The children are always hungry in the Mikea Forest and the village of Anjabetrongo, Madagascar. But in the weeks following Cyclone Haruna their hunger and malnourishment reached new and alarming levels. After our Malagasy partners, Pastor Jonoro and Hanitra, distributed emergency food supplies to the village and forest families, we decided together to use the remaining relief contributions to fund a nutrition program for the school children.
Jonoro began by talking with the parents, who explained that their children were having difficulty concentrating in class because of hunger. Instead of learning to read and write, their young thoughts are preoccupied with the desperate search for something to eat. The parents expressed gratitude to Jonoro and asked him to convey their deep thankfulness to the Ancient Path team and all of the supporters who made the relief efforts possible. Jonoro and his team spoke of God’s love for them and then put it into action. They organized the village leaders and women to cook a nutritious meal for all 167 school children, a difficult job requiring many hours each day. The women were given the task to cook a maize porridge with milk and sugar one day, and rice with nuts or meat on the next, alternating meals throughout a ten day period.
The children were excited about the program and happily participated by gathering firewood daily for the cooking fires. And then they came, with empty stomachs, carrying empty bowls. Many of the school children brought their younger siblings and no child was turned away.
The Korean medical agency that is caring for this village is providing a four-week program of vitamins. Our hope is that this intense focus on nutrition will help the children regain their strength as their parents hunt for food and replant their crops.
Jonoro and his team also provided maize flour and sugar for the Mikea children who live 7 km deeper in the forest and do not attend the school. Fandahara’s family members walked to the village to collect the children’s food supplies. After distributing food to the Mikea family in Anjabetrongo, Jonoro and his team left the village in charge of the children’s feeding program and carried food to the Mikea camp near the village of Bevondro. All of the Mikea families are suffering extreme hunger because of the cyclone. A primitive hunter-gatherer people, they now must travel three days to find food that will feed a family for one day. Jonoro reports that they can only find small roots that are not a good food source and that this problem will continue until next year. Our Mikea friends sadly told Jonoro that a child in the neighboring village starved to death,just two weeks before he and his team arrived.
We are grateful to all who work hard on behalf of the children – those who plan and organize, those who cook for hours over hot fires in scorching heat, the partners and team who work alongside Jonoro, and the Ancient Path supporters who pray and give sacrificially. And we are grateful to a loving God who sees the hidden ones.
