February 2010

Our planet produces enough food for each living person to consume 2,720 calories per day. The average person only needs 2,000 calories a day to eat a healthy, balanced diet. There is more than enough food to go around!

When I hear about a child passing out at school because she has not eaten for two days my immediate emotional reaction is one of anger. In a world that has plenty of food, why should a young child go without food for even one day?

A small school in a village called "Rooigrond" was experiencing the problem of students passing out with hunger. The school was able to provide a peanut butter sandwich a few days a week to their students, but clearly that is not nearly enough if a child is not getting any food at home. The school contacted Helping Hands and after just one visit it became evident we needed to do something.

This month saw us start up a feeding project in the village of Rooigrond. On the first day 105 children turned up. Within two weeks there were about 350 children and the numbers are growing daily.

Rooigrond is a rural village about ten miles from the closest town. There is no water in this village so the people living here rely on the town council to truck in water on a regular basis. This does not happen often enough. Until such time as we are able to sink a well, our feeding project brings in it's own water on a daily basis in order to cook a meal of the staple African food namely maize porridge, which the children love to eat. We add a nutritious high protein soya based topping.

The immediate benefit of a balanced meal every day for the children of Rooigrond is obvious. These children will no longer be starving and under-nourished. One of the long-term benefits is that they will be able to concentrate in school resulting in a better education, which of course, goes a long way toward helping them break out of the cycle of poverty.

Would you be willing to help us feed a child? It costs as little as $5 a month to feed a child for an entire month.

With warm regards
Michelle Tessendorf

    Mission statement
    Helping Hands is dedicated to restoring hope for the future in disadvantaged communities by providing opportunities for individuals in the community to develop skills that will equip them to take responsibility for their own economic, health, educational, social and spiritual upliftment.