How to Help in the Africa Food Crisis

The last couple years have been so tough across the world, but none seem as dire as the food shortage in Africa. Between a drought in the region, food shortages from the war in Ukraine, and lack of aid, over 23 million people are experiencing malnutrition and starvation across the continent. And it looks like it will get worse unless something changes.

While most of our work is in Mali, we have connections with leaders across Africa and continue to be in contact with them. Based on our conversations, we have narrowed down a few sustainable projects that can be quickly implemented to support communities in the most vulnerable places across Africa, first helping them with emergency needs and then supporting them with long-lasting training. With your help, these projects can rescue children and families from starvation:

1. A bag of rice.

This seems simple enough, but the first move is to immediately feed anyone who is hungry. The cost of food has inflated over 20% because of worldwide events, so providing families with rice, beans, and other nutrition is the way to begin. Our leaders would personally deliver to anyone who is in need.

2. Provide grain grinders.

We've read that over 90% of wheat imports in East Africa come from Ukraine, and because of the war that supply has stopped. Because of this, giving local farmers access to grain grinders is critical for African countries to sustain themselves.

If you've never seen a grain grinder, it's a machine that turns grain into wheat, which can then be used for cooking. Often in Africa, access to these machines are sparse, requiring farmers to either travel for days (risking the crop spoiling) or grind the grain by hand (making it a long and enduring process). Grain grinders strategically spread out in regions would speed up production, empowering the farmer long term and also getting it into the hands of starving families quickly.

3. Agricultural training.

While we can't control the weather, we can providing training for communities so that the pangs of starvation never have to hurt them again. Training can be for a variety of projects based on what a leader assess, like chicken farms for eggs, building greenhouses to protect crops, etc.

One classic example of training is teaching a farmer how to make a seed bank. Often, farmers purchase seed, plant, harvest, sell without thinking of collecting seeds from their grown crop. Teaching them how to look for seed and properly store it for the next round of planting would save them time and money in the long run.

We believe in impact that will last for generations, so training them is the crucial final step in helping their local communities not only survive but thrive.

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To support any of these projects, you can click here to view our projects page and make a donation. We thank you for learning more about how we plan to help our friends in these communities!

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*All images are from previous vision trips from 2019-2021