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Short Video.... |
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Three out
of every five years Eastern
Guatemala is in drought. This
worsens the already poverty
stricken area where the Chorti
Indians live. An average meal
often times consists of
2 tortillas and salt. The Lord
has moved on our hearts as well as
our partners to begin opening
feeding centers so that the children
will not die or go hungry.
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A
couple of Success Pictures
Before & After
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El Jute
Feeding Center
El
Jute is my oldest feeding center, it
opened in 2003. It is in a village
that lies just a few minutes walk from
the Honduran border. It is located
on a well known contraband road.
This road is used to traffic illegal
drugs, coffee, and bananas.
The
people from this village earn their
living strictly from agriculture.
The main crop is coffee, with corn
running a close second. Coffee is
grown for exportation. While working the
fields picking coffee beans the local
workers earn $2 for picking a 100
lb. bag. As you can well
imagine they are not able to pick that
much in a given day. The majority
of the fields are on the side of the
mountain.
A
high percentage of the people live in
bamboo or bajareque (mud covered bamboo)
huts. Normally with one main room
that everyone sleeps in and an outside
kitchen. If they are lucky they
have an outhouse. This entire
village has no running water and just
received access to electricity.
We
have 50 children in this center.
Since it has been in operation for 7
years we have watched many children grow
up and cycle through the program.
It is such a joy to see them healthy and
serving God as a result of the feeding
center!
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Nueva
Esperanza Feeding Center
In
2009 the Lord moved in a very special
way and a very special individual
donated the money to open and feed
this center with 50 children for a
year! In that year we built a
kitchen and an eating area.
There is no electricity there so we
are in need of a propane refrigerator
(we had one but it was so old that it
finally died). A new one cost
$1300. But that isn't the
biggest challenge at this center, the
biggest challenge is that for the
moment we have had to suspend feeding
for lack of funds.
Please
pray with us for the speedy reopening
of Nueva Esperanza Feeding Center.
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Naranjo
Feeding Center
Naranjo
Feeding center opened in 2006.
It was birthed out of a long time
desire to enter this village with a
feeding center. We first went to
Naranjo in 2002 with a medical team in
the height of the 2002 drought.
It was devastated with illness and
hunger. Our hearts were forever
impacted by the needs that we saw
there, tattered clothing, swollen
bellies and crying hungry children.
That is really one of the first things
that the Lord used to propel us into
the feeding center ministry.
Since that time we have always had a
desire to go back to where it all
began. Now the Lord has opened
the door for us to work with a church
that we were also able to build in
that village. The 2 ministries
have meshed perfectly to combine the
outreach to the children and the
ministry of the church. Truly,
the feeding centers are an
evangelistic tool in the hand of the
churches. In the first year
alone we saw 40-50 salvations, and we
continue to see so many give their
hearts to the Lord as the children are
learning about the God that loves them
so much that he sends them food!
Please lift up Sister Syria as she is
in charge of this new ministry.
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La
Prensa Feeding Center
Praise
the Lord for people with a heart to
help. In the fall of 2006 once
again our partners took on the
challenge of another Feeding Center.
With your help we were able to build
the feeding center in La Prensa, Olopa
in October. It is a huge
blessing to the community. We
started out with an estimation of
accepting 50 children into the
program, but
it is so hard to say no to hungry
children.
At
last count there are 97! We have
one little girl, whom we started
giving formula before we even
opened the center because she was
severly mal-nourished. Her little
tummy bloated with parasites, and her
thin arms...but thanks to you and the
feeding center, today she is a
thriving healthy little girl! In
Jesus name we will make a difference
in her little life and many others.
We
now have running water at the feeding
center! So we do not have to
haul water 3 times a week just to wash
dishes and cook and clean. That
is fabulous!
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Pacren
Feeding Center
Pacren
Feeding center is in the heart of the
Chorti Maya culture. Many of the
people do not speak Spanish....they
speak Chorti.
This feeding center opened in Spring
of 2008. It has 100 children,
many are in serious condition
physically due to malnutrition.
Here is a picture on one little girl
who has lost most of her hair due to
malnutrition.
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Tizamarte
Feeding Center
Soon
after Pacren opened we were busy
with another feeding center!
In July 2008 we were so pleased
to open a new feeding center in
the village of Tizamarte! This
is our sixth feeding center.
Opening day was filled with
puppets and bible stories. We
took bios on all of the
children. We started with 50
children even though the pastor
wanted to take 87! Our
home church, Generations Church
sponsored 50 children for the
first 2 years for this feeding
center. But
we quickly grew to 87, and then
100. We
are currently in need of
sponsors for this center.
February 2009 we dawned our
brand new kitchen and were able
to move out of the provisional
adobe room that we were using. Thanks
to so many who care we are now
looking to take even more
children in this center.
We know that the children will
get hungry day after day and
that need will never end, but we
also know that as we fill their
stomachs with food we are also
filling their hearts with the
word of God-and that never goes
away! So, please lift up Pastor
Furgensio as he and the ladies
of the church take on this
ministry outreach to the
children of Tizamarte. We
declare that they will all serve
the Lord! |
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Train
Tracks Feeding Center
In
2005, we opened another feeding center
along the train tracks on the edge of
town the squatters have taken the land
that is no longer in use by the train
system. The houses are made of mud
or scraps of black plastic and there is
no water. Pastor Manuel and his
wife Marisol are the directors of the
feeding center and they worked long and
hard to get electricity installed along
the tracks. This recent project provided
electricity for some of the homes.
Pastor Manuel has also dug a well that
he is planning on making available to
everyone once it is usable.
Brother Manuel Turnil and his wife
Marisol have such a heart for the people
that they have also solicited funds from
sources outside the country and is
building block homes for several
families. Their new homes are raw
block with a sheet metal roof, but it so
much better than the mud and stick huts
that they are living in.
Currently
we have sponsors to feed at this center
only 2 days per week. We have
approx. 100 children in this feeding
center. The need is so great in
the area that it is hard to turn anyone
away. The families have an average
income of $1.50 per day OR LESS!
Sustaining a family of 5 or more on that
is impossible! That is why so many
are borderline malnourished and very
sick. We have already taken a
medical team there and it was such a
blessing to the people. below
please find pictures of that medical
outreach as well as the children eating,
the neighborhood, the new home project,
the water well project, and the
electrical project. Please pray
for the children at the train tracks.
You
can make a difference in a childs
life, whether they eat and live, or
suffer needlessly, won't you consider
becoming a partner today?
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