MANA

Unfortunately, one of the major causes behind the huge number of orphans in this world is the lack of food and the lack of basic resources to allow mothers and fathers to provide for the family.  It seems that often, faced with the choice of either watching a child die of hunger and hunger related illnesses, or placing them in an orphanage where they can receive some care (granted, not always great care because of the overcrowding and lack of resources in many orphanages) and have the opportunity to get adopted, most parents will choose the orphanage.  Can you imagine being faced with that decision?  Give my child up because I realize I can't provide for them?  What is so hard to swallow about the hunger that faces so many people in other places of the world is how much we have right here in America...we have so much more than we need.  But, what do we do about it?  Obviously we can't pack up what is in our pantry and send it over seas. 

A child dies every six seconds from
malnutrition-related causes.

It’s preventable. And it’s curable.

There are about a billion hungry people in the world. Hunger gives way to chronic malnutrition, and in its most severe form, severe acute malnutrition kills 1- 2 million kids a year.

THE CYCLE OF MALNUTRITION

• A child becomes acutely malnourished and the mother must leave what little livelihood she has – typically farming – to take the child to the nearest hospital.
• Long walks give way to crowded waits in makeshift centers. If admitted, she remains as the caregiver in a crowded malnutrition ward, which is often a room with rows of straw mats, as the child is treated.
• Disease is transmitted easily between the weakened children in the ward.
• And, if the child survives, he or she often returns home to find that his or her family have sunken into a deeper level of crisis.           (source: mananutrition.org)

Let me introduce you to MANA

The folks at MANA are doing something about malnutrition in other parts of the world.  MANA stands for Mother Administered Nutritive Aid.  A pack of MANA is fortified peanut butter and tastes a little bit like a Reese's peanut butter cup.  What this pack can do is save the life of a child.  As little as three packs a day for six weeks can bring a child back from the brink of death.  Isn't that incredible?!!  Look at these pictures showing the before and after of the difference MANA can make:

Here's a video of what MANA is doing in Rwanda.....

How can we help MANA?  There are a couple of ways.  One is by going to their website and donating.  Another way is by  hosting a Give Your Lunch to Jesus day at your church.  Our small group this summer ate pb&j sandwiches together after church and gave what we would have spent on lunch to MANA.  Another way is by setting up your own fundraising campaign to benefit the efforts to build the factory in Kigali, Rwanda.  Please consider joining with MANA to help change the life of a child.

Love

Tracy