Famine Fighters

You can be a hero to children suffering in the Africa Famine Crisis by becoming a ChildFund Famine Fighter.

We urgently need to find 550 Kiwis prepared to feed 20 children each day – to be famine fighters.

You may think feeding 20 children a day costs a lot. In fact, the total cost for you to feed 20 children every day is just 65 cents a day!

The food you will provide is high protein Unimix porridge, made from maize. It will be delivered by dedicated ChildFund teams in one of our 279 centres across Kenya. The teams will also weigh, measure and monitor the recovery and growth of children. Any urgent cases of childen with malnutrition can be referred for extra medical care. Clean safe water will also be provided to maintain children’s health, and protect them from diarrhoea.

We need 550 caring Kiwis like you so we can protect 11,000 children through the next critical six months.

Please become a Famine Fighter today.

The ‘Hunger Gap’

This six month time-frame is important. We recently received good news from the Kenya team, the weather reports are predicting normal to better-than-normal rains that can break the drought. These rains are due from October to December. Farmers will use the rains to plant crops, and they will hopefully be ready for harvest six months from now. These six months, when crops are growing but aren’t ready for harvest, is called the ‘Hunger Gap’. It is a time when young children face the worst danger.

This ‘Hunger Gap’ is the reason we have set up ChildFund Famine Fighters. With your help we can feed 20 children a day (for 65 cents a day) during this critical time.

The children you will feed and save…

Paul Brown, ChildFund New Zealand CEO visited Kenya in early September with our ChildFund Ambassador Hilary Barry. (You might have seen "The Great Hunger" 60 Minutes report on TV3.)

There, he met little Mary. Mary is three years old, and should be 14kg. When she was weighed she was only 9.4kg. That’s life-threatening.

You can see that for yourself in the photo of her being weighed. See how her tummy is swollen?

That’s not from having too much to eat - it’s from a disease called Kwashiorkor. When the body doesn’t get enough protein, the blood breaks down and drains into the stomach. So a swollen tummy like this shows a child in severe danger.

These are the kind of children you will feed and save as a ChildFund Famine Fighter.

For 20 children in Kenya 65 cents is the difference between eating and starving. For us, it’s not much at all.

Your 65 cents a day ($20 a month) will make sure 20 children have porridge every day until the rains come, crops grow, and harvest is ready. Your care will be delivered by dedicated ChildFund workers, along with clean water and on-going growth and health monitoring.

Please become a Famine Fighter today.