In the extremely poor village of Kijabe, Kenya, there lives a crippled widow named Mary. After her husband died of AIDS a few years ago, she struggled to find food.
While she suffers from HIV, too, Mary’s greatest challenge is a nerve problem in her legs. She has to use crutches to walk and can’t move very far. Most of the day, the pain keeps her seated, so she spends hours reading her Bible while her children are at school.
Mary’s two young children, Robert and Elizabeth, were getting a meal every day through Forward Edge’s feeding program at the local primary school. Every once in a while, there were enough leftovers to bring some home for Mary.
Most days, though, Mary went hungry. She had become stick thin and constantly worried where she’d find her next meal.
Then came the pandemic. Quarantine measures forced our program to pivot from its normal food service at schools to delivering food packages to homes. That’s how we discovered Mary. God used the pandemic to bring us to her.
Immediately, our staff made sure Mary had consistent, nutritious meals. In time, they were even able to build the family a new home and buy Mary a new stove.
Today, months later, Mary’s anxiety is gone. She’s much healthier, has regained lost weight, and is happy again. She even has the strength to go sit outside her home and bask in the sun.
God reached out to Mary with His tangible love not just in spite of this horrible pandemic, but through it. A sweet reminder that no matter what hardships you face, God will work through them.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
-Romans 8:28
Almost 20 years ago now, I was circling the 60-foot maple tree that stands just yards from my front door, talking to my Heavenly Father. Forward Edge needed to upgrade the training we provided for our short-term mission teams, and I was asking God for guidance. In a matter of
Berenice was used to seeing the same narrative play out around her growing up: a life marked by poverty, wealth inequality, and barriers to education. Most families in her area in Oaxaca, Mexico have traditionally come from smaller villages in search of a better life and are facing severe unemployment
It started with a simple nudge—a last-minute feeling that I was forgetting something important. Rushing through the airport, I couldn’t shake the urge to buy a Bible. I didn’t know why, or who it was for, but I trusted the feeling. A week later, in a small village in Ghana, that Bible found its way into the hands of Talata, a girl who had never heard of Jesus. This is the story of how God’s quiet whispers and a small act of obedience became part of something much bigger than we could have imagined.
This November, Forward Edge International celebrated 40 years of fruitful ministry at our annual Worth & Purpose Benefit for Children. As part of the celebration, Forward Edge’s Program Directors were invited to attend from around the world. As preparations and accommodations were being made, I learned that our Haitian Program
24 yrs. old
Entered the Program: March 2020
Johnson lives with his brother, sister in-law and niece in a three-room house with electricty but no running water. The house is far from the borehole they use so Johnson has to walk approximately a mile each day to fetch water. The family uses firewood to prepare meals and boil drinking water.
Plus bonus group fundraising ideas!
