Feeding the Hungry

This week our food distribution will start up again after the Christmas break. Every 2 weeks, over 400 mothers and fathers will pass along our line with their five or six large canvas bags which will all be filled to the brim with fruits, vegetables, formula, pizza and flour.

The mothers and fathers all attend our Mothers Club and Fathers Club each week to earn the right to receive the food from our distribution. In these clubs our mothers and fathers learn valuable skills they can use to earn money, such as sewing, making perfumes and baskets. They also have talks with our psychologist and guest speakers who teach them about their legal rights, domestic abuse, proper childcare and many other important topics. Last year our mothers were also able to complete a first aid training course.

Our 400 mothers and fathers are split in two and receive their food bi-weekly. This ensure that each mother receives enough of the food available to support their whole family. Whilst our food distribution is aimed specifically at our 400 mothers and fathers, the food is actually received by many more people, including children, grandchildren and other family members. Over 1000 people are direct or indirect recipients of our food distribution each week.

Last year we also extended our food distribution to include some young adults taking part in a pilot programme we started in collaboration with the Guatemalan Ministerio de Trabajo. These children, who work in the streets rather than attending school, had been identified as vulnerable and received classes to help prevent them from being exploited, and afterwards collected a bag of vegetables for their family.

We also have a small group of children affiliated with our programme who have been identified as having a great need. These children and their families receive vegetables and pizza every week delivered to their home as they are not able to come and get the vegetables themselves for a number of reasons.

Thanks to your support, we can continue to give these life-saving foods to our families. Our mothers and fathers are extremely grateful for all that they receive.