Our Team & Board of Directors
Mozambique
A report from the field from Nyararai Mugudu
Field coordinator for CHF in rural Mozambique
Dear Friends of CHF – It’s working!
Let me share with you the story of a courageous woman that I’ve come to know very well; someone I’m proud to call a friend. Avó-Maria is in her late seventies. She lost nearly all of her children to sickness and disease and is now the sole provider for 13 of her grandchildren. When I entered her home for the first time I saw a family on the very edge of survival.
I looked at the dusty cooking pot and realized it had not been used for days. “What will you eat tomorrow?” I asked.“We cannot think about tomorrow,” she said, her eyes filled with profound sadness,“ we just think about today.” The children were surviving on a paste of a few ground-up mangoes and eating a handful of wild nuts and berries found on trees in the village. This was their life, their future.
Now let me tell you about my most recent visit to Avó-Maria's home…
When I arrived she and her grandchildren were eating a hot meal and enjoying a cup of tea with sugar. A luxury! I smiled and said jokingly, “Where did you get the money to pay for this food and your lovely cups of tea?” Her eyes filled with happiness as she replied, “All this came from the vegetables you helped us grow!”
She was referring to the vegetables she had been able to grow — and sell — with CHF's help through this amazing project. It's remarkable to see what a single bag of seeds and a few essential tools, paired with critical start up training and ongoing mentoring, can accomplish. Today Avó-Maria is able to feed her grandchildren and have money left over! Hunger has been replaced by hope and happiness. Avó-Maria's uplifting story is just one of many.
We have already reached over 330 households and I say to you with confidence, “All of our planning is paying off...the project is working! ” But we need your help to move forward.
In Sussundenga District, sickness and disease has left thousands of households headed by women or the elderly living at a subsistence level. The situation is desperate. There are almost no alternative sources of income other than farming. Hunger is rampant due to low agricultural productivity, but this has created a tremendous opportunity for CHF to help.
CHF responds — our current project in Mozambique is targeting the extreme poor and most vulnerable, including women, elderly caregivers and orphans. Our goal is to reach another 1,000 families and help them free themselves from chronic poverty. But we need your help.
Your gift today will provide:
- Seeds, tools, livestock, on-going farm training, equipment, medical supplies and more!
