Suzan Nzabake toils on her farm, day in and day out, trying to grow coffee and vanilla the best ways she knows how. But the flowers keep dropping off her plants before the fruit has a chance to develop, and her yields are always small— too small to keep her family fed.
Suzan's family of eight lives in extreme poverty in Kasese, Uganda. They sleep on the floor of a tiny mud hut, and they have very little to eat. Her children are sick "all the time," she says, and she has to make frequent visits to the hospital with them.
"They don't play," she laments. "The little ones just spend time crying and dozing off." At school, the older ones fall asleep in class because they're hungry and have no energy.
You can help feed hungry families
The COVID-19 pandemic has meant lost income for millions of hardworking people like Suzan. It has shuttered markets and made scores of families suffer from illness and increasing hunger.
Suzan often eats just once a day so there's enough food for her children to eat twice. Her stomach rumbles, and she feels lightheaded while she digs the soil by hand ... but there's nothing else to eat to keep her going. She recalls that when she came down with malaria recently, it took a long time to recover because she was so weak from hunger.
"Our family and I survive, but life isn't good," she says.
Still, Suzan prays fervently for a better future. "The Bible says you should ask God what you desire, and I pray that he blesses me through my land, and that what is within it should uplift me."
Be an answer to a mother's prayer during a challenging time
Hunger forces our most vulnerable neighbors to make impossible choices. Some, like Suzan, choose to go hungry so their children can eat. Others choose to make a dangerous journey to seek a better life in a strange new country. Or worse.
That's why your loving gift means so much. Your generosity today could help Suzan access basic farming tools and learn new techniques that will increase her yields and improve her family's income. Instead of dropping to the ground, her flowers will turn into fruit to feed her family. You could also provide emergency food to a family enduring a crisis, sustaining them until they get back on their feet.
Double your loving gift with our year-end match
Your gift before December 31 will go twice as far to help families like Suzan's! Thanks to an anonymous donor, your generosity will be matched dollar-for-dollar to have double the impact.
That means your gift could be an answer to Suzan's prayers, right in time to celebrate the joy of Advent.
Enter this season of thanks and joy knowing you made a difference for Suzan's family, and others who just need a little help from a thoughtful neighbor like you.