Compassion International's global network of
churches responds to hunger with food support, relief as food
crisis escalates
COLORADO
SPRINGS, Colo., Sept. 28,
2022 /PRNewswire/ -- In response to a growing global
food crisis, Compassion International has deployed a not-so-secret
weapon to bring about relief in hungry communities: the
organization's large network of 8,000+ frontline church
partners.
Over the past two years, the pandemic created a dire situation
regarding hunger and malnutrition, reversing decades of progress
made in the fight against poverty and hunger in low and
middle-income countries around the world. Unfortunately, the world
didn't have much time to recover. Conflict, economic shocks, and
weather extremes led to even greater food insecurity in 2021.
According to The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the
World 2022 report, 828 million people, or nearly 10 percent of
the world's population, were affected by hunger in 2021 – 46
million people more from a year earlier. Around 2.3 billion people
in the world, or nearly 30 percent of the world's population, were
moderately or severely food insecure – 350 million more compared to
before the pandemic began.
The toll on children took a drastic turn. An estimated 45
million children under the age of five were suffering from wasting,
a deadly form of malnutrition that increases a child's risk of
death by up to 12 times; and 149 million children under the age of
five had stunted growth and development due to a chronic lack of
nutrition.
And if the 2021 statistics weren't bad enough, the war in
Ukraine intensified an existing
crisis in 2022. Together, Russia
and Ukraine supply almost 30% of
the world's wheat (plus barley, sunflower seed oil, and corn),
feeding billions. Combined with skyrocketing costs of fuel and
fertilizer, the conflict has sent global food prices, already high
post-covid, soaring.
Currently, 345 million people are facing acute, or
crisis-level, food insecurity – up from 276 million at the start of
the calendar year.
So where does this complex "perfect storm" of a global food
crisis leave children in poverty today? Sidney Muisyo, chief program officer at
Compassion, shares, "Children in poverty remain especially
vulnerable to the mounting food crisis. Tragically, this increases
the chances that children and youth will be exploited or kept from
pursuing their education. And that is not all. We are seeing this
food crisis push girls into early marriages as families become
desperate to feed themselves. Recently, UNICEF looked at 15
developing countries and found that every minute, another child
will be suffering from severe wasting. This type of severe
undernourishment also makes children highly vulnerable to
life-threatening diseases."
This place of desperation is exactly where Compassion's local
church partners are meeting hungry children and families. These
"first responders" are trained to identify malnutrition and hunger
in their communities and take immediate action to address it. In
the short term, they are halting food insecurity by delivering food
packs (full of essentials, such as rice, beans, flour, and oil) and
completing cash transfers, giving hungry families the freedom to
purchase supplies and cover basic expenses. And they are empowering
families with seeds, fertilizer, livestock, and training in
building home gardens and small-scale farms, so they'll have
sustainable food supplies.
Palamanga Ouali, vice president of Compassion's Africa region, explains, "The local church is
located in the communities where the need is most felt. Apart from
preaching the gospel, I have seen the church mobilize local
resources, even in the midst of the lockdowns, to cater for the
needy and vulnerable in the church and community. The church knows
where the vulnerable are in the communities and knows the needs of
the people. Our hope is that the church, with the right
intervention and resources, will continue to put smiles on the
faces of those they serve while giving the vulnerable the
opportunity to hope and thrive again."
So how can the developed world come alongside local churches, as
they bring hope and stability to hungry communities?
Become part of the solution through support. Compassion recently
launched a large-scale global fundraising effort across its 15
global partner offices to equip the local church to continue to
meet the critical needs of children and families during the global
food crisis. Supporters can donate towards food packs; $50 will provide a family of five with a one
month supply of essentials like rice eggs, meat, milk, and corn.
They can also give towards sustainable solutions, such as livestock
(chickens, goats, or pigs), mitigation (seeds, basic tools, and
training), agriculture (vegetable seeds or fruit trees).
Pray for local churches around the world. Pray that God
would equip these churches and staff members with wisdom,
protection, supplies, and endurance from His "unlimited resources"
(Ephesians 3:16, NLT) to fight hunger and provide food security to
children and families in their communities.
To learn more about the global food crisis and Compassion's
solutions, visit www.compassion.com/globalfight.
About Compassion
International
Compassion International is a Christian child development
organization working to release children from poverty in Jesus'
name. Founded in 1952, Compassion partners with more than 8,000
local churches in 27 program countries to deliver spiritual,
economic, social, and physical care to over two million babies,
children, and young adults in poverty. Ranked No. 10 in Forbes'
America's Top Charities List in 2021, Compassion is a founding
member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability and
an accredited charity with the Better Business Bureau's Wise Giving
Alliance. For more information, visit compassion.com or
follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
MEDIA CONTACT:
Allison Wilburn
219-384-8177
awilburn@compassion.com
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SOURCE Compassion International