RCMI now feeds children lunch every Monday through Friday in the community of Arapai. When lunchtime comes, a swarm of hungry children can be seen surrounding the outdoor kitchen, eager to receive their plate of food. Some of the children come from the neighboring school while others cross roads from their homes, many of them with a younger brother or sister tied on their back. They all have in hand a plate or a small bucket or container for their food. When it is their turn in front of the kitchen, they hand over their plate or container, and it gets loaded up with a heaping plate of beans and posho and leave with smiles on their faces and food in their stomachs.
What is exciting for RCMI is that the Feeding Program is predominantly funded by the sale of farm out put . Through their hard work, these women are not only able to earn a fair wage, but also to raise extra funds to continue feeding their community.
Some days it still seems that hope is hard to find in Dakabela. Other days we see that hope abounds in the faces of children singing about Jesus and carrying their heaping plates of food home to their families.
Ultimately we know though, Hope is a person. His name is Jesus. We have seen Him working in Masese. The dirt does not repel Him, the disease does not scare Him, and the extreme brokenness does not intimidate Him. In fact, these things cause Him to draw near.