Drought, Dust, Dead Cows and Hunger

There have been several visitors at the gate today. There are times you dread having visitors because you know that once again there will be another plea for help. Maasai Development Project is set up such that all monies are designated to specific projects. Such as lay worker sponsorships, children's sponsorships, building projects,
food program, education etc. When visitors come to the gate, any help that is not within the designations must come out of my pocket. When the money runs out, I have nothing more to live on. It is so hard to say no when you see pain, hunger or despair in a face. Today was no exception.

I don't usually like to give money because it buys a bit of food today but tomorrow the stomach is hungry again. One of the visitors was a lady that I knew needed help but how could I help her help herself? I had just bought a packet of beans, so decided to give it to her to start a small business. She will cook up the packet of beans and sell them by the cupful. She will then go and buy two packets of beans with the profit and thus start a small business. The first day she will not have a profit for herself, but within a week or two she should be able to have profit enough to help feed her children and continue her business. In Kenya,people buy cooked beans on their way home from work to add to their dinner that night. Thus they don't have to wait for beans to cook before eating, speeding up the cooking process at home. Since she will have no overhead with this first packet of beans she should be able to take all the profit to buy two packets. I will check up on her in a week's time to see if she has been successful. Oh how I pray so.

Think about it, if your family is starving, will you actually use that packet to start a business or will you listen to the cries of your hungry children and feed them instead. If you wait, a business can be started to help sustain your hungry children, but in the meantime can you ignore the cries of your children? This is the decision that this lady will have to make when she gets home. My heart cries for her.

Then an old Mzee came, last time I was here I had given him 3,000/= for his daughter's education out of my pocket. Today he was back needing 5,000/=. In the meantime his wife has died, he is in debt and had sold all his cattle to try to help her. What he didn't sell, died in the drought. Today I gave him 3,000/= more for his daughter's education,
but as I looked at his sunken cheeks and painful eyes while watching him slumped over in the chair, I couldn't bare to see him go away
hungry. I came back to the house gave him a bag of maize meal potatoes, tomatoes, what few beans I had left and a head of cabbage. I gave it to the Maasai guard that works for us and asked him to cook a meal for the Mzee and send the left over food home with him. Before I left them to their meal, I prayed for God's blessing. As I prayed I could feel God's sadness and longing for His dear children.

Walking back to my house I began to cry. Have I ever known true hunger? Has there ever been a time when I can truly say there is no hope? The look of this old Mzee will forever be with me. My heart breaks.

I don't have enough for everyone but at least this one man won't go home hungry today. This is one man of thousands in the same situation here in Kenya. People are dying! They say an elninio (sp) is coming, but when? Even my home is a dust bowl right now. Driving
down the road the other day I saw a dead cow, just left outside of the village. Another man was herding the few cows he had left, one of his cows lying alongside the road, the owner kneeling beside it willing it to live. An overwhelming sense of sadness washed over me as I witnessed the suffering of both man and beast.

Maasai Development Project is joining hands with East Central Division with their food program. Won't you join hands with us as we feed one family at a time? Just $3000 feeds 150 families. Together we can make a difference. Make you tax deductible contribution to Maasai Development Project, PO Box 394, Harvey, ND 58341 or donate through our web site using PayPal.

Jan Meharry
Founder/Executive Director
Maasai Development Project - www.4mdp.org
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