For orphaned and vulnerable children living in the slums of Lusaka, the capital and largest city in Zambia in southern Africa, life is a daily horror of poverty, malnutrition, and despair. But thanks to steadfast, generous supporters likes you, those children have hope for a brighter future.
Meals packaged by volunteers for Stop Hunger Now are providing lunch for 5,000 children who attend 17 schools of Lifeway Christian Academy in the slums of Lusaka or at its school at Christian Village.
Every week, the Academy’s trucks distribute the vitamin-enriched meal packages to each school, where three women, trained by the school staff, cook the meals each day for the children.
The meals make a big difference. Attendance at the schools has increased 13% on average. Kids are paying more attention in class, and their grades are improving. Mothers have formed PTAs at each campus and meet each morning to prepare and serve lunch to the children. And the kids now have smiles on their faces.
And, as a result of their education, the future earnings of these students will increase with every school year they complete and they will be healthy contributors to the local economy.
Still, despite that modest progress, a lot of hard work remains to be done to help those children survive and thrive.
And you can help.
Lifeway Christian Academy lacks the resources it needs to track its students’ average weight gain, average high increase and overall standard of living. Those metrics are critical for the organization to better understand the difference it is making, deliver programs more effectively, and secure the funding it needs to build on those programs and serve more children.
By making a gift to Stop Hunger Now, you can help organizations such as Lifeway Christian Academy develop the tools and indicators it needs to measure its impact and improve the lives of children who face life challenges that are nothing short of overwhelming.
Where there’s food, there’s hope.