“Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress.” Psalm 107:4-6
Have you ever been out wandering in the wastelands, hungry and thirsty, freezing or burning to a crisp? When deer hunting in the Pine Ridge of NW Nebraska during a November snowstorm, there were times that I was wandering endlessly for hours through the pine trees and deep ravines and canyons of Sheridan County but never do I recall feeling pains from being hungry or thirsty.
Back in the day, on one particular visit to a Lutheran school in the Jeremie District, our small group walked for several hours, through a river and then up a very long steep and did I mention long hill in intense heat and humidity and I did get really thirsty but I had a water bottle and drank frequently to replenish what I had lost on the ‘Haitian stairmaster’.
There are many children attending school in Haiti who are hungry and thirsty when they arrive for class. Sometimes they saunter into class in the morning crying because their stomachs are empty and their comment is “Mwen gran goo” which translated ‘I am very hungry’. I can only imagine that the only time I cried because I was hungry was 70 years ago when I was a baby and announced through tears that I was hungry. In North American homes solving the problem of hunger is generally only a few feet away to the nearest cupboard or fridge and you will find food. Such is not the case in many homes in Haiti.
The attached photo is of a girl at the Lutheran school in Ouanaminthe in March of 2010, before the Trinity HOPE feeding program came to her school; not a lot of energy, no bright smile to greet me. It is easy to walk into a school in Haiti and know if there is a feeding program, just look at the children, shake their hands, pat their heads, look into their eyes, listen to their voice…tired, weak, clammy, listless and faint. Hungry and thirsty; “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.” Matthew 5:6.
Trinity HOPE is now bringing a lunch program to over 52,000 children in 247 Christian schools throughout Haiti. The hunger pains of those kids have subsided and their bodies continue to grow physically and their minds grow Spiritually with the Bread of Life. Thank you for bringing them this lifegiving food.
Heavenly Father, you have called your servants to ventures of which we cannot see the ending, by paths as yet untrodden, through perils unknown. Give us faith to go out with good courage, not knowing where we go but only that your hand is leading us and your love supporting us through Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.
May God be with you…Jay