Sam Hardman
Imagine being responsible for feeding twenty-three thousand orphans in a poverty-stricken country at a time when many parts of the global food supply chain are broken. Imagine being one of those orphans. This is no mere thought exercise. It’s happening right now in Nicaragua. The ORPHANetwork, a Christian ministry that works with churches and other organizations in fifteen of Nicaragua’s seventeen districts is facing precisely this challenge. Even in normal times feeding twenty-three thousand kids isn’t easy, but with many local organizations pitching in, it’s possible. But now the food supply just is not available where it’s most needed, and feeding these orphans has become a truly daunting task.
Virtually all of us have been touched by COVID-19 in one way or another. Some people reading this may have lost friends or relatives. Some have lost jobs. Some may even have lost businesses. All of us have had to endure months of relative isolation. We shouldn’t minimize any of that. But in developed countries the impacts have been mostly indirect and for most people could be described as “inconveniences.” In the developing world, however, impacts are sometimes massive, including loss of access to food resulting in malnutrition and even starvation. We who are Christians must not just stand by and watch.
Mission Projects Fellowship (MPF), a Philadelphia-area missions support organization, is partnering with ORPHANetwork to help feed eight thousand of their Nicaraguan orphans for a month, and in the process to “adorn the doctrine of God our Savior” (Titus 2:10). If God lays it on your heart, you can help to bring this project to fruition by visiting MPF’s website at https://missionprojects.org/project/674 and making a donation. Every dollar will go directly toward purchasing rice, beans and dehydrated eggs, and transporting these provisions to the locations where they are desperately needed; no funds will be used for administrative expenses.
This is a time for Christians to put faith into action, following our Lord in works of mercy and compassion. Please pray that God will meet this need, and share this post as widely as you can. “Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world” (James 1:27).