EIM Nutrition/Feeding Programs
In the world today there are 852,000 hungry people, with most of these coming from underdeveloped countries. In Africa alone 60 percent of the country is dependent on food aid. Each year 5.5 million children under the age of 5 die with food insecurity diseases being the cause of death. One of the reasons for hunger related disease and starvation is because 1.5 billion people are living below the poverty line which is less than $1.00 per day. Today there will be 24,000 deaths due to hunger and poverty. According to the World Food Program a child will die every 5 seconds due to food insecurity.
We at EIM are committed to joining the fight against poverty and hunger. In 2003 EIM began a primary partnership with USAID and Breedlove Dehydrated Foods of Lubbock Texas in providing food to the needy people of the Upper East Region of Ghana, Africa. EIM found this area of the country was suffering from extreme malnutrition and food insecurity. After ministering in Ghana for five years prior to beginning our feeding program, we were very familiar with the needs and the culture of the Upper East Region. By developing a partnership with USAID and Breedlove Dehydrated Foods we began our first feeding program. In Ghana we conducted a primary school feeding program. From 2003 through 2005 we were able to feed 25,000 children five days a week in the local schools. For 75 percent of the children this would be the only meal that they would receive. This really helped in opening our eyes to the seriousness of malnutrition and food insecurity. While working in our feeding program we also helped communities develop renewable food sources.
Below is just a sample of the response that we received from local school administrators.
“The program honestly brought life back to the school. Attendance at the school almost got to a hollowed because most of the children could not walk the long distances they do make daily, due to poor feeding before coming to school. A lot of children had poor health growth issues. But with the introduction of the program, attendance has increased and improvement in their health is encouraging. The recent de-worming exercise came on at the right time to solve the problem of poor health in the children due to worms. It is our hearts desire that this food program and the de-worming exercise continue to reach out to more needy children in the north and Ghana at large.”
Chana Teni Agnes, Assistant Director
Zuarungu Primary School, Upper East Ghana
In 2005 EIM began its second feeding program in the Country of Honduras. Once again working with our previous partners, Breedlove Dehydrated Foods and USAID, we began our second school feeding program.
Honduras, a low-income food deficit country, is one of the poorest countries in the Western Hemisphere. The World Bank estimates per capita income at about $930 per year (2003), illustrated by the fact that almost 45 percent of the population live on less than $1 a day and 64 percent live on less than $2 a day, as demonstrated by a 53 percent poverty rate. The World Bank further reports that inequality, including unequal access to assets, markets and services, is greater in Latin America than in every other region except Sub-Saharan Africa, and that this inequality “has played a fundamental role in Latin America’s persistent poverty and lagging income growth”. With inconsistent domestic production unable to satisfy growing nutritional and caloric consumption requirements, 22 percent of the Honduran population suffers from malnutrition. According to the World Food Program, “food insecurity is particularly acute in rural areas (of Honduras) where the majority of households do not have the necessary resources to produce or obtain their daily food requirements”. In other words, poverty is the predominant cause of food insecurity for rural Hondurans.
By having a school feeding program EIM was able to bring relief to over 18,000 school children five days a week.
We began our third feeding program in 2006 on the Island of Panay, Philippines. In the Philippines we added an additional partner that we have developed a very close and personal relationship with, “Here’s Hope Ministry” under the direction of Don Newsom. HHM has been working in the Philippines for over 25 years and has had a productive and positive ministry. HHM includes a medical clinic, nutrition program, and a home for abused and abandoned children. Our targeted recipients were pre-school children, pregnant and lactating mothers.
With the help of HHM, Breedlove Dehydrated Foods, and USAID we began a supplemental feeding program working in the local health clinics. We are presently feeding 16,000 recipients five or six days a week.
In all of three of our programs not only were we able to meet the needed physical condition of those in need but it opened the door to allow us to share with them the greatest need in all of mankind’s life and that is the message of The Gospel. Through our feeding efforts we have witnessed over 30,000 souls come to know Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord.