A Cuban farmer had a farm, and on the farm he had sheep.

Then the sheep were stolen.

The sheep story is real — Scott Clifton of FARMS International says one of their contacts experienced it firsthand. But the losses didn’t stop there.

For years, farmers plowed their fields with tractors. Then fuel costs climbed so high they could no longer afford to run them. So they adapted — switching to bulls to pull the plow. And then the bulls were stolen too.

The root of these repeated thefts is people’s desperation for food. Cuba is grappling with a severe food crisis, with widespread shortages, soaring prices, and rising hunger.

“We’ve just watched since COVID, the conditions get worse and worse and worse, starting with really high inflation and the rapid increase of the price of commodities,” Clifton adds.

Cuban farmer (Photo courtesy of Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz via Pexels)

And it creates a cycle that’s hard to break.

“That problem just is perpetuated then, because it’s hard to grow food, it’s too expensive to import food, and it’s just really difficult predicament,” says Clifton.

Some people leave the country in search of stability. Many others stay — rooted in their families, their communities, and the land they’ve always known.

“There’s a sense, from talking with our contacts in Cuba, that they’re running out of options,” he adds.

And in the middle of deepening hardship, the church is still growing!

“There is an incredible church in Cuba that has been growing over the past decade, has been growing dramatically, and so we want to thank and praise God for that,” says Clifton.

Pray for endurance for believers and families in Cuba — and for the country’s future.

“We need to pray that they would be encouraged in the work that God has called them to, in the location that God has called them to,” adds Clifton.

Visit FARMS International to learn more about the work they do in the places of need.

Header photo: Vinales, Cuba (Photo courtesy of Jennifer Chen via Unsplash).

Marcia Baugh heads up The Way Home, a missionary project of Every Child Ministries. She says, “The children end up coming into their homes, and they have no idea where their own next meal is coming from.”

(Photo courtesy of The Way Home, a missionary project of Every Child Ministries)

Marcia and her late husband, Russ, started The Way Home with ECM in 2010 after living in Uganda and seeing how these widowed ‘grannies’ are the pillars of their families. Yet, they need support!

“We build them a stable brick home and kind of stabilize their family, and then teach them Farming God’s Way which is the Gospel in farming,” says Marcia. “They will get like up to ten times the harvest that they would get with their traditional farming. So that becomes a currency for them to pay for school fees or they can sell it in order to do what they need to do to maintain their household.”

The Way Home gets connected with grannies by way of pastor referral. The ministry works with local pastors in Uganda to identify those grannies raising grandchildren in poverty who need assistance.

Marcia says, “We also started a vocational training school for the grannies’ [grand]children…last year, and that teaches them house building, hair braiding, sewing, and carpentry work. So they’re getting an education that they can use to support their family.”

It’s all within the context of Scriptural principles and biblical discipleship. Even after a widowed granny and her family have completed the program, The Way Home and local pastors stay connected with her and continue to share the Gospel.

(Photo courtesy of The Way Home, a missionary project of Every Child Ministries)

Sometimes, it’s the first opportunity grannies and their families have heard about Jesus Christ.

“We continue to teach the Bible to them, and our ultimate goal is that they come to know the Lord and they find their eternal home in Heaven,” says Marcia.

Giving to support grannies in Uganda with ECM makes an eternal difference!

Click here to donate to The Way Home.

Then, pray. Marcia asks, “My constant prayer for me as I lead this ministry is for wisdom and discernment in directing the ministry without my husband. God has answered that prayer in big ways.

“And I would say for my staff in Uganda, the biggest prayer need is for us to go in the direction that God has for us — that we don’t jump out ahead of Him in going down the trail that we think we should be on, [but] that we would follow the Lord and His desires.”

Header photo courtesy of The Way Home.

However, Brian Mukalazi with Every Child Ministries says, “This particular region, Karamoja in Uganda, you’ll be very surprised that over the past 30 or so years, billions of dollars that have been injected in that region.

“In fact, if you look at the entire country – you know, Uganda generally is a poor country – but this particular region has received the biggest chunk of funding from NGOs and other partners, even from the government, but none of these things have worked. You go to Karamoja today and you find it the same way it was 20 or almost 30 years ago.”

Mukalazi says a big problem is the handouts.

“They have created a dependency syndrome. They go down there to the region, they start giving food, cash handouts, [and] they give food stamps without necessarily teaching people how to sustainably live their lives.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Every Child Ministries takes a different approach in Karamoja. With the Farming God’s Way program, they teach sustainable farming methods with biblical principles and help people earn a living.

Mukalazi says, “We are designing all these interventions to equip those communities to come out of poverty. But we are trying to emphasize the Gospel.”

Pray for renewed lives and hearts in Karamoja. Ask God to use the Farming God’s Way program to bless and encourage Ugandans who want to end the cycle of poverty for future generations.

Click here to support ECM’s ministry.

Header photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries.

The Karamojong people are pastoralists and primarily raise cattle. A man’s worth among the Karamojong is based on the number of cattle he possesses.

Mark Luckey, executive director of Every Child Ministries, explains, “There’s a lot of insecurity because the Karamojong have a belief — which sounds crazy to us, but it’s a real belief that they have — that all the cattle in the world belong to the Karamojong. So it is their right to take whatever cattle they want because they all belong to them. They’re very willing to even kill other people…. You would steal cattle even from other Karamojong and even kill other Karamojong to gain more cattle.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

They also don’t often accept help from outsiders. ECM works in Karamoja, but before they can talk food and farming, Luckey says, “First of all, they need to know Jesus.

“They need to have that relationship with God restored. That’s why evangelism is such an important tool in these areas because, yes, we want them to eat. We want them to have enough food. We want them to send their kids to school. But none of that is going to happen as long as that relationship with God is broken.

“From there, the relationship with each other is where we can come in and help them build those relationships. And then maybe farming techniques will take root and they’ll be able to improve in some of those areas. Maybe then they’ll be more receptive to advice and input from outside.”

ECM has introduced an African-developed farming program to the Karamojong people called Farming God’s Way. Luckey says this program is “very scripturally-based, very God-centered. That in itself becomes a tool of evangelism that we use [while], at the same time, teaching farming techniques that work better.”

Currently, there are 120 farming units in the program with ECM in Karamoja

“The results have been good! If you use proper farming methods, you can grow food even if you don’t have a lot of water,” Luckey says. “Now, if you have an incredible drought, that’s going to affect everything. But typically, you can get by with even lesser amounts of rain if you use the proper methods.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries)

Luckey and other ECM staff visited a farmer’s home and the farmer had a granary. Even in the midst of famine, Luckey says, “She took us over to the granary and they took two people and they got up on top and they took the big lid off the top. The corn just fell off the top, there was so much in there!

“That was just to me a perfect sign of how God can provide — that despite a lack of rain, when people are open and look to Him and listen to the trainings that other people can give them, they can grow food. They can be successful and it can be overflowing more than they can fit in their granary basket.”

Pray for the Karamojong to know abundant life in Christ! Ask God to equip new Karamojong believers to reach their people with the Gospel.

You can support ECM’s ministry here.

Header photo courtesy of ECM.

The drought has affected Kenya, Ethiopia, Somalia, and even Uganda. Every Child Ministries has seen the effects firsthand in the Karamoja region of Uganda. Mark Luckey says, “There is always some food insecurity in a place like Karamoja. And then sometimes things come together, kind of the perfect storm as you might put it.”

“It’s a time when many people are starving, especially the elderly and the small children.”

Things aren’t looking better in the future. Meteorologists have predicted a fifth-consecutive rainy season with less precipitation. When the rains do come, the recovery will still take years. Water shortages also put people at higher risk for water-borne illnesses.

ECM

That’s why ECM helps farmers get the most out of the rain when it does come. Luckey says, “The Karamojong are a wonderful people struggling to adapt to new farming practices and understanding how to survive and thrive in this kind of environment.”

ECM wants to see kids and families in Karamoja thrive. Luckey says, “We’ve worked hard on providing food, some supplies, and just any way we can ensure that people stay alive.”

Pray their love will point to Jesus.

The header photo shows Emily Chebet, a coffee farmer in Uganda who works with ECM. (Photo courtesy of Every Child Ministries on Facebook)

Many people in Zimbabwe live on subsistence farming, providing only for their own needs and not producing extra.

Christian World Outreach has worked in Zimbabwe since the year 2000. Greg Yoder says the financial crisis makes it difficult to plan. “Even looking at, ‘Okay, we’ve got this amount of funds we had available. It’s going to do less now than we thought it was.’”

Yoder recently spoke with the CWO Zimbabwe National Director, Onias Tapera. “He made the comment that it has a negative impact on staff morale. Because they always feel like they’re putting out fires and trying to help people with their physical needs.”

CWO’s work in Zimbabwe

CWO works with pastors and lay leaders in Zimbabwe to raise Jesus-centered churches.

This is all the more important because prosperity gospel teaching (saying Jesus will give people money) has become quite common throughout parts of Africa. Yoder says, “They’re begging us to come back. They make comments like, ‘I didn’t realize that the Bible applied to my whole life.’”

“And here’s your pastor, your lay leader making that comment.”

Out of that ministry grew a need to help orphans whose parents died from AIDS. Yoder says, “Now we look at it more as vulnerable children. We have the Our Kids program, where we’re helping keep the kids in school but also helping them find foster parents.”

The training has gone on long enough to see some of the kids graduate from college.

Ask God to give the CWO team wisdom as they serve churches and kids while navigating the economic crisis.

The header photo shows farmers in Zimbabwe. (Header photo courtesy of Domikatema, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Nehemiah with FMI says floodwaters have devastated rice crops, the main food staple for Bangladeshis. “When we were able to connect with our pastor, through our national leadership team, we were being told that they are struggling with the food crisis. Because the supply of food is being cut off to the villages.”

“And this is not one village or two villages. There are more than 300 villages being affected in the Sylhet area alone.”

Peter Mazumder with Asian Access says hundreds of Christian families watched their houses go underwater. They often find themselves at the end of the line for aid. “The Christians are not very much getting help. But the other groups are getting help. Christians need emergency help, especially the dry food, biscuits, mineral water, and some medicines.”

You can send help through Asian Access here and through FMI here.

Future

According to scientists, these extreme weather patterns in Bangladesh will likely get worse in the coming years. Nehemiah says, “This is one of the biggest signs of climate change. This kind of rain and flooding has never happened in the last 100 years in Bangladesh,

So why don’t people try to move? It’s not that easy, Nehemiah says. Culturally, Bangladeshis feel a very specific tie to living in a certain area. “When they live in one place, they just live there for generations and generations. They stay, even when such areas are hit by floods or any other natural disaster year after year.”

Prayer

Ask God to strengthen His Bangladeshi people with Jesus’ love. Nehemiah says, “We pray that the Lord would provide comfort to those who have lost everything.”

Pray also for the rescuers as they work to bring people in from the floodwaters.

The header photo shows children wading through the floodwater. (Photo courtesy of FMI)

Pierre Houssney with Horizons International says, “Lebanon is one of those countries. Around 80 percent of the wheat that comes into Lebanon is from Ukraine. We are still bracing ourselves for the impact throughout the Middle East that it’s going to make.”

“It’s really remarkable how interconnected we’re realizing that the world is in these days.”

Ukrainian partnership

But God has prepared Horizons for this time, and not just because the ministry started sustainable farming in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley last year.

In 2018, Horizons trained Ukrainian churches as they cared for Muslim refugees from places like Syria. The Ukrainian churches actually translated a Horizons curriculum on how to reach Muslims.

Today, many Ukrainians have themselves become refugees.

Houssney says Horizons has built a network of relationships with Ukrainian churches. It leaves them in a position to help. “We’re now actually sending a Ukrainian Lebanese family (who’s been on staff with us for years) to Ukraine and bringing on Ukrainian staff. This way, we can pivot to help Ukraine in its time of refugee crisis.”

Get involved

Pray this partnership will show God’s love to many Ukrainians.

You can support Horizons’ efforts in Ukraine and among Ukrainian refugees. Houssney says, “After the headlines have cooled out, there needs to be continued support of these Ukrainian churches so that we can take advantage of the Gospel opportunities, and then also care for the huge needs.”

During the invasion, Ukrainian churches opened up to house people. Houssney describes some of them as large dormitories.

The header photo shows wheat growing in a field soon to be farmed by Horizons international. (Photo courtesy of Horizons International on Facebook)

The President, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, clings to power as large protests take place in the capital, Colombo. Rajeeve Satianathan with Christian World Outreach says, “The big thing that people want is bringing businesses to Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, the huge complaint is the corruption in the government. There were so many foreign funds that came to Sri Lanka, but most of them were never used properly.”

Last week, things turned violent as pro-government protestors attacked the makeshift protest village in Colombo, injuring several people with iron rods. Protestors also stormed government buildings.

Economic crisis

Sri Lanka’s people languish in a horrific economic crisis. In just a few days last week, the prices of some goods tripled. Many people do not have fuel with which to cook.

A rushed transition to organic farming has worsened the crisis as well, Sathianathan says. “People want to do organic farming. But completely turning [the chemicals] off and turning the organic farming on, the people had no idea how to do it. And they had zero help.”

CWO ministry

CWO works among small villages, helping those in need. Sathianathan says, “We are helping the elderly women and widows with dry food. At the same time, we are providing seeds so they can do their own gardening and grow vegetables. We buy seeds and provide them to the families.”

They started with one village in the North of the island. But Satianathan says, “We have started doing the same thing in the south of Sri Lanka as well.”

Pray Sri Lankan Christians would shine the hope of Jesus into a desperate situation.

The header photo shows protestors in Colombo, Sri Lanka. (Photo courtesy of AntanO, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons)

Truck drivers report fearing for their own security. Many don’t have the fuel they need to complete their journeys. The war, fought for almost a year by the Ethiopian government against the Tigray People’s Liberation Front, is putting the population at risk of famine and has displaced many people from their homes.

Brother Tefera with Global Disciples describes the situation. “Many innocent people are dying in the war. The Gospel is not advancing. Global Disciples works with a cluster of churches in northern Ethiopia, and we don’t know where they are because nobody is at home. They are displaced. There are no more meetings of churches and no infrastructure.”

Pray for peace in Ethiopia. Tefera says, “Let’s pray for the [Tigray region] and all the remaining [parts of the country] to agree on peace, instead of trying to come to power by destroying life.”

Persecution

The prayer for peace in Ethiopia goes beyond the civil war. In the past 10 years, several churches and Christians have been targeted for violence throughout the country.

Ethiopia has ancient Christian roots, tracing back to the first century. In fact, many Ethiopians worshipped Israel’s God before the time of Jesus. The Ethiopian Eunuch mentioned in Acts was a part of this tradition. Yet persecution has still plagued the country from time to time.

Today, this persecution happens at the hands of extremist groups. Tefera says they use religious, ethnic, and tribal divisions to stir up conflict: “It might be tribal, it may be religious, but that is what they want to see. That is why the Church, whether it is the Protestant Church, the Orthodox Church, or even other religious groups like the Muslims, must understand and stand firmly for the unity of the country.”

The header photo shows one of several mass graves of civilians in the Tigray region. (Photo courtesy of Voice of America via Wikimedia Commons)