Seeds of Hope in Ukraine: The Yushchuk family. Mission without Borders

Meet the Yushchuk family. They are in the family sponsorship program of Mission Without Borders. A few years ago they were also beneficiaries of the Seeds of Hope program. Life in Ukraine has been difficult lately and I can only hope that the family was spared the worst effects of the Russian aggression in the east.

According to a 2014 study, the diet of young children in Ukraine is generally unbalanced. Iron deficiency among young children is estimated at 40-50%.  80-90% have a significant lack of vitamin C in their diet and 40-80% have vitamin B deficiency. Iron and vitamins B and C are easily obtained in fresh vegetables and beans. Fresh vegetables are needed  not just for food security and economic growth. They are critical for health and development of young children.

Pray for the children of Ukraine.  If you are able would you be able to donate $24 to provide a Seeds of Hope box?  Maybe you are able to help support a child or family throughout the year.  Any amount will help.  As you can see from the video, the families are willing to work hard, they just need good tools and seeds.  If you aren't able to give, maybe share this program on social media.  Families do graduate from the Family to Family program.  Whenever possible, the program is geared toward self-sufficiency and independence from aid.

"Seeds of Life!"

Bukurie is a widow whose husband passed away 10 years ago.  She was only 26 and was left with 4 children in rural Albania.  Every morning the children walked 3 miles to school- often on empty stomachs.  Although she receives a small state benefit for the children it provides little.  Food prices increase erratically while benefits remain stagnant.  She admits "I tried to provide food for them every day.  But often we just eat bread."

Mission Without Borders was able to provide Bukurie with Seeds of Hope- a large variety of high quality vegetable seeds- a few years ago.  She was also given needed tools to plant and tend the seeds,  a water pump and hose.  Two of her children are old enough to assist with the gardening and harvest.

"We had a very busy summer.  We worked a lot and now the result is a great one!"  The children now have fresh vegetables and food for the winter.  The harvest was bountiful and she plans on selling some of the excess to provide for the families needs.

Now she has flour for bread every day.  Now she can buy school supplies for her children.  From deprivation and despair- to hope.  This is what the Seeds of Hope and family sponsorship is all about.

"You may call them Seeds of Hope, but for me these are Seeds of Life!"

$25 will provide a large box of seeds for one family!

$117 will provide all the hand gardening tools that a family needs to maintain a good sized garden

Maybe your church group or club can sponsor an entire mini-farm for a needy family.  Multi- season seeds, tools and a greenhouse costs $3339 (as of last year).

These hands-up programs enable families to work, earn their own living, and maintain dignity while moving forward into self sufficiency and out of poverty.

Sources: Mission Without Borders summer newsletter, MWB Australia

Tomorrow..meet Bukurie and see the results!

"Hope in a box"

What is Seeds of Hope?

The Seeds of Hope campaign is a program of Mission Without Borders in which thousands of poor families in Eastern Europe are provided with tools, training, and high quality seeds so that they can provide for their own food security as well as sell any abundance as they move toward self sufficiency.

Goals: To provide means for poor families to grow their own food, to boost their nutritional requirements and financial situations, and to motivate them for a more hopeful future.

The objective is to teach farming principals and entrepreneurial skills to enable poor families to move toward self sufficiency.  Allowing families to work for their expected harvest provides dignity as the family works together to enjoy the fruits of their labor.  The outcome is that good crops will improve the health and financial well being of the family and allow them to move from dependence to self reliance. (Mission Without Borders Australia)

"To achieve a long-term solution, food distributions need to be coupled with programmes that ensure the hungry are equipped to meet their own food needs long-term" Thabani Maphosa, World Vision

The first phase of the annual Seeds of Hope campaign has already started in Bosnia and Herzegovina!  One Seeds of Hope parcel contains "5 kg of potatoes, 2 kg of onions, and packets of different vegetable seeds for salads, peas, beans, and carrots."(MWB Australia newsletter).  125 boxes have already been distributed to the Family to Family sponsored families in Mostar.  Others were given to churches to distribute according to need.  Another 125 boxes will be distributed in nearby communities and to local soup kitchens.  This will enable them to have fresh vegetables and food to serve guests in the Street Mercy program.

The second phase of this project will follow shortly when late-growth seeds will be distributed to families.  This is the fifth year of this program and the results have been really positive.  Families are strengthened as they work together, they are learning skills for self sufficiency, children are eating healthy meals throughout the year.  Many families are able to reap abundant harvests and sell the abundance in local markets.  This provides families with dignity and a tool to work themselves out of poverty.  Tomorrow I'll share one of their stories..

Can you provide a box of hope?  You can make a donation here!  Thanks for your help!  And did you know that when you use any of my Amazon links, you are helping as well?  I am saving this money ($75 so far!) and hope to use it to help my sponsored child in Moldova.  The minimum for a special project is $150 so I have more to raise but I'll definitely share details when this happens. Thanks!