churches in rural Eswatini with a feeding program targeting orphaned and vulnerable children in their communities.  Over 350 churches applied for assistance through the program. After an exhaustive process, 30 churches from the most rural areas of the Kingdom were chosen to participate. Our partnership with Feed My Starving Children (www.FMSC.org) allows us to provide nutritionally fortified dry meal packages (MannaPack TM ), along with hard-boiled eggs (the perfect protein) through our partnership with the International Egg Foundation and the Egg Farmers of Canada. 
 
In 2019, we celebrated a decade of providing food to hungry children, and decided to conduct “well-child check-ups” at each church partner site to assess the height/weight and overall
health of the children. Shockingly, we discovered that many of the children are still suffering from malnutrition and stunting, all while food insecurity worsens in the country.  While our efforts have kept starvation at bay, it’s not eradicated malnutrition amongst these children yet.
 
We have a solution to eradicate malnutrition, and we need your help to make it a reality.

Our goal is to eradicate malnutrition in the 4,000 orphans and vulnerable children currently served through our network of 30 church partners. Heart for Africa launched its Hunger Initiative at the beginning of 2020 and our plan is to expand our current feeding program from two days per week to feeding seven days a week at all 30 church partners by delivering additional food, employing women to prepare the meals, and providing greater variety of food in order to save the children.

We have the opportunity to ignite the hearts of the people in churches and organizations to help us achieve our goal of eradicating malnutrition. When we met with the pastors and cooks of the 30 churches in December of 2019, we asked them what their greatest need was. Their response? “Please come and feed our children, and show the love of Christ by filling their stomachs.” We believe that this will include providing water to cook with, clothing their bodies and ministering to their hearts through visits to the church(es). We see the need every day and we are inviting you to join us in making a difference in Eswatini. 

In March of 2020, COVID-19 arrived in North America, completely upending our plans to launch the Hunger Initiative.

Our plan was to find church partners or organizations in the US and Canada to come alongside a church in Eswatini to help fully fund the program at each church. As COVID-19 continues to spread and Eswatini entered its lock down phase, we came up with a revised plan to help feed the starving children in our programs.

At each church, we will build a cooking structure, provide a water tank, cooking pots, new serving bowls and spoons, a garden and fence poles, tools for gardening, along with hiring two women to cook the food so we can feed seven days a week. To build a cooking structure, provide all of the items above, and employ two women for one church costs $5,300 USD.

We are working on raising the funds to get this started at each church. The shipping cost for food from our food partners in the US and Canada each year are about $50,000. We believe this revision of our plan will best allow us to meet the need and stand ready to hit the ground running as soon as the funding is received.