Beneficiary Stories

A few weeks ago, Carl and I had the opportunity to go into the communities again to hear stories from the beneficiaries. It was an honour to hear about how their lives have been impacted by the food distribution project. We have been reminded that even in times of hardship, God is present and he continues to be faithful in the lives of his people here in Zambia. Below are a few of the stories we heard.

Doreen

Doreen and her husband have a household of six, a 14-year-old, 11-year-old, 5-year-old, and a 5-month-old. She says thank you and is so grateful for the project because she and her family were struggling, only able to eat one meal each day. Now, with the assistance provided through this program, they eat twice a day - lunch and supper.

Doreen and her husband had cultivated their field but did not reap anything. Without the food she has received each month, she is concerned about how her family would have been able to make it through this difficult season. They are now no longer hungry, and have enough energy to work on the farm and do other tasks.

Before this project, Doreen and her husband were no longer able to send their children to school because all of their money had to go to buy food. Now that they have been given some food, they are able to pay the fees so that their children can go back to school. In the future, she would like to buy clothes for the children with what little money they have.

She is concerned about the project ending because she doesn’t know where they would get food and energy to till the soil. She is concerned about what might happen as the project comes to an end. Doreen appreciates this project and asks for seeds to grow during the next season.

Musa

Musa is a widow with two boys aged 7 and 4 years old. She is grateful to World Renew and the Canadian Foodgrains Bank for helping in such difficult conditions. On her own, she was struggling to put enough food on the table for her children

Musa is grateful to the Almighty God and prays that there is enough food until the rains come. She is not just thinking of herself as a beneficiary because those who aren’t beneficiaries are able to get food from others like herself who share. In her family, she is the only one who is a beneficiary so when she receives food, the whole extended family benefits.

Musa’s son, who is in school, likes to come to the food distribution because he loves the joy in receiving the food. This project has been a motivation to her son. He used to say that he couldn’t go to school because he was so hungry. Now he is happy to go to school. In order to make money for the fees she is able to do piece work for the teacher. When there is water, she is able to grow some vegetables and sell them to the teacher.

Prior to the food distribution the most challenging thing about eating was getting more than just nsima (cooked maize meal) to eat.

Musa prays that the project will continue. When the Project Coordinator, Brian asked the community who would share their story, she put her hand up. She now fits better into her clothes because they were not fitting well before the project. Before the food distributions, Musa and her boys would only have one meal per day. They now eat three meals per day. She cooks lunch and dinner and eats leftovers for breakfast. 

When the rains come, her brothers give her some money and she has made a business of making and selling sour milk in the neighbouring village.

In the future, she would like to see the development of structures in her village so that jobs will be created. She would also like to rear chickens. The problem now is that there is no food for the chickens so they might not survive. When the rains come, she is hopeful that she’ll be able to grow food for the chickens.

Albert

Albert is 57 years old and together with his wife they have six children whose ages range from 11 – 21 years old. His means of livelihood is farming. This year there was nothing he yielded from his farm. He praises the Almighty God who has helped to make sure that through this assistance, there is enough food to eat. =

The project is really improving life because he now receives a bag of maize meal. One bag is not enough for the whole month so he plans on other ways to bring food to the table. Before the project his family only ate one meal per day. Now they eat two meals per day. 

The money that Albert is able to save, because he no longer has to purchase food, is used for school fees. His life has improved because now they have energy and time to cultivate the field. The most surprising thing is that they didn’t anticipate any support outside of the government. 

Now he is also able to use the money that he makes from selling charcoal to buy an ox cart. Whenever he looks at the ox cart he thinks of this project. It will allow him to transport charcoal to the market and return with maize meal without depending on someone else.

As part of this program, community members are asked to participate in community building projects. Albert has helped in the construction of school buildings and toilets for the local clinic. 

Albert prays that God will continue to guide and protect the people giving the food.

Karen

At 35 years of age, Karen is a widow with six children (ages 16, 14, 11, 9, 4, and 3). She wants to say thank you to “Canada” and prays that God will return the blessings to those who have helped in this difficult time. She is grateful for this project because it has changed her lifestyle as they can now eat three meals per day and since her children are no longer hungry, they can go to school.

Karen is so happy that there is food. When she could make a little money doing piecework the food would be limited and only feed them perhaps a spoonful each. Her children used to go to other places to eat so she is happy to have them all home together. She is also proud to say that with the food she has received she has shared with those who are sick and could not walk from their homes.

In the future, she would like to try and buy fish and chicken and resell them but currently she does not have the capital to start this business.

Simon

Simon lives with his daughter and her three children. Before the program, the situation was bad for them. When they found food, his daughter and himself would not eat themselves, instead choosing to save the food for the children. In a week they would not eat for or five times for the sake of the children. As a result, they developed stomach ulcers. When the food came, they struggled with stomach pains because they were not used to eating food. The hospital gave them oil so that they could take the food better without it causing pain. Simon’s health is slowly improving because of this help.

Now that the food has come, it is joyful in their houses. They are amazed at the gesture of receiving food. In the fields there was literally nothing that came out because of the heat and drought. They couldn’t buy uniforms or shoes for the family. Now they no longer have debts at school because they are paying their fees.

A project memory that stands out for Simon is first the changes he has seen in his own body that is now healthy. He also thinks that the community work projects have helped to improve the safety for people on the road.

Simon has been able to make some money by selling fish that he has bought. Sometimes after they make money from selling fish, they buy clothes and sell them to make even more money which they can then use to buy cattle or chickens.

Simon is thankful that the project has provided his community with assistance. He told me that if we needed a place to live he would invite us to live in his backyard as a way to show appreciation. He feels ashamed that he cannot provide anything for us who have given them food. “May God protect you the project people so that grace may continue to be shown.”

Sam

Sam and his wife have eight children who range in age from one to 16 years old. He has tried his hand at both fishing and farming. With the limitations of the fishing season and restrictions on fishing methods (e.g., nets are not allowed because they catch the small fish with the large fish), he was struggling to make a living, so he decided to focus on farming. Due to the drought, his farm failed and he could not survive on this year’s poor harvests. He now burns charcoal, even though it’s difficult, and uses this money to buy basic food that provides for one meal a day. Despite this, sometimes his family did not have any food.

Since the food from the project arrived, their life has improved and they now eat two meals per day. Sam is happy that they have extras such as cooking oil because that was not included in their meals before the project. The children now go to school again, and he prays that the project will continue because the local means of employment are not working out. Sam shared this blessing with us: “may God continue to guide and protect you (the supporters of this project) as you do this good work.”