We have received the following emails from our administrators in Kenya. 

“Am informing you that the situation is getting worse. No Maize at all. People are dying everywhere because the famine that is here in Kenya and not only Kenya this is almost everywhere. Please, if God will open a way, please, we need money to purchase Maize and Beans. This is God's children. He loves them and He will never let them suffer any more...We have food for only two days. Anyway, we are crying to our almighty father to meet our needs at the right time. .Please, pray for God to meet our needs. Thank you so much for your concern in all. May the dear Lord bless you.”   Pastor Moses.

                 Help buy food for African Orphans.

A similar letter was received from Pastor Maurice, who told us that he has to shop daily to try to buy grain.  The farmer, from whom he normally purchases grain and beans in bulk, has threatened to sell what was held for Hope Center and Good Samaritan to others if we don’t have the funds very soon.  Last December when we needed grain, we were blessed with a large grant from World Children’s Fund, as well as an anonymous donation of $10,000, giving us the $30,000 we needed to supply 3 months worth of protein based foods for storage.  Somehow, the Administrators have managed to keep the children fed during April and May, but the situation is becoming dire.  Recently Pastor Maurice was only able to find two bags of grains to purchase at the market, and it took 9 hours of waiting as there is such a shortage. Even if he would have had more money, he would have been limited to two bags. Two bags, to feed over 400 children! It is URGENT that we find a way to purchase the load of grain our supplier is holding for us, before he releases it to others. Today we learned that the children have gone hungry for two days. Then there are the children at the gates who count on us as their only source of a meal. Surely if we cannot feed our orphans we cannot feed them! 

We have disclosed that when Esther visited, she found over 200 children in residence at our orphanages that were unexpected bringing our total in house orphans to over 700.  Certainly this has exacerbated the problem as they have stretched their budgets to care for them.  Our board will be meeting soon to make the difficult decisions on what to do about all of these children.  But in the meantime, we are out of food.  It is not a time for recrimination, but a time to act.  Our children are going hungry, and our budgets are inadequate to meet the skyrocketing costs our projects are facing. Our donations are down due to the failing global economy, with World Children’s fund freezing its grants, as are many other foundations. 

Last weekend, Esther and I had the pleasure of listening to several African guest speakers at a conference we attended.  One in particular noted the work our ministry is doing, reminding us all that “the orphans and the widows are the apple of God’s eyes”.  He said that on judgment day, God will not be interested in our degrees, our homes, or our cars.  He will want to know “did we make a difference in someone’s life?”  We not only are making a difference, but we are saving lives, one at a time.  We have a huge challenge; we must raise at least $30,000 within the next few days.

 I believe we can do it! We must! Joined together, we are a force to be reckoned with.

Please send your donation marked “For the grain challenge” to our treasurer at:

Hearth to Hearth Ministries

P.O. Box 208

Lake Ann, MI  49650

God bless you, each and every one.

Vicki Kritzell

Update: These emails were received in May 2009, and money to buy three months worth of food for the orphanages was received on June 12th.  But, this is an on going problem.  There are always more orphans to feed then we have food to feed them.  Please help us raise the money for the next time before the situation gets so desperate.

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Read about the impressions of an 18 year old American teenager on seeing more starving kids than he could help on his six month volunteer trip to Africa.