Once in the military, during a training exercise that included going without food for some days, I was really, really hungry. However, I knew it was only a test and food was soon to be in abundance again. I have been led to fast and pray for some days in the past, but again, there has always been that assurance that food was soon to be enjoyed as before.
Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That's about one in nine people on earth.
The vast majority of the world's hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished.
Asia is the continent with the most hungry people - two thirds of the total. The percentage in southern Asia has fallen in recent years but in western Asia it has increased slightly.
Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence (percentage of population) of hunger. One person in four there is undernourished.
Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five - 3.1 million children each year.
One out of six children -- roughly 100 million -- in developing countries is underweight.
One in four of the world's children are stunted. In developing countries the proportion can rise to one in three.
66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone.
WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.
http://www.foodaidfoundation.org/world-hunger-statistics.html
There are so many food miracles in the Bible. At times God reached down and encouraged his own with food. He sent manna from heaven, ravens to feed a prophet, fear to scare away a besieging army so starving lepers would find an abundance of food in an abandoned Syrian camp, a widows flour barrel that would not go empty, and Jesus feeding thousands with two fishes and five loaves.
Our neighbor prayed with me and my wife before leaving for Zimbabwe. She said, “Lord, you know how it's so difficult for people to hear the Gospel with hungry stomachs, please provide the money so the team can feed the people in Zimbabwe”.
Her prayer was so true! Have you ever tried to focus on a conversation when you're hungry? It reminds me of the lesson in James 2, 'If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food and one of you says to them, Go in peace, be warmed and filled, without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"
Would you please consider even just a small donation to SSI at this time? We are here, and we need to buy food so we can reach the poor with the Gospel of Christ. For $5 you can buy a 20 lb. bag of mealie meal, the staple food of Africa.
We are currently around $1000 short of our food distribution goal.
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