“🌱 ‘Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.”
Everyone is familiar with this proverb; however, few organizations truly know how to apply these thoughtful words to make a difference in the lives of those in need. The International Children’s Fund (ICF) is an expert in putting this proverb into action.
40 Years of Sustainable Food
For more than 40 years, ICF has been making a sustainable difference in the lives of needy children and their families. We do this by supporting initiatives that provide sustainable food supplies. These initiatives include a broad array of farming, animal husbandry, and aquaculture programs. These programs supply food for our missions/orphanages as well as the neediest within the local villages. They allow our missions to save more people from starvation while progressively becoming less reliant on the continuing support of our donors.
The sustainable food supply programs at each mission are uniquely tailored to the specific needs and environment of that mission. There are only two things that are constant at all locations – everyone helps and everyone benefits. From the very young children to the much “more senior” members of the community, many hands come together to make lighter work.
Our missions grow a broad array of crops ranging from corn to bananas to cassava. They also raise chickens, cattle, pigs, goats, and fish. For those who are not familiar with cassava. It is a woody shrub that is cultivated for its edible starchy root. It is resistant to drought and is therefore a reliable source of food even in the harshest environments. The cassava roots are harvested and cooked, dried, fried, fermented, or ground up into flour. The uses of cassava are nearly endless. The young men pictured to the right have just harvested some cassava for our local mission in Togo.
The smiles on their faces speak volumes about the joy that they get from helping and the enjoyment that they will get from the food that they have just harvested.
Open Gate of Hope Farm
- Our missions are successful in their efforts despite the harsh environment and the constant challenges. Our Open Gate of Hope farm in Machakos County, Kenya provides food for their local orphanage, their school in Kibera, and the local villagers. This location has an extensive farm and animal husbandry program. Our local pastor describes some of the recent challenges that they have faced:
- The unprecedented multi-year drought has made water scarce and has caused crops to dry up. Without irrigation, few crops can survive.
- The wild animals have ravaged our farm searching for any source of food.
- The high fuel costs and drought have caused food costs to more than double. As a result, families simply cannot afford to buy the food that they need to survive.
Pastor Peter Sila is making an incredible impact; however, his resources are limited and the need is enormous. He is imploring us for more support to allow him to grow/raise more food to help even more people – who have no other place to turn. Please help us to support Peter’s efforts to serve those in greatest need during this drought and inflationary crisis in Kenya.
Regular giving helps us to provide education along with countless other programs promoting sustainable improvements in the lives of desperately poor children and their families. We call these donors Hope Ambassadors because they help ICF to provide hope to those who truly face life and death needs in Africa and India.
God is not unjust; He will not forget your work and the love you have shown Him as you have helped His people and continue to help them. Hebrews 6:10
Dr. David Bruenning
Founder/Int’l Director
See children fed, educated, and empowered.
Become a Hope Ambassador
It can be easy to skim past this verse, but the historical context of an “ambassador” brings a wealth of meaning. Such ambassadors or delegates, whether Jewish or Greco-Roman, came with the authority of the sender, in his place, to secure his interests. The reality is, God is making his appeal through us, and wants to secure His very own interests.