For most American children, there is no question of where they will sleep tonight or where their next meal will come from.
But for South Sudanese children like Afiya, this is the unfortunate reality. (One YOU can help solve.)
Afiya, whose name we’ve changed for her safety, lived with her mother in South Sudan before she fled to Uganda due to civil war.
Life in South Sudan was difficult and dangerous. Even going to the grocery store was risky for Afiya and her mother as they were essentially walking through a battlefield.
“When you go around to buy food, [the soldiers] may shoot you because it’s not easy to move when you are on the road,” she said.
When Afiya finally made it to the store, she had little money to buy the food her family needed. Sometimes her mother would borrow money from their neighbors, but she struggled to pay back the debts.
“When I got home, my mother would start asking questions like, ‘Today, my daughter, what are we going to eat?’” Afiya said. “And I’d have nothing to say because I had no money.”
Finally, the situation became so dire that they had to flee to Uganda. Unfortunately, the trek was too treacherous, and Afiya’s mother died, leaving Afiya to make the rest of the trip alone.
Her only comfort was the hope that life would be better in Uganda … that she would at least have something to eat. But when Afiya arrived at the refugee camp, she discovered that was not the case.
Finding food was still one of the biggest challenges.
“Sometimes you may receive food only once a month,” Afiya said. “Sometimes you may go to sleep hungry without eating food.”
Conditions in the camp were horrible, and the constant, gnawing hunger only made the situation worse. “I cannot even explain it,” Afiya said when asked about life in the camp.
Unfortunately, the refugee crisis is affecting countries all around the world. It’s not simply a Middle Eastern crisis or a South Sudanese crisis.
Each refugee has his own story of how he fled and what caused him to leave everything behind. But every refugee has one thing in common — hunger.
Today, you can help end that hunger for someone like Afiya. Your $35 gift will provide $189 worth of food as well as supplies like medicine, clothes, clean water, and hygiene kits.
You can help a refugee who is struggling to get by. You can provide basic essentials he needs to survive.
God calls us as Christians to look after the vulnerable in our midst, especially widows and orphans like Afiya, who have lost all they know due to violence. And the best way you can care for them is by meeting their immediate needs.
Help rescue one refugee by providing the critical care he is desperately waiting for. You’ll be helping save a life and reminding him he is not alone.