Rosa lives in Guatemala with her two children, Petronia (10) and Valeriano (8)
One... two… three… Rosa softly counts out her Guatemalan quetzales, her earnings for the day. Her small vegetable stand in the Rio Azul community is one of a kind. Instead of looking to make a fortune, Rosa is selling fresh, high quality cabbage, chard, and cauliflower at a reasonable price for Rio Azul community members to take home and feed their families. Around the community, she’s known for her delicious and yet inexpensive vegetables. And one thing is for certain–she’s not cutting back her prices out of naivety. It is a purposeful decision grounded in her care for the community and reflective of her trusting relationship with God.
“God has control of everything,” Rosa explains. It’s a surprising thing to hear from her because of the many uncertainties she faces. Her husband lives and works in the United States, sending money to her when he can. She remains in Guatemala to raise her two children, Petronia (age 10) and Valeriano (age 8), selling vegetables to make ends meet. In her free time, Rosa attends community meetings to strengthen her relationship with God. She also volunteers at her local church, leading meetings to foster spiritual growth in other community members. Her trust in God’s provision allows her to be generous with her time, resources, and love towards her community and children.
Rosa sells her best produce to benefit the community.
Food for the Hungry operates out of the belief that all communities—Canadians included!—are lifted out of poverty through the reconciliation of four main relationships–with God, self, others, and creation. But the primary one is our relationship with God. It’s our first and deepest. It changes how we see all other relationships.
What happens when people believe in an emotionally detached God? A God who hates them? What about a loving and just God, grieving for reconciliation?
The belief you hold about God matters. It shapes all your other relationships in life.
FH staff serve communities with the deep conviction that God is seeking to restore all forms of relationships. He is dying for reconciliation with humanity.
For Rosa, it was through her spiritual reconciliation to God that she was able to love herself, her family, her community, and even her garden. At FH facilitated leadership training sessions, Rosa found a space to grow spiritually. “I am grateful to God and for the important lessons; they help a lot in our personal and spiritual growth,” she says. Through these spiritual development meetings, Rosa adopted God’s lens for her life.
Adopting God’s lens casts off broken ideas of others, ourselves, and creation. As humans, we can be trapped by extremes. We may have crushing low self esteem, or inflated pride. We place people on a pedestal, or treat them as worthless. We may be terrified of our environment, or use and abuse it for our own gain. All of these extremes stem from a broken view of God.
Through reconciliation with God, we see things as he does. That’s how we learn we are inherently valuable, created in his image. It’s how we see that same value in others and the goodness of the created world.
Today, Rosa sees her community as an extension of her family, freely giving her time to facilitate meetings for the spiritual growth of members. She sees herself as an extension of God’s family, taking time to grow closer to God. She sees her garden as an extension of God’s creation, sharing her crops just like God shares the earth with her.
“I thank God for the opportunity he has given me to serve those in most need. I have learned a lot in the meetings that helped me grow in my spiritual, personal, and family life because I have come forward with my family and see my community transformed!” celebrates Rosa.
In each FH partner community, it’s important that members grow holistically. Not only does FH want to increase household income and reduce disease, FH also promotes spiritual growth in community members who desire it. Programs like the ones that Rosa is involved in help meet this need, and benefit every aspect of development in the community on a foundational level.