Mary is a loving mother who’s expecting a new baby. She wants the best for her young family, just like you do for those you love. But her children are growing up with violence closing in on them. Some days, they’re too scared to leave her side.
Mary’s husband, fraught with worry for his wife and children’s safety, found a boat and arranged for them to travel to Ayod, a village in South Sudan where his mother lives. Her husband had to remain home, so the others forged ahead alone. Frightened and devastated, Mary and her children began their perilous 10-day journey to Ayod.
Because you’re a loving child of God, I know you want to do all you can to help frightened families like Mary’s.
Your generous gift today will help loving families like Mary's who are suffering find food and shelter in their new homes.
Fleeing violence only to face hunger.
Mary and her children traveled the first six days by boat until they reached Mogok. Then they walked for the remaining four days. Sadly, it wasn’t the peaceful journey they anticipated.
Mary sits with her children in Ayod. They fled following outbreaks of violence, most of her family was killed.
“During the voyage, I was afraid because many people got attacked by criminals,” said Mary.
And as if leaving their home wasn’t hard enough for Mary and her family, they faced another threat to their precious lives — HUNGER.
Remember, Mary was six months pregnant when this journey began. The trauma of travel … walking for four long days in the hot sun … leaving the love of her life behind still threatened by violence … and worrying about how her children would survive was all extremely stressful on her fragile body.
As strong as Mary was, the lack of food was taking its toll. She started collapsing frequently. Her body — which was working twice as hard to support her unborn baby — desperately needed nourishment to survive.
Mary’s 7-year-old son, Rick, suffered, too. He battled a chronic eye infection and could barely open his eyes. Local clinics rarely have the medicines needed to treat cases like Rick’s. But even if they had the medication, his family wouldn’t have had the money to pay for it.
By sharing your blessings, you are providing nourishing food, healing medicine and quality care for sick and hungry families, like Mary’s.
By sharing your love, you help cultivate bright futures.
Eventually, Mary and her children made it safely to their destination and reunited with their grandmother. Thanks to the loving gifts of caring and compassionate people, like you, Mary received lifesaving help.
She was rushed to a nutrition site where she was given a porridge called Corn Soy Blend. This vitamin-packed food restored her strength just in time to give birth to a healthy baby boy!
Slowly but surely, Mary healed and began turning the compound in which they live into a safe haven for her and her growing children.
She received a water bucket, which has made getting water easier. Her family also now has a latrine slab to build a latrine right on their compound. That means they won’t have to walk long distances to overused, unsanitary locations.
Your compassion brings bountiful blessings.
The biggest transformation for Mary was the knowledge she received on how to grow long-term solutions in her home garden to improve her family’s health.
When you extend your caring hand, you are:
- Helping your neighbors grow long-term solutions to end hunger by providing high-quality seeds that produce nourishing vegetables to feed starving families.
- Educating hardworking mothers on how to prepare healthy meals using the produce they harvested with your love.
- Shielding scared families who lost everything when violence invaded their homelands by providing them with safe shelter and the tools and knowledge to build a brighter future.
Mary and her mother-in-law are growing nutritious vegetables together and her family is no longer hungry.
Because of loving friends like you, Mary received seeds to grow nutritious vegetables, like tomatoes, eggplant, onions and watermelon. These vitamin-rich foods are new for her family who survived solely on sorghum, okra and milk.
Determined to cultivate a better life for her family through her bountiful garden, Mary also attended cooking demonstrations where she learned how to prepare meals with the new vegetables she was growing.
Your loving gifts can provide the life-changing support families like Mary’s need to start life over again after fleeing their beloved homelands with nothing but the clothes on their backs.
Thank you for sharing your blessings with mothers like Mary who will do anything to keep their children fed, healthy and safe — just like you do for those you love.
Until your love reaches every neighbor.
