Field Stories
We praise and thank God for the many stories of families and communities who are freed from poverty thanks to your generous support and our local partners. These are their stories.
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Kaswera looked around the land she was so familiar with, the land she had spent decades on with her husband. They raised 8 children here together, and more recently, 4 beautiful grandchildren. When he died Kaswera became very aware that the land was not hers. “The week after my husband’s funeral I was so stressed over what would happen to me and my children that I barely had time to mourn,” Kaswera said.
After decades of hard work, Surji Paharin and her husband Rupa didn't know what the next year of farming might look like. Surji was growing worried. Would she be able to provide her youngest daughter who still lived at home? Would the family have enough money to get by if their harvest failed?
For years Besagi and Bamda struggled to provide for their family. They are a part of the Malto people, an ethnic minority in India that often lacks access to education and financial resources. One day, everything began to change!
As COVID-19 spread across the Democratic Republic of Congo, Katunga’s means to feed her family were threatened.
Without access to the city markets where she could sell her crop, 60-year-old Katunga had no way to generate income to feed her husband and four children. As the disease threatened her future, Katunga had no idea that her life was about to permanently change.
Atop a rocky hillside lives Sundra Paharia, his wife and their six children. For years Sundra struggled to grow enough food to feed his large family. Much of his land in the village of Churidari consist of rocky hillsides that make farming incredibly difficult. Sundra and his family are a part of the Malto people, an ethnic minority group that faces extreme levels of poverty in remote regions of India. The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has ravaged their community and restrictions have cut off trading with other parts of the country.
Sixty Ethiopian farmers stood and listened intently as Asnakech shared her experience. They were learning from her, a woman, on how they too could dramatically increase their yield. Three years ago this scene would have never even crossed Asnakech’s mind. Three years ago this scene would have never even crossed Asnakech’s mind. “I could only feed my family for three months from my farm, for the remaining nine months, I used to suffer."
When the Ebola virus hit Kadijah’s village, many children had lost their parents and family members. Kadijah and her husband tried to do everything they could for the community, including adopting six orphaned children. Thanks to an innovative farming program offered by a local church, the family is rising above hunger and extreme poverty.
When Aminata heard about six children in their village who lost their parents to the Ebola virus, she determined to help. Aminata decided to welcome the six orphaned children into her home. But with a total of 12 mouths to feed, Aminata was worried. How was she going to provide for so many when they had so little? It was while attending church one day that everything began to change.
Asnakech Gaushe had a dilemma. Using conservation agriculture practices, she was now able to grow more than enough food for herself and 7 children, 1,200kg of maize, 60kg of lablab (a type of bean), and over 200 heads of pumpkin! It was more food than they have ever seen in their entire lives! Initially, Asnakech had great joy! It flowed out of her. But joy soon turned to concern.
Like many farmers in East Africa, Mesele Madebo struggled to grow enough to feed his family. But after he adopted farming practices he learned from one of our local church partners, his life was transformed. He was so excited that he wanted to tell all his neighbours! So he volunteered to be a “local animator.”
Not far from her home, Elizabeth was raped and impregnated by a young man who wanted her as his wife. Barely a month later, she was brutally beaten by the man’s brother. Elizabeth didn’t want to be a part of such a violent family. She felt so hopeless that she tried to end her life.
Juliana leads us through patches of wilting maize crops under the hot, Kenyan sun. The air is dry, it hasn’t rained for months. We walk past patches of small, wilted bean stocks that gently sway in the hot breeze. Suddenly, we turn a corner behind Juliana’s thatch-roofed home and enter a lush, green patch of land brimming with healthy crops.
Kanini lives in a small rural village in Kenya with her three children. Only a few years ago, Kanini worked 12 hours a day, 6 days a week, in an attempt to provide for her family. She performed chores for other families, washed clothes, and even tilled fields in the hot Kenyan sun.
A quiet movement has been happening. In 1970, after 150 years of missionary activity, the number of Christians in Odissa state was a mere 2000. But then a miracle happened.
Wasifa used to travel 45-60 minutes, from her small village to a city hospital, for diabetes testing. Often, the hospital didn't even carry the medication she needed. Thanks to Tearfund this call changed.
Fleeing from Syria, Fatima and her husband uprooted the lives of them and their three children to find refuge in a tent of Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley.
In the middle of 2019, Wayne, or CEO visited Liberia. While he was there he was amazed when one of the Muslim villagers leaned over and whispered "Will you start a church here?
Imagine walking from Vancouver to Fort McMurray. Now imagine doing that with two families with children under the age of 7.
Mr. Jabra Pahariya hails from Bada Gutipada Village situated in Pakur District, in the eastern State of Jharkhand India.
Feathers were flying everywhere, small fluffy feathers that had shed from the many chickens on Singa Pathika’s property.
Farming is full of uncertainty, agriculture requires rain, pastoralists require protection from illness, and farmers have to stay healthy enough to manage all of the above.
“Hopelessly stumbling towards rebel territory, I was not even aware of what I was doing, I never was. Alcohol made me numb to the reality that my beloved wife was dead.”
The sound of animals crying, gunshots, and screaming people fill the air. Fikiri and Denise run outside to see rebels stealing their animals and crops.
William John recently became a father and saw the need to find new, innovative ways to provide for his wife Agnes and 3-month-old son.