An Important message from Ian and Janine Maxwell

Children who live at the Kibbutz on Project Canaan, whose parents will not get paid in April.

March 27th was the last pay day on Project Canaan.  Most of our "essential workers" (Children's campus Aunties and Uncles) were locked down and did not get their monthly four days off.  The "non-essential workers" took their salaries (averaging $100 to $150 US for the entire month) and went to town to buy food for the month of April.

A total of 169 Project Canaan staff walked out our gate, not knowing when they would be called back to work, and the country is now locked down until mid-May. That means that 169 families will not have ANY food for the month of May.  Nothing.  They don’t have pantries stocked up, they don’t have refrigerators or freezers at home, and the food is almost gone from their March pay.
These 169 staff are our family, they are our friends and they are our loyal, hard-working employees. 85 of them worked at Khutsala Artisans, but now they aren’t allowed to come to work.  I worked side by side with them five days a week, and now the building is empty and those workers, and their children are afraid.

Both parents worked at Khutsala, and now they have no income to feed their children

Heart for Africa has worked on a plan, using the produce from our own farm, to pull together highly cost effective food packs for a family of eight for a MONTH for only $75 US.  In fact, there is $25 of MannaPack from Feed My Starving Children included in the pack so they really will get $100 worth of food, for the price of $75. But they don’t have $75.  They have nothing.  
 

This single young mother needs your help.

Ian and I went on line this morning and bought ten food packs that we are calling “Partner in HOPE” program, but today HOPE stands for Help Our People Endure.  As we await the monster attacking the world to start to sweep across Eswatini, staying healthy through nutrition is the only way that our staff can try to keep their families safe while they practice social distancing.  Today I am begging you (and I hate begging) to join us in feeding one family, two families or maybe even ten?  It’s as easy as clicking on this link and sharing this link https://heartforafrica.kindful.com/?campaign=1063301 with everyone you know who cares about the Project Canaan family, or people in desperate need.

This is the link for our Canadian friends and family  http://www.heartforafrica.ca/partner-in-hope/.

This morning I opened my iPad to read my morning devotion, then I went to my bookmark in Proverbs. This is what was on that page, “He who shuts his ears to the cries of the poor will be ignored in his own time of need.” Proverbs 21:13  

Wow.  I was shocked at the words on that very page. It was then that Ian and I went on line and purchased meal packs for ten families.

Food pack #1 - possible April 27th delivery with funding

If we can raise the funds to do this, the food packs will be delivered in two segments with dried goods (maize flour, sugar beans, soap, MannaPack, cooking oil) and fresh food (eggs, butternut squash, 5 POUND papayas, and fresh milk from the farm) on April 27^th, and then a second delivery of fresh food and more soap will be delivered on May 11^th.  We hope to continue this until everyone is back to work and can buy their own food, but we really, really need your help at this time.  If we can’t help with food, we will most certainly lose a lot of our work force and their children will be left behind.  The impact will be horrific and devastating. 

Food pack #2 - possible May 11th delivery with funding.

The photos below are of just a few of the families who live on Project Canaan with their children and need food soon.  Will you help them eat? Please?

Live from Eswatini … our family needs food, and they need it soon.

Ian and Janine

P.S. The papayas that we want to deliver weigh 4-5 pounds each and they are being harvested off the papaya trees that many of you bought last year. We planted them in July 2019 and each tree is laden with 12-15 of these giant pieces of fruit.  We can hardly fathom this harvest “for such a time as this”.

The papayas are bigger than our heads!