Inflation reached 206-percent in April and Lebanon’s currency dropped yet again last week, plunging the bedraggled nation further into despair. Heart for Lebanon’s Tom Atema says there are shortages on everything from electricity to fuel to bread. “That affects our ministry in two ways,” he says.

“Number one, everything costs more so it makes life more expensive. At the same time, about 78-percent of the total population in Lebanon needs some kind of food assistance to survive, and that number is becoming more desperate every day.”

Divisions are deepening among Lebanon’s newly-elected Parliament members. Fighting between parties that are for and against Hezbollah is taking priority over much-needed reform.

The “bad news” seems never-ending, but hope remains.
(Photo courtesy of Heart for Lebanon)

The “bad news” seems never-ending, but hope remains. “Over [the past] 15 years, we have found that when we show the love of Christ in an unconditional way, they will draw us into a conversation about our Heavenly Father,” Atema says.

“People are looking for answers. They’re turning to God in record numbers.”

Heart for Lebanon teams up with local churches to offer practical aid and encouragement. More about that here. “We provide food assistance to people; we help them with what we call ‘family care’ items,” Atema says.

“We want to show them the love of Christ before we tell them about the love of Christ.”

Ask the Lord to strengthen and encourage Lebanese believers. They’re staying put to care for people in need, instead of leaving the country to benefit themselves.

“God has blessed us in a tremendous way. Everybody on our team views their ministry with Heart for Lebanon as a calling; it’s not a job,” Atema says.

Header image depicts political commentary on the streets of Gemmayze, East Beirut, Lebanon. (Photo, caption courtesy of Brian Wertheim/Unsplash)

In November 2020, the United Nations World Food Programme estimated by the end of the year an additional 137 million people could face “acute food insecurity” – meaning their lives or livelihoods are in immediate danger.

That’s 82 percent more than pre-COVID. And families with kids are especially at risk.

(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

Brian Dennett with AMG International has witnessed this tragedy first-hand. “I spent the last 12 years working in Guatemala. We’ve seen hunger in countries like Guatemala and Haiti and others double over this last year. You have millions of families impacted and really in a food crisis.”

AMG serves in over 35 countries providing Gospel hope and several community transformation initiatives.

“We’ve done that for the last 80 years, while at the same time, meeting the deepest needs of people — both spiritual and physical. We have education programs and health care programs and lots of different endeavors,” Dennett says.

“But this past year, we’ve had to shift a lot of our attention to just meeting the basic needs of people. And doing that in a way that doesn’t further impact local economies. So we’ve been buying locally around the world and we’ve been distributing food and basic medical care and hygiene kits to thousands of families in all of the countries we serve.”

(Photo courtesy of AMG International)

AMG wants to feed 100,000 children and adults this year. Just $43 feeds a family of four for a week in Jesus’s name. Each relief box includes dry food, oil, butter, a nutrition concentrate drink, masks, and soap.

“Our hearts just go out for these families,” Dennett says. “I personally don’t know what it’s like to be desperately hungry. I don’t know what it’s like to not know how I’m going to be able to provide for my children and my family today or tomorrow.”

Every donation truly goes a long way. Click here to support AMG’s COVID-19 Relief.

Please pray for local churches to rally around vulnerable families in their communities. Pray for the people AMG serves to know they are loved and cared for by God.

Header photo courtesy of Jordan Rowland via Unsplash.

Bartholomew of Mission India says the coronavirus and lockdowns have taken their tolls on Indian day laborers. “A lot of these individuals, when they work, that’s what they bring home to eat and there’s not a lot of savings…. Obviously, if they can’t buy food, that impacts stores being able to sell things, which obviously leads to a lot of things economically.”

(Photo courtesy of Mission India)

Mission India has been distributing Relief Kits through local Christian partners to families in need. Each relief kit provides four weeks of food and hygiene supplies to a family of four.

With the support of believers around the world, Mission India has distributed 26,000 Relief Kits so far.

“Since we’re working with our partners on the ground in India, they’re sourcing all the materials and building the kits in their regions,” Bartholomew says. “So the kits may vary depending on if rice is more prevalent in that area versus another area, it could be something else. They’re very local generated. It’s not us sending things to India. It’s Christian Indians, our partners, sourcing materials.

“Then it’s being passed out to the community-at-large – Christian, non-Christian, it doesn’t matter. We’re there to help provide relief and share the love of Jesus through that interaction.”

Bartholomew says he recently heard a story of how one of their Relief Kits blessed a whole family. Mission India runs Children’s Bible Clubs in India, and one of their leaders wasn’t sure where his next meal would come from during the pandemic.

(Image courtesy of Mission India)

“He lives with his father and his mother and his sister, and both parents work as daily laborers. Daily laborers are the ones that are being hit the hardest so they have no money, no job, no support, but they kept on praying, ‘God, provide something for us. We are hungry.’

“When one of our partners started passing out these Relief Kits, the Children’s Bible Club leader’s family was blessed with one of those. He responded, ‘It is indeed a miracle in my life,’ and he went on to thank the partners for what they’re doing.”

You can sponsor a relief kit through Mission India for just $40. Click here to give!

Then, Bartholomew asks, “Be praying for the nation of India. There are 1.3 billion people and healthcare is not as accessible as it is here in the US. So be praying for people’s health — and that is not just their physical health, but their spiritual health and their emotional health.

“For our partners, be praying that they will be kept safe and be given boundless energy as they serve in a new capacity.”

Header photo courtesy of Mission India.

*Names changed for security purposes.

Why? Estimated by the World Bank, this figure would fund the recovery and reconstruction needed in the country after tropical storm Ketsana's record-breaking floods and typhoon Parma's devastating landslides.

According to the World Bank's post-disaster assessment, $942.9 million would go toward meeting recovery needs, while the other $3.48 billion would cover reconstruction costs for the next three years.

And this new construction will hopefully be better than previous buildings and homes in the area.

"With typhoons being a regular occurrence in the Philippines, integrated disaster risk management plans that take into consideration all likely significant hazards are needed to reduce the impact of future disaster," the World Bank reported said.

AMG International has been in country since the storms hit and was one of the first agencies to respond. Their initial efforts provided 6,000 families with emergency food, 200 families with house repairs, and 250 families with reopened businesses.

However, AMG's Roger Thomas said because of the scope of the damage, they can provide little aid now.

"We were able to help with immediate needs. The long-term is something that agencies like ours are just not equipped to handle. The government has to step in as best they can, along with agencies that are designed to do that," Thomas said.

So in the meantime, AMG is helping wherever they can.

One of their childcare centers was situated in an area like a bowl, trapping flood water. Thomas said the flood waters are still there, leaving businesses, homes and other buildings under water: "This is a permanent relocation … thing."

AMG is providing the basics there. Their childcare center is back up and running in a rented building, and they are ensuring the children there are still receiving an education.

Additionally, AMG is supplying boats to families who can still live in their flooded homes because they have a second story. Thomas said the boats allow the children of the families to get to school, and parents and volunteers are helping man the boats.

By doing what they can, AMG is showing Christ's love and the hope He offers. Thomas said the response has been tremendous: "They see that we're helping children; they see that we're doing good things, so they're very open to the Gospel."

Please pray for AMG as they continue to provide assistance. Pray for the people of the Philippines whose homes are still underwater or whose livelihoods were destroyed.

Pray for the government and World Bank funding to be supplied quickly.

You can also ensure AMG can continue aid in the Philippines and other countries when disaster strikes.

"Our disaster relief fund is always there, always needing funds, because when something happens, we can't promote the need right then and get the funds; we have to depend on what we have in house. If that fund is empty, we can't do anything," Thomas said.

Click here to contribute today and be sure to specify that you are donating to the disaster relief fund.