OCTOBER 2008

When someone speaks of the "poorest of the poor," they should be thinking of Burundi -- officially designated the poorest country on earth. Yet many people haven't even heard of this small African nation, tucked between Rwanda, Tanzania, and the Congo.

This landlocked, resource-poor country has a population of 8,691,005 and a life expectancy of 51 years. For more than a decade Burundi was embroiled in an ethnic-based war, resulting in more than 200,000 deaths, and displacing more than 188,000. Today only one in two children go to school, 68% live below the poverty line, and almost one in 15 adults has HIV/AIDS.

Despite this, Burundi has received little help from other nations.

The President of Burundi and his First Lady are both people of great faith. A former rebel soldier, President Pierre Nkurunziza is committed to serving his country according to the principles of God. Every week he conducts a worship service with his cabinet, thanking God for His blessings the previous week, and seeking wisdom and guidance for the coming week. As a result, positive changes are already taking place! They have made public education for primary school children free, which is extremely rare in Africa. This has created a flood of new primary students in school - children who otherwise would be unable to attend school because of poverty.

This is where Feed the Hungry can help Burundians! None of the schools have lunch programs. This means that, although the children now have access to education, they would not eat for the entire day! This would make learning next to impossible.

With your help, we have sent more than 270,000 meal packs (with 6 servings in each pack) to our partner ministry, African Revival Mission. They have long been committed to Burundi and are pleading with us to provide food for their children's outreach program. We can acquire the food. We just need to pay for shipping.

Burundi will begin to experience a kind of joy its people have never known. Imagine what happens, in the midst of such darkness, when someone arrives on the scene with Light...the love of God -- and food!

Thank you for partnering with us to show the children of Burundi, the children of God, that they are not forgotten!

His Excellency, President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi
accepting a rice meal pak from Stefan Radelich,
Feed the Hungry's US Director.