Dear person who cares about kids in Bundibugyo . . .
Compassion moved Jesus to break bread on the wilderness mountainsides where crowds had flocked to his teaching and healing, attracted to his promising presence that upended their status as marginalized labourers in an occupied territory. Five loaves and two fish became more than enough, because the abundance of Jesus' love multiplied the meager human contributions. In February 2025, we are asking once again for your loaves and fish, that God can abundantly transform.
In 2024, we broke and distributed all your gifts to treat 1,138 malnourished children. 80% were cured, 12% continue into 2025, and 8% did not respond or dropped out. You also fed 75 mothers of premature or sick babies so that they could care for their infants in NICU, and 4 surrogate breast-feeding women. 78 children admitted for severe malnutrition were assisted with antibiotics and antimalarials, in addition to the program strengthening general ward capacity. Every week our team shared Bible stories and prayer and nutrition education at the hospitals, and over the year followed up a sample of 80 discharged patients in 9 sub-counties all over Bundibugyo. They found 80 out of 80 had NOT relapsed, and documented average additional weight gain of 2.7 kg and growth of 8 cm (6 pounds, 3 inches) at home thanks to gardens and hope. You did this with a budget of $42 per child whose life was transformed. . . that's less than a dollar a day over 9 weeks to fund the locally sourced therapeutic peanut/soy/moringa leaf paste we make, and all the medicine, transport, and salaries.
Feeding hungry children is both morally just, and shockingly cost effective. These kids will contribute to their families and communities for decades, and their health and peace provides a visible assurance of God's awareness of these families' needs.
Our entire Area, and all our Uganda colleagues, are reeling from this week's abrupt cut-offs of American aid, with HIV clinics and the bigger nutrition programs suspending care indefinitely. Our 2025 need will likely exceed the thousand patients we budget for. PLEASE forward this to any friends who might be interested in partnership with BundiNutrition (link here). We know that God's people take Matthew 25 seriously, and want to feed and clothe and visit the hungry, the poor, the alien. This is a solid opportunity to bridge gaps left as USAID withdraws.
Gratefully and expectantly,
Dr. Jennifer for Bwampu, Ivan, and Clovis, and all the BundiNutrition team
PS This was the letter we sent to our mailing list of people who had donated recently . . . grateful for the kind giving, and grieving the chaos left as other programs that had commitments and funding were summarily stopped. Please share this link and spread the word. As a bonus, enjoy this article written by me, photos by Scott, published a couple months ago in Christianity Today's Globe issue.
