When our children’s work in the Pemba area was just beginning 4-5 years ago, it was common to see poor village children evidencing signs of chronic malnutrition, including bloated bellies and an orangish tinge to their hair. Children were also often listless and showed little alertness in their faces.

With the generous support of Canadian friends of Iris through your gifts to IMC, we are continuing to feed 180 resident children and 750 village children every day at the Pemba Base. At the Mieze centre, we feed 250 children every day...and on Saturdays, we feed an additional 450-500 village kids who attend the evangelistic Bandeira Club. This program has made a huge and positive difference to the on-going health and well-being of well over a thousand needy children in the Pemba area.

The generous support of IMC donors is providing nutritious daily meals for over 1,150 needy children — 900 through the Pemba Base and another 250 through the Iris Centre at Mieze. Moreover, an additional 800 children are fed on Saturday at Mieze and after church on Sunday at Pemba. This program is saving lives and markedly improving the health and well-being of these precious children.

In a recently reported study of poverty in the world, Mozambique was ranked 168 of 177 nations. And a UN survey of child suffering placed Mozambique fourth worst in the world. Seventy percent of the population here lives on less than a dollar a day. These are just statistics, of course …until you look into the face of a hungry child in tattered rags. By contrast, 20% of the world’s population has 80% of the world’s wealth, and the biggest complaint from many in the West is that we don’t know what to do with all the “stuff” we have accumulated.

Earlier this year, the food program was expanded to include orphans and vulnerable children in the village of Mieze. By actual count, IMC is currently feeding 158 village children through the Mieze church and 22 babies are currently receiving formula. This initiative began in January when Mieze Pastor Juma showed IMC missionary Don Kantel twin baby orphan girls who were almost dead from malnutrition and asked if we could help. Attached is a picture of one of those babies taken this month.

Through the generosity of the many friends of Iris Ministries in Canada, it is possible to greatly expand our feeding of poor children in Northern Mozambique (both in and around Pemba and beyond).

[Kids having lunch together after school]

IMC’s program to feed hungry and marginalized children in and around the Pemba Base has expanded considerably since its inception. It includes hundreds of poor village children who receive a hot meal (usually beans and rice) every day, as well as countless babies and infants in the surrounding villages who receive powdered formula.

[Beans and rice. Thank you Jesus!]