The World Food Prize organization in Des Moines, Iowa, recently held its annual convention, once again drawing hundreds of nutritionists, agricultural specialists, and scientists from around the globe. I was able to follow several of their sessions online, and some of our Iowa staff attended in person. I remain proud of my home state of Iowa for continuing to lead the global fight against food insecurity.
Feeding children has weighed heavily on my heart over the past six months. It began when a health inspector at one of our feeding hubs in Nelspruit, South Africa, refused to approve our imported container of food packets from Meals from the Heartland (MFTH) due to a labeling issue. The expiration date was printed on a removable sticker rather than directly on each food packet. We had faced similar challenges in the past and had been able to resolve them with an affidavit verifying that the dates were accurate and unaltered. This time, however, the process stretched on for months. With the help of dedicated leaders from Meals from the Heartland and Convoy of Hope (COH), and the faithful prayers of friends of our ministry around the world, I believe we are finally seeing light at the end of the tunnel.
We now have a “test container” on the ocean, scheduled to arrive in Africa on December 3rd. In a typical year, we import around 25 large 40-foot containers, which is equivalent to roughly 7 million meals. This year, we are only receiving five. To adjust, we’ve reduced the number of children we feed from 50,000 to 40,000 across Southern Africa and decreased meal frequency at many of our hubs from five days a week to just two.One blessing that emerged from this difficulty is that we were able to raise nearly $400,000 USD to purchase food locally here in Africa. This strengthens local economies, and the children actually prefer the taste of the locally produced food. Still, there is no question that they are deeply grateful for the rice packets provided by MFTH and COH, and we will continue to receive as many of those as we can. Another major blessing is that we have been able to increase the production of vegetables and eggs from our own Mountain View Farm. Later this year, we will be providing upwards of 100,000 eggs/month to feed hungry children. Our farm currently provides vegetables and eggs to 350 feeding sites in the area surrounding our Del Cramer pilot feeding hub, which equates to about 15,000 children getting five meals/week.
Our child feeding program began around 2009, when my good friend Mike Simonson, a prominent Iowa architect, joined us on a mission trip. The main project was to test the vision of a few thousand children and distribute eyeglasses to those who needed them. During that trip, Mike noticed that many of the children were malnourished and lethargic from a lack of food. When we returned to Iowa, Mike invited me to his office and said words I will never forget: “Doc, I’m going to help you feed those children.” He then wrote a check for $120,000, with one condition: I had to raise matching funds. At that time, fundraising was harder for me than it is today, but within nine months, we raised a total of $250,000. With those funds, we were able to feed 300 children, five days a week, for two years. Some missionary friends advised against starting a feeding program, warning that it would be difficult to sustain long-term. They were right about the challenge, but I have learned that with God’s help, everything is possible. Over the years, God has faithfully provided for the children He has called us to serve, and Blessman International continues to maintain an excellent record of sustainability and impact.
One of my greatest mentors in feeding children is Hal Donaldson, founder and president of Convoy of Hope. His goal is to help feed one million children by 2030, and I share a similar vision to feed 100,000 children by 2030. COH has been an invaluable partner in helping us expand and strengthen our feeding initiatives with excellence.
Our child feeding program now operates actively across much of Southern Africa. The Eastern Cape and Limpopo provinces, where our main campus is located, are among the most impoverished regions. According to the South African Human Rights Commission, between April 2021 and March 2022, 27% of children inthe Eastern Cape were stunted, more than 1,000 experienced severe acute malnutrition, and 106 children died as a result. Now, more than two years later, the situation appears even more dire. Many “street children” are no longer attending school and spend their days searching for food wherever they can find it. This crisis feels overwhelming at times, but I hold fast to the truth that with God’s help, we will find ways to assist—and even save—the lives of many of these precious children. I plan to travel soon to the Eastern Cape with a media team to document this tragic reality, share what we are already doing to feed thousands of children there, and invite others to join us in being part of the solution rather than merely bystanders.