Food pantry.

I have written several times about the food pantry. We have about five families that we help with food on a regular basis and many others that we help with occasional help.

The families we help are in different circumstances. One lady, Inez, has six children and her husband is in jail. She works very hard. She has no education at all, she can not read or write even her own name. She has no skills in the work force and the only way she can make money for her family is to get up at four in the morning and bake these hard little cookies over a fire and then taking them and walking along the streets to sell them for pennies. She walks the streets all day, she is even working Sundays now, she also takes in laundry to wash for extra. Now when I say take in laundry you have to remember she is not throwing it in a washer and dryer but she is scrubbing it on a big flat rock, pouring water over it and hanging it up to dry. This is not an easy life, but Inez really tries and works very hard. Her children are in school with the help of the school scholarship program and she is very proud of them and hopes and prays that they will be able to get an education so that they will not have to work so hard for so little. Inez just can not make it with what she earns, we help by supplementing her food every other week. She doesn’t ask for much and is always very thankful and even slightly embarrassed by having to accept this help. I tell her she has no need for embarrassment as she is doing her very best.



One of the newest women we are helping is Sonya, she has been abused by her husband for several years now. She finally filed papers and had him removed from the house. While that is a big and positive step it led to a whole new set of problems the biggest being that she on longer has any support or help and she has three children. Including a one year old little girl. I was frantic to find a way to help her, she sends the kids to the kitchen and volunteered to help so that she could eat as well but it was just not enough. She also has little education and there are just no jobs here. She is very confused and this is a very difficult time, but thanks to some very tender hearts who saw a need and reached out to help we have been able to help her feed her little family. I do not know what will happen with Sonya but I will continue to help were I can and I will most defiantly be lifting her up in prayer.

I have a lot of women ask for help to buy milk, it is so expensive here. I first talk with the women and find out if they are sending their kids to the kitchen. I explain that with the money they save sending all of the kids to eat they could use that money for milk. I also try to find out if they have employment. If not I tell them to come and work a few days in the kitchen, they will not get paid but they do get breakfast and lunch for themselves and their children on the days that they work, which can really add up. I try to encourage them to take steps to help themselves where and when they can.

When I take the food into the community I visit with each family, I look at school work and try to encourage the children to continue. I take time to sit and visit with the moms and I am often a sounding board for their fears and doubts. It is often overwhelming for these ladies to try to handle everything on their own and they often need to just talk.

They are very thankful and often tell me “Thank you.” I tell them that none of this is from me. That it comes from money that was donated by others in the states whose heart was touched and whom God is using to reach out to help. So that all blessing come from God and that all thanks should go to him.
I want you to know that I am thankful to you as well as God, to everyone who prays for these families, to all of you who help financially where and when you can, you are making a difference in the lives of these children.ve to the families, the food varies on the needs of the family as well as what is in season, what is on sale, and what we can afford to buy.

Oil and margarine:

Tomato paste is used to make a sauce with onion and peppers to have with pasta.
Eggs, the price has gone up and we are not able to buy as much as we use to.
Powdered milk and oatmeal. Milk went from L38 to L56 in the last couple of months.



Beans, rice and sugar we buy in bulk and then the girls help me break it up into smaller bags.

Cornmeal
Pasta and soup mixes are one of the more affordable foods and with the price increase for beans and rice we are buying more pasta. The soup mix is not the most nutritious but it is filling and affordable.
Toilet paper and soap, cloro (bleach) and vitamins are not "food" products but they are needed.

The vitamins are a wonderful supplement and right now I am still using donated vitamins so there is no cost.
Spices and salt, these are very cheap and they add a lot to the meal.
Cookies and Kool-aid is not a necessity but it is nice to give the children a small treat. For a few cents you can bring a smile to a little ones face.


Fruits and Veggies: whatever is in season is what we buy. Sometimes it maybe oranges and others bananas, we buy only what can be used in a short time quickly as no one has refrigeration.