Nearly 1 billion children, women, and men in the world today are hungry. They are of all ages, from babies whose mothers cannot produce enough milk to the elderly with no relatives to care for them. They are the victims of natural disasters and climate changes, the unemployed living in urban slums, the landless farmers tilling other people's fields, the widows of war, and the orphans of AIDS.
ADRA protects the most vulnerable in society through its food programs. We provide emergency food aid when needed, such as supplementary food for infants dying from drought. And we also establish reliable, long-term access to food supplies. Farmers learn better methods and are provided seeds and equipment to grow crops and irrigate their fields. Mothers start vegetable gardens, not just to feed their hungry children, but also to earn an income they can use for medical help and schooling for their children.
As a result, people become self-sufficient and ADRA can move from one village to another, one country to another, enabling and empowering.
ADRA began a food-for-work project in the Eastern Province of Rwanda in 2003. The area was experiencing a long drought, and the people were experiencing severe hunger. Few were growing any food, and there were no trees in the area. By providing bags of rice to those who worked, ADRA motivated individuals to build a drainage system of canals and bridges throughout the marshlands, reclaiming 148 acres. Creating a cooperative with 560 original members, ADRA provided agriculture training, seeds, tools, and fertilizer.
"When ADRA started working here, we were all poor," says James, the cooperative president. "We had little knowledge about growing food or working together. No one trusted anyone. So the concept of a cooperative was like speaking another language to us. A few of us were so desperate, and knowing how ADRA had helped us immediately after the genocide, we decided to take the risk and join the co-op."
"ADRA gave us a strong foundation," says Joy, a founding co-op member. "The work has been hard, but the benefits are huge! My family has all we can eat, and we have income from selling through the co-op. We will not stop. We continue to work and to learn. Now the big leaders in health and caring for the environment in this area are members of our co-op-all because ADRA chose to come and help us."
While we stopped actively working in this project in 2009, today the co-op has 2,000 members and farms 1,380 acres. They enjoy two rice harvests a year and grow numerous fruits and vegetables. Now brokers come to the co-op to purchase their harvests. And every co-op family has all they can possibly eat, they have savings in the bank, and every member has a cell phone.
