Famine: a noun defined by Merriam-Webster as “an extreme scarcity of food” or “a great shortage.” According to the latest UN estimates, more than one in ten people worldwide will face food insecurity or starvation by the end of the year. More people requested emergency food aid in the first nine months of 2020 than in all of 2019.
In the impoverished communities where AMG International serves, this spike ties directly to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“Because of the lockdowns associated with COVID-19, people have been unable to earn any income [and] 70% of the income in these families goes for food,” AMG’s Tasos Ioannides explains.
“When they have no income, there is no food; it is simple as that.”
Earlier this year, AMG and its partners could still meet community needs through existing church programs when restrictions lifted. Children who came to AMG’s church-based childcare center while their parents worked received extra food to supplement shortages at home.
In some locations, pastors learned of spiritual and physical needs when services re-opened and rallied to meet them. Then came another round of lockdowns. “Now, our coworkers around the world put together food packages [and] they will go out to the community and distribute them,” Ioannides says.
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SOURCE: Mission Network News, Katey Hearth
CALL TO ACTION
- Pray hearts will open to Christ as people see tangible demonstrations of His love.
- Pray for God’s mercy upon the downtrodden.
