On this special episode of Life Today!
RANDY: There are many situations that are taking place
around the world right now that demand that we jump in
and we take action, from natural disasters
to conflict, and the problem that's only increasing.
But we have a solution that can only work when you help.
And Tammy, I think it is critical that
we do something right now to stop that whole cycle.
TAMMY: We're committed to it.
Even as bad as it is getting right now,
we are not leaving.
We are going to stay and we will work hard
to save the lives of these children.
Next on LIFE Today!
♪
RANDY: Welcome to LIFE Today.
I'm Randy Robison.
Tammy Trent is with me.
And we have some
urgent information
that we want you to hear.
I just got off the phone
with Isak Pretorius,
our mission partner
in Southern Africa
and there are many situations
that are taking place
around the world right now
that demand we jump in
and we take action.
From natural disasters
to conflict, to things
left over from the whole
COVID disruption,
there are people on the verge
of starvation.
Many of them already there.
And the problem is
only increasing.
But we have a solution
that can only work
when you help.
And Tammy, over the years
you've been there,
you've seen the situation,
you know how quickly
things can deteriorate
into malnutrition,
into starvation,
and into death.
I think it is critical that
we do something right now
to stop that whole cycle.
TAMMY: Absolutely!
I think Randy, that is
honestly key, is to be able
to step in before it gets
to such a place that it is
almost hard to turn it back.
I think when you go
into those clinics
and see those children in
that state, they're so close
to death already.
It is so heartbreaking,
especially when we know
that there is a way that
we could have prevented
that process from happening.
And so I think today,
as you watch some of
the incredible stories
that we're going to bring you,
I know that your heart
is going to be moved
just as our hearts are moved
when we're there on the ground
with these families
and with these children.
And that feeling of knowing
that it is desperate,
it is urgent, it is critical,
and that we have a way
to help bring food
to these little lives,
these little children,
to hopefully keep them
from having to go
into these clinics
where they are near death.
I would love you
to take some time to consider
today partnering with
this incredible ministry
that is literally saving
hundreds of thousands
of lives every single year.
RANDY: And sadly,
statistically, Tammy,
children have died
while we've been talking.
It happens that fast --
and not literally just
statistically when
you look at the number
of people impacted.
But here's the good news.
We can do something
about it.
We can do something
about it today.
We know this because
we have been doing this
for decades now.
But the situation is such
that when disruptions occur,
when conflicts occur,
and like I mentioned
with coming out of COVID,
the economic strain that
that has put around
the world, it is always
the most vulnerable that
suffer first and the most.
And that's why it is critical
that we go into these places
around the world,
primarily Sub-Saharan Africa
with a bowl of simple
nutritional soup mix
made just for them
to bridge that gap
between the desperate
situation they're in now
and that point where
they can again take care
of themselves.
That's all they need
is for someone to come in
and get them through
a most difficult time.
It is urgent but we do have
a solution and we do need you
to be a part of it.
Watch this really quickly
and then we'll tell you
how you can start
saving lives today.
[Clock ticking]
Every six seconds
another child under the age of five dies.
[Clock ticking]
Why are young children like these
fighting for their lives?
It is because their mothers
simply have no food for them.
Malnutrition, known as the silent killer,
then compromises their immune system,
in turn making them more susceptible to dying
from common childhood illnesses.
[Clock ticking]
Statistics tell us this year alone,
the mortality rate for children
under the age of five
will exceed 5 million,
with malnutrition being a contributing factor
in nearly half those children's deaths.
[Clock ticking]
The question becomes,
can we stop this cycle of death
for the remaining children in Southern Africa,
those who find themselves in a food crisis,
urgently needing help
before malnutrition claims its next victim?
ISAK: If we can get to these villages
where this child comes from,
and we can get Mission Feeding into those villages,
what we're able to ensure is that
we wind that clock back.
We retell that story.
That's why we say Mission Feeding saves lives
because it does.
Saving this child's life
doesn't happen because of us.
It happens because of you.
[Clock ticking]
TAMMY: It is so true.
We couldn't do any of this
without your help.
There is a great,
great need today
at this exact moment.
Just like Randy said,
every six seconds,
every few moments,
we are losing another one
and another one.
When I sit bedside in
those clinics like Isak was,
it's so heartbreaking
because I think
you're looking at the face
of death in these little ones
that have no way of pretty
much fighting themselves.
But I feel so privileged
that we have an opportunity
to fight for them.
And so I think Randy,
when I'm in those situations,
it's heartbreaking.
And yet, I also have been
in places where I know
that there is a solution
and I know that there is
a way to help their lives
even before they get
to that place of near death.
RANDY: And you know,
the clinics are the worst.
You and I have been there.
I've been there literally
one day where I prayed
for a child in the daytime
and then we went out
and shot some other footage
and found out later that night
that that child passed away.
That's hard.
You want your prayers
answered right now
miraculously.
And the reality is that
we have to be the answer
to the prayer.
I find it interesting,
Tammy.
When Jesus was speaking
to the crowds
and the day was ending
and the disciples were like,
"Lord, let's send them home.
They're hungry." Right?
"Let them go
get something to eat."
What did Jesus say?
He looked at them
and said, "You feed them."
And of course, they said,
"We don't have enough food."
I feel like that sometimes.
We want to feed
all of these children,
and sometimes adults that
are in the critical need.
We don't have the ability to
but what did Jesus say?
Give what you can.
Give the best you can.
And when we do that
in obedience, in numbers,
miracles happen.
TAMMY: They totally do.
And I think sometimes
it can feel overwhelming
because you see the need
and the need is overwhelming.
It really is.
So sometimes, I think
we think like how am I going
to make a difference?
How is the little bit
that I have to give going
to make a difference with
the big problem that I see?
And the truth is it
all makes a difference.
Everything makes a difference.
Every gift that you give
makes an eternal impact
into the lives of these
little children that have
been set forth to live
a great abundant life of joy
and a great future.
I want to help be a part
of that in their lives.
And I know you do too.
And if God has blessed you
today to help partner with us
to make a difference in
the lives of these children,
then I would ask you
to please consider doing that.
It doesn't matter how big
or how small, it will all
make a huge impact.
RANDY: It will.
And let me just tell you
quickly how it works
because we have been
in these places for years
working, trying to prevent
the situations in
the malnutrition clinics.
The malnutrition clinics
are a wonderful resource
but we want to go into
the villages where
the malnutrition
is just starting to set in.
We want to stop it
earlier in the process.
And because we've been
doing this for so long,
we have the people
like Isak in place.
We have trucks on the ground.
We have food
that's ready to go.
We need to get it there.
We need to acquire
more food in many cases
depending upon
the circumstances.
But because we already
have so much in place,
the average per bowl of food
is very, very low,
and yet the value,
nutritional value
and the lifesaving value
is very, very high.
We look across
all the programs,
we look at feeding
350,000 children every day,
that's a lot of children.
It breaks down to a $30 gift
today will enable us to
basically feed three children
for three whole months.
A gift of $50
will feed five children
for several months.
If you can make a gift
of $1,000, that would
feed 100 children for
approximately three months.
What an amazing thing.
I look at this, Tammy
and I go, why would you
not want to do that?
TAMMY: I know! Honestly!
And I don't know if people
are like me sometimes when
I see such a program on TV
and I think, somebody else
will take care of it.
I'm so busy right now
and I don't even know that
my gift of $30 will
make a difference.
So somebody else will do it.
And I have learned,
even being a part of
this ministry, don't wait for
the next person to jump in
and rescue a little one.
Why don't you be that person?
Let God use you.
Truly, like I said before,
if we've been blessed,
like I have an extra $30.
I think we're all navigating
around numbers in our lives
and trying to be smart
with our money, truly.
But I think we all could say
I have a little bit extra
that I could give right now.
Because I have food,
I have water, I have clothes,
I have a home,
I have a television
I'm watching right now.
But these little ones
and these families
on the other side
don't have any of that.
So if we could be a part
of just bringing them
even just some food today
that will help them
survive another day
and another day,
and many of them
like Randy said,
three more months,
and another three months,
that's something
I want to be part of.
That is life-giving.
And I think as believers,
as the body of Christ,
I truly believe that when
we are aware of a need,
I believe that
God says step up.
Just step up and do something.
And be my hands and feet
and make a difference because
I've blessed your life.
I've given you food
so please turn around
and help another one that
just doesn't have a way
to get to food.
If you could give and partner,
that's the easy step.
We'll do the rest of the work.
We're asking you
to just partner with us
and give what you can and
we'll do the rest of the work.
We're on the ground.
The infrastructure is there.
We're ready to go.
We just need you to help us
to get on the other side
of that line so that
we can keep moving
into these villages
and into these clinics
and we can rescue and save
one child at a time.
TAMMY: The things that I've seen,
the things that I've gotten to experience
have been emotional.
There's been some good days
and there's been some bad days.
My favorite days are when I get to go into a village
and serve the children,
especially when I get to sit down and feed them
a bowl of food that they get every day.
What an incredible moment that really is
knowing that in that place and in that moment,
I'm privileged to be a part of bringing them life
through a bowl of food.
Then you get in the car the next day and you travel hours
to get to a clinic like this
only to sit in a place like this
and to watch this precious little girl fight for her life
because she doesn't have that one bowl of food every day.
Her body is shutting down.
She is dying.
I wonder how long she has to live.
I think if she was in a village
where there was a feeding program set up,
how her life would be so very different.
I've seen the power in just one bowl of food.
Something so incredibly simple that brings life
to so many hundreds of thousands of children!
It's hard to watch any child die
knowing that there's something
we can do to help prevent that death!
TAMMY: I'll never forget
like being in that clinic
with that little girl
at the end there.
She could hardly breathe.
She couldn't move.
And she'd just look up at me
and I would just rub her hand
or head or little body.
I think the worst feeling
for me is being in
those places watching
these little ones
so helpless and dying.
Dying right in front of me
because they don't have food.
I honestly have such
a hard time wrapping my head
around that thought,
especially when I do travel
maybe the next day
to a village and I sit
there with hundreds
of little kids
and I hand them a little bowl
of food, and I know that
it is the very thing
that is saving their lives
at that exact moment.
I think how could
we have gotten to that
little girl?
How could I have
changed it for her?
I know that it is a matter
of raising the funds,
gaining more partners
in this ministry so that
we can go into the next
village that isn't set up
for Mission Feeding.
And that we can set that up
to make sure that
every little child
gets food every day
and doesn't go hungry.
Randy, it's such
an easy program
that we have set up.
We've got everything in place
to make this happen
so that not one child
has to die of starvation.
RANDY: And when you look
at the big problem,
the enormity of it,
and you do feel
a little helpless at times,
you remember you save them
one life at a time.
I want to show you something.
Just watch these pictures
because what you're seeing
now is a village where
Mission Feeding
has been going on.
And you see smiles,
you see laughing,
you see playing,
you see them learning,
getting an education,
and we do a lot of
these programs at schools
very intentionally because
we want these children
to get an education,
to get a future.
But it is hard to learn when
you have an empty stomach
or when your body
is breaking down because
you are weak and malnourished.
The difference between
a good day and a bad day
for a child, oftentimes,
is what's in that bowl.
And whether that child
has a good day or bad day
tomorrow is often determined
by the response of people
just like you, our viewers.
When you realize that
$100 will help feed ten
of those children for
the next three months,
you can see how your gift
literally is oftentimes,
Tammy, it will be that
difference between
learning or ending up
in a malnutrition clinic --
possibly even ending up
in a grave.
And I know you've seen
one particular graveyard
where they dig the graves,
they're short, and when
you see that you say
why is that?
Then it hits you,
they're expecting a child
to fill that grave.
And sadly, they know
that it is going to happen.
We can stop that.
TAMMY: We can
and I don't want to wait.
Like we talked about earlier,
like so many times
you think somebody else
is going to do it for you
or for them.
But let's be the change.
If you've given before,
thank you so much.
We're so grateful for it.
If you can give again,
it would be incredible if you
could consider doing that.
And if you've never
partnered with us before,
I pray that today is
that day that you say, man,
I want to be the difference.
I want to help save a life.
I want to be an answer
to a prayer for these mamas
that are just asking
and reaching and hoping.
Let's be the hope
for them today.
Across the continent of Africa,
children are suffering, facing severe malnutrition
and even death.
With food reserves gone
and many areas experiencing severe famine,
we urgently need to replenish supplies
to keep feeding the 350,000 children
who are counting on us.
Through LIFE's Mission Feeding outreach,
your gift of love can be an answer to prayer
for a hurting and hungry child
in their time of need.
Call now with your lifesaving gift
of $30, $50, or $100 to help feed and care
for three, five, or ten children
for three full months.
With your gift of any amount,
we'll send you the brand-new LIFE Planner
bound in soft-touch leather.
This planner will help you in your daily walk
with space for you to record your appointments,
goals, inspirational notes, and prayers.
With your gift of $100 or more,
please request the "God's Promise" serving bowl.
This beautiful and versatile ceramic bowl
is decorated with 2nd Corinthians 9:8
and will make a lovely addition
to your table or home.
Finally, with your gift of $1,000 or more
to help feed and care for 100 children,
be sure to request our inspiring bronze sculpture,
"Consider the Birds,"
inspired by Jesus' words
in Matthew 6:26.
Please call, write, or make your gift online today.
ISAK: In these areas of southern Angola,
they're facing the worst drought in over 40 years,
crops that have failed year after year.
One and a half million people are facing severe hunger;
114,000 children under the age of five
right now are suffering from acute malnutrition.
And we see it when we visit the malnutrition clinics here.
Literally, over-filled clinics
filled with children fighting for their lives.
Nine days ago this grandmother Duonece
brought her grandson Jrah to this clinic,
literally because he was battling the battle of life and death;
fighting for his life
because he had acute malnutrition.
How, you might ask?
Because she didn't have any food to feed him.
When I asked her about her food situation,
she became very emotional.
She explained to me that there are as many days
where she has no food to feed him and they go without food.
That's how a child like this ends up
with his skin literally peeling off his body,
as the body starts to shut down,
trying to just keep him alive.
But we're seeing more and more children suffering like little Jhar,
many of them dying in villages
before we can ever reach them.
What is the solution, you say?
This is it.
The solution is food, and us being here
as mission teams reaching these children,
each and every one of them,
getting to these mothers, answering their prayers,
and saving their children's lives.
RANDY: We've been fighting
some droughts,
especially in Angola now
for a while.
We've seen a lot
of positive things take place
but we still have
a great need.
If you look over
in other areas, we have just
had a team return from
South Sudan in the last
few months and they reported
some same type of things
with the clinics
being overcrowded,
the food shortages.
It is a situation
that's ongoing.
But we are making
a big difference.
There was one story, Tammy,
I saw where mothers were
grinding up the corncobs.
The corn was gone and
they were grinding up
these corncobs to try
to put something into
the stomachs of their children
so they wouldn't
feel so hungry.
But there is
no nutritional value there.
We have to bring them
nutritional value.
And then as I mentioned,
when we started, you heard me
on the phone with Isak
before we came out here
and there is a situation
in Mozambique where the people
are facing persecution.
There are Muslim extremists
up in the north that
are committing atrocities.
It is driving people
to the south.
And Isak was telling us
that he has spoken to
many people who have
suffered horrendous things.
And now they are in a camp,
a displacement camp for
people that are fleeing that.
And we are there on
the ground helping to
provide the emergency food.
These are the types of
situations we're dealing with
in those countries
and in some others.
But the one factor
that covers whatever
situation we're facing
is our supporters saying
we want to help.
We want to provide
that bowl of food.
That's when we see
a difference.
TAMMY: Huge impact.
And it is not just words
from us, Randy.
You and I both have been
there, we've been on
the ground and so
we do see the impact.
That story that we saw
earlier with me being
in a clinic, and then
another day being in a village
feeding these children,
we do see the impact,
we see those children
thriving in those villages.
And we know that
it is making a difference.
We're committed to it.
We're not going to leave.
We're committed.
We're staying.
Even as bad as
it is getting right now,
we are not leaving.
We are going to stay
and we're going to help
with every breath we have,
with every dollar
that God provides for us.
We are going to make
a difference and we will
work hard to save the lives
of these children.
RANDY: Absolutely.
The one thing that people
need to know though
is that time is not
on our side.
Time is not our friend.
It is a thief that robs
children of their lives.
We have to act.
We have to act today.
And that's why I'm asking you
to go to the phone
or go online right now and
make the best gift you can,
$30 for three children,
$50 for five children,
$100 for ten children,
maybe a $1,000
for 100 children
for the next three months.
What can you do?
And we're counting on you.
We're counting on those
of you that have stepped up
in the past and those
of you for the first time
that are saying, I want
to be a part of the solution.
Go on the phone,
go online, make the best gift
you can and do it now.
Across the continent of Africa,
children are suffering, facing severe malnutrition
and even death.
With food reserves gone
and many areas experiencing severe famine,
we urgently need to replenish supplies
to keep feeding the 350,000 children
who are counting on us.
Through LIFE's Mission Feeding outreach,
your gift of love can be an answer to prayer
for a hurting and hungry child
in their time of need.
Call now with your lifesaving gift
of $30, $50, or $100 to help feed and care
for three, five, or ten children
for three full months.
With your gift of any amount,
we'll send you the brand-new LIFE Planner
bound in soft-touch leather.
This planner will help you in your daily walk
with space for you to record your appointments,
goals, inspirational notes, and prayers.
With your gift of $100 or more,
please request the "God's Promise" serving bowl.
This beautiful and versatile ceramic bowl
is decorated with 2nd Corinthians 9:8
and will make a lovely addition
to your table or home.
Finally, with your gift of $1,000 or more
to help feed and care for 100 children,
be sure to request our inspiring bronze sculpture,
"Consider the Birds,"
inspired by Jesus' words
in Matthew 6:26.
Please call, write, or make your gift online today.
♪
RANDY: For over three decades
now, our outreaches
have been attributed
with saving the lives
of 18 million children!
Which is beautiful, Tammy.
It is wonderful!
It is encouraging.
But here's my question.
Will you save the next one?
Who is going to do that?
We need people to step up
right now and say yeah,
I want to save that one
and that one and that one.
We can do it.
TAMMY: Absolutely!
We can do it.
We have done it
and there is so much more work
to be done.
Please, if you'd consider
partnering with us today
it will make
a massive huge impact.
Go online, make that call
today and make the best gift
you possibly can.
It means so much to us.
But more than us, it means
so much to these families
and these children.
I know that together
we can make a huge impact
and change the lives
of these children forever.
Thank you so much
and we'll see you next time
on Life Today.
♪
LIFE Today is made possible by the supporters of LIFE Outreach International.
Your gift will be used exclusively for the exempt purposes of LIFE.
The ministry features specific outreaches
as examples of the programs it supports and conducts.
Gifts are considered to be without restriction
as to use unless explicitly stipulated by the donor.
The ministry is a member of the ECFA.