The Need

My eyes continued to be opened to the vast need in our village. Each day, I'm confronted by a new story and the choice to do something about it.

Yesterday, the mother of one of our students came to let us know that she has been working on getting enough money to pay her child's feeding fee (50 peswas a day--which is about 0.31 cents), but she is just not making ends meet.

Last week, a grandmother and mother of a student came by to visit with us regarding the academic progress of their child. We discussed it with them and encouraged them to continue with what they are doing at home while we will continue to work with her here at school. When we began to ask about the family, the mother began to cry...and then the grandmother began to cry. The husband (the grandmother's son) had died 5 years ago. As the primary caregiver in the family, the two women have worked together to provide the best that they can for their daughter and granddaughter. But it is a struggle, doing hard manual labor, the work of a man, to provide for their family.

Another mom came to explain her family situation and the reason why she has been slow in paying school fees this term. When she started to speak of her husband, who died in an accident a short time ago, she couldn't contain her tears and cried so much that she couldn't finish her story.

This has become a common theme in our school office.

We are looking forward to opening our single mother's program here in our village (a pure water packaging company) as jobs are scarce and families are struggling and the need is just so great.

I love the opportunity to get to help the women in my community...to meet them and hear their stories...and to know that there is hope in the midst of such great loss.