The boat, loaded with food, plowed across Lake Nicaragua and landed near Ana’s village, filling her with relief. “I thank God infinitely for His mercy,” she said.
Since April, Ana’s community on El Terron Island, Nicaragua, has struggled in the face of food shortages that have swept the world because of COVID-19.
“We are experiencing very difficult times,” Ana said. “Our primary work that generates income is fishing. Now with this pandemic… we have not been able to sell fish.”
In her community alone, 40 families have been unable to buy food or medication. The lack of nutrition has taken a toll on their health and they had little help until our teams sent that boat.
“Thank you on behalf of my community for this gesture of love—this great nutritional blessing,” Ana responded joyfully. “We see today the mercy of our Heavenly Father.”
These emergency food distributions are just part of our growing effort to relieve suffering from hunger around the world. Your prayers and support are critical to help not only feed families now, but also ensure they have safe, nutritious, and sufficient food for every day.
For Josefa, her struggle for food began when turmoil in Nicaragua— already among the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere—brought severe hardship to her family. “Everything became more expensive,” Josefa said. She could afford less food, and what she did buy was of poor nutritional value.
Josefa had grown up on a farm surrounded by crops and animals. Those days now seem so far away for the 53-year-old single mom as she struggles to support her two children and grandson.
“We do not have enough food to survive,” she told us. “Because of unemployment and COVID-19, my business is not viable. I used to sell sweets and bread. I had to stop since people do not want to leave their houses.”
The pandemic has left Josefa and her family extremely vulnerable—the reality for so many people in our world.
In response, we launched a new agricultural project in Josefa’s village and nine surrounding communities. The project provides supplies and trains families to raise chickens, pigs, rabbits, and crops that will give them reliable, nutritious sources of food.
Josefa’s life was touched before through a Samaritan’s Purse BioSand Water Filter. “When I received the filter, I heard about God and studied the Bible…now I pray every morning and night, thanking God for the gift of life that he gives me.”
Through gifts like yours, Josefa is seeing God’s provision again. “Today I have chickens and a pig again! I hope to plant squash, sweet potatoes, tomato, onion, and sweet peppers. We trust that God may continue to help us at all times.”
More than a billion people worldwide are suffering from chronic malnutrition. Through your gifts, Samaritan’s Purse is providing lasting solutions through hands-on farming training, home garden projects, and practical education about nutrition, as well as desperately-needed food staples for hungry families in emergency situations.