Fighting food insecurity

The world is hungrier than ever.

The reason for this, according to the World Food Programme, is a deadly combination of factors.

Global conflict, the climate crisis, high inflation and fertilizer prices, along with the COVID-19 pandemic have all played a part in ensuring that, in 2023, as many as 738 million people are uncertain where their next meal is coming from. And people in poverty are often the ones who suffer the most during these times.

Support for Unbound’s families living in poverty has never been more important than it is now. Sponsoring a child or elder through Unbound can give families the opportunity to purchase more nutritional foods or might mean the difference between one, two or three meals each day. Donations to Unbound’s Critical Needs Fund often support the hardest hit families with capital to boost their struggling businesses, which sustains their livelihoods and allows them to continue providing their much-needed services to their local communities.

In Unbound’s Kampala program in Uganda, sponsorship is helping many families move beyond food insecurity. Part of the Horn of Africa, Uganda is just one country in that region suffering from unrelenting drought.

Kampala Program Coordinator Teddy Naluwu said her staff has developed a process for teaching sponsored families more sustainable agricultural practices, which not only helps them grow their own food but also provides them with sufficient income.

“The longer that families stay in the sponsorship program, the more success they have at moving beyond poverty,” said Naluwu, who has worked with Unbound Uganda for almost 20 years and was once a sponsored child herself.

According to Naluwu, 60% of families joining the Unbound Kampala program are food insecure at the time of enrollment. Within four years of sponsorship, an estimated 40% are no longer food insecure, thanks not only to the livelihood trainings but also teaching families how to diversify their local food sources.

Much like those in the Kampala program, impoverished families all around the world are finding ways to help themselves and their communities realize food security with the support of Unbound. Here are just five Unbound families who are building their own livelihoods by growing or making food.

The farming family who gives back to their community — Rwanda

Husband and wife duo Jean Claude and Liberathe had dreams of their own when they were growing up in Rwanda.

Jean Claude wanted to be a successful farmer and Liberathe wanted to be a businesswoman. But having been born into poverty with little opportunity for education beyond primary school, both struggled with unemployment and providing for the basic needs of their three children.

All that changed when their youngest daughter, Nicole, became sponsored through Unbound in 2021.

Jean Claude and Liberathe quickly became involved in Unbound’s family support groups and learned savings and investing techniques. Gradually, they invested part of their daughter’s sponsorship funds into their farm, purchasing additional livestock including cows, chickens and rabbits, and renting more land to expand their crops of sweet potatoes, maize and beans. Eventually, they opened a new business in their community, making and selling sorghum juice.

Jean Claude and Liberathe have now realized their childhood dreams, and the results of their efforts have changed their lives. They’ve been able to afford health insurance for the entire family, daily balanced meals, electricity for their home and schooling for their children, among other things.

But the family wasn’t satisfied with improving just their own living situation. Through volunteering and chairing various other groups throughout their community, Jean Claude and Liberathe are sharing what they’ve learned with others.

“There are times when you realize that people in your community are poor in something that you are rich in and so, for us, we choose to help in raising their lives as well,” Liberathe said about giving back.

The teen baker who plans to be a doctor — Guatemala

When 16-year-old Deysi was a child, something her father told her stuck with her: He said, “Everything in life must be learned.”

Sponsored through Unbound since the age of 4, Deysi has diversified her skillset to help her family maximize their income but is also intent on improving herself. In the mornings she works with her parents, while the afternoons and evenings are dedicated to school and homework. Deysi’s mother earns some income by cooking meals for farmhands, while Deysi’s father works as a bus driver.

Deysi tends to the grazing of the family’s goats and cows on the weekends, butchers pigs, and taught herself to drive a motorcycle and a bus. During the pandemic, Deysi and her mother, Juana, taught themselves how to make xeca bread, which is a traditional Guatemalan bittersweet bread. The family received support from the Critical Needs Fund to boost their bakery business, which is the family’s greatest source of income.

Deysi uses some of her sponsorship funds to invest in the bakery, buying flour, sugar, butter and gas for her motorcycle, which she uses to make house-to-house bread deliveries in her neighborhood. She also bakes pizzas, donuts and cakes in her spare time.

Deysi’s greatest motivation is the support she receives from her Unbound sponsor, and she is tirelessly working toward one goal — to reach the university where she can study to be a doctor.

The single mother whose grocery store keeps her motivated — Kenya

Susan is no stranger to life’s hurdles.

A single mother of three in Nairobi, Susan lost her grocery store business during the pandemic. She bounced around accepting odd jobs for income to feed her children — doing laundry, laboring on farms and working in construction — until she learned of Unbound’s Small Business Accelerator at one of her parent support group meetings.

With the funds she received (totaling $150 USD), Susan reopened a grocery stall in her community and purchased a cooking stove. She provides fresh fruits, greens and cereals to her community and is saving to open a second shop dedicated solely to selling cereal.

Income from her businesses, combined with funds from her daughter Margaret’s sponsorship, has allowed Susan to afford an education for her children and to support her mother’s medical treatments after she was diagnosed with cancer. Susan’s business is even providing employment to others in her community.

Susan describes Unbound as like a best friend in her life. “I can’t explain what they have helped me through,” she said. “There are times that I just sit and pray for our sponsors … God bless them.”

The elder who loves rice cakes and camaraderie — The Philippines

At the foot of the Sierra Madre mountains in the rural Philippines, sponsored elder Adelaida lives in a home that was once abandoned and awarded to her by the local government.

Adelaida supported her husband’s work as a rice farmer and laborer, making a glutinous rice dish called “suman.” Her husband passed in 1986 of complications from an ulcer due to the family not being able to afford health care. Nowadays at 85 years old and the grandmother of more than 20 grandchildren, Adelaida only makes suman for her neighbors when they order in bulk.

She receives her sponsorship benefit as grocery items every month, which includes the rice she uses for her suman.

“Unbound for me is a big help,” Adelaida said. “They support my foods every day. … It is the best support that I’ve ever had in my life. They never fail to help us, and I am so thankful for my sponsor for choosing me as their sponsored friend.”

Since her sponsorship through Unbound five years ago, Adelaida has found community among other sponsored elders, participating in special holiday events and Bible studies. The inclusion has made her feel “alive and comfortable,” and sponsorship for Adelaida means she never feels alone.

The scholarship alum practicing drip irrigation — Kenya

Faith was a child when she used to watch her older sisters be sent home from school in Nairobi because the family was unable to pay their tuition. When she became sponsored through Unbound, she understood that her education was now secured, and that was all the motivation she needed to study hard.

Fourteen years later, Faith, who was also an Unbound scholarship recipient, earned a degree in environmental science with a focus in resource conservation and retired from the sponsorship program.

Faith grew up in a farming family in a semi-arid county where the annual rainfall is not sufficient to support large-scale farming. However, while in college, Faith learned about drip irrigation practices and has passed along this knowledge to her family. They grow maize, beans, peas, pumpkins, kale, spinach, African nightshade, mangoes and other vegetables for both the family’s consumption and to sell at market.

Another conservation method that Faith practices on her family’s farm is planting trees, which provides shade and improves crop yields while preserving the topsoil for future harvests. Faith’s overall goal is to open a seedling nursery and a restaurant that offers nutritious meals in her community, in partnership with her younger brother who is also sponsored through Unbound and studying food and beverage production.

Faith said sponsors should know the huge part they are playing in the lives of their sponsored friends living in poverty.

“[They] need strength to be able to do that [help others],” Faith said. “May God continue giving them strength and that heart to continue helping other children out there because when I see myself, it’s because of that sponsor who took me when I was still young and, right now, I can testify and say, ‘He played a big role in my achievements in life.’”

Help families in poverty fight food insecurity

Food security, according to the UN's Committee on World Food Security, means that all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life. Yet people in poverty are often faced with having to make difficult decisions when it comes to how and when they'll be able to feed their families a meal.

Among many other benefits, support from Unbound works to help families in poverty realize food security. Join us in these efforts; sponsor a child or elder today, or make a donation to Unbound.

Henry Flores, Nickson Ateku, Oscar Tuch, Teejay Cabrera and Danika Wolf contributed photos, videos and information for this story.