“We mainly ate pumpkin leaves and maize, but it was lacking nutrition. My grandchild was underweight and malnourished,” says Rabson, a farmer in rural Zambia.
Rabson and his family ate what they could grow themselves, but this limited their diet to maize and pumpkin leaves. As a result, Rabson’s two-year-old grandchild Emmanuel* wasn’t receiving the nutrition he needed to grow.
“My grandchild was diagnosed with malnutrition at the local health centre. We were advised to feed Emmanuel beans and eggs, but we could not afford to buy them,” Rabson says.
“We struggled to provide food for our children,” says Adnas, Rabson's wife. “That kind of hunger, it affects your children. We used to go to sleep hungry, and the children would cry with hunger."
Through an ADRA project, Rabson received black eyed peas to grow – known locally as cowpeas. The cowpeas have significantly improved Emmanuel’s health and now Rabson's family eats three meals a day.
“Had it not been for the cowpeas we received from ADRA, my grandchild would have died by now.”
This August, you can fight hunger for children like Emmanuel by getting active and raising money!
*Name changed for child protection purposes
