Stories

Single parents struggle with mental health more than two-parent households. Community support and income solutions helped single mom Channoeurn overcome anxiety and stress and become a powerful child advocate.

Fresh springs are a great source of clean water, but they must be protected from contamination. FH capped a spring in rural Ethiopia to help families get clean water and be free from waterborne diseases.

Angella never expected to become a widow, divorcée, and single mom to five children and four grandchildren, all within a few years. Her husband died in 2006, leaving her to raise three children on her own. She remarried in an effort to secure financial stability for her children and two new step daughters, but the new marriage quickly ended, leaving her alone, again. She knows first-hand how mental health can affect every aspect of one’s life.

How are you doing—really doing?

Right now, there are 3.5 billion people still living without safe toilets. Because of a lack of sanitation, diseases spread among their families and communities, killing 1,000 children under the age of five every single day. This global situation poses a threat to half the world’s population and puts women, girls, and vulnerable groups at risk of harm.

On World Children’s Day, we’re highlighting the need to start strong!

I think we can all agree that water is essential to life on Earth.

When Deborah was just 12 years old, she was kidnapped and held captive with a group of young girls for two months. By the time she escaped and returned home, the damage was done. Her harrowing ordeal haunted her into her teens and adulthood. Fearing social stigma, she told no one the truth about what had happened, except for her mother and sister. She had been a victim of human trafficking, but she didn’t feel like a survivor. She felt restless, fearful, and depressed. She isolated herself from friends and community. She couldn’t work—she could barely brush her own hair.

Juana will never forget the little water bottle that she carried to school every day. Water access close to home (or in your house!) is critical to development. Girls in Guatemala need access to water to help them stay in school.

When Irene's husband left for Kenya to seek employment, Irene became a single mother solely responsible to provide for five children.

This week is World Breastfeeding Week, a time to focus global attention and galvanize collective action to educate, promote, and support breastfeeding across all aspects of society.

Ashrayan, a government-built project housing over 48 families, had no local water supply. Residents spent hours traversing a steep hill to collect unsafe water that made them sick. Ashrayan had no preschools and only one primary school a kilometre away. “Being far away from the [primary] school, we were not very interested in education. If we have that interest to involve our children with school, it’s quite tough to go to school regularly for our children by walking that distance from our house,” one mother shared.

A girl’s first period is her first step into womanhood. Many girls, however, are never taught that menstruation is a normal process—their first period comes with fear, confusion, and a lack of confidence.

How health education empowered a community to shed superstition and find true healing - for body and mind.

Clean water and sanitation is the UN's Sustainable Development Goal 6, so it must be important, but what is sanitation? It's more than just the city sewage plant - it's in your home, too!

Did you know your gifts to Food for the Hungry (FH) literally help save lives?

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.