We recently received an urgent message from our partner in Tanzania.
250 Students Face Starvation as Tanzania Drought Continues
A drought has plagued Tanzania for two years. Crops have failed. Livestock are dying. Catholic bishops have called for prayer and vigils to beg God to send rain.
Maize (corn) in particular is one of the most vulnerable crops in Tanzania. What’s more, 80% of the country’s population rely on it both for food and as a cash crop.
The whole country is affected. While that seems daunting, and maybe like it’s impossible to help, there is one special group of students you can help today.
Our partners at Holy Spirit Vocational Training Center in Arusha have suffered as well. Their banana and corn crops have yielded less and less. Students face hunger every day.
Most of the students here are orphans, or come from very poor families. They came to school to escape hunger, but without your help, they won’t be able to outrun hunger even here.
Meet Francis, A Student You Can Help Today
Francis is one of the young people who came to the VTC to pursue a bright future. Orphaned at a young age, his only remaining relative, a sister named Magdalena, also passed away, leaving Francis truly alone. Thankfully his parish priest connected Francis with the Holy Spirit Vocational Training Center. He’s now in his 3rd year of studies. He’s learning masonry and bricklaying–a skill he’ll be able to use for years to come.
Learn more about the Holy Spirit Vocational Training Center here.
249 other students call the Vocational Training Center home. Please help. These students need food now.
A Shipment of Food is Available — We Need Your Help to Ship It
As dire as the situation is in Tanzania, there IS hope!
Father Emmanuel has found a shipment of 9,506 pounds of maize, 8,730 pounds of beans, and 5,965 pounds of rice available for immediate transport. The cost to ship is just $9,253.40. That’s less than $.38 per pound!
This food will cover the school’s needs for 6 months!
If These Students Make It Through the Year, It’ll Be Because of Friends Like You
While there is great hope for this school, the reality is that that hope relies on friends like you.
Father Emmanuel, Francis, and the other students trust that God will provide. And we here at Catholic World Mission know how willing you and others are to be God’s hands and feet in situations like these.
Will you give right now and allow God to provide through you?
Food Must Be Sent in the Next 30 Days
This is a very urgent need, as you can imagine.
In order for this food to arrive on time–before the school reaches a crucial tipping point–we need to send this shipment in the next 30 days.
Please know that there is also a long-term solution in the works. A land survey was recently done on the school’s farm, and they found water! Father Emmanuel plans to have a well dug so that they can survive another water crisis in the future.
But today, the fact remains: only with your help can we send this lifeline shipment of food. And we must send it soon.
Give now. These students in Tanzania need your help.
When you give today, you’re alleviating poverty in a very real way by feeding hungry students. And in the long term, you are alleviating poverty by joining the mission of the Holy Spirit Vocational Training Center as it works to give these students practical skills and knowledge, as well as a strong foundation in faith, so they can build a bright future for themselves and one day, their children.