There is a kind of hunger that screams at you from the pit of your stomach when you haven’t eaten for days. We say it all the time, “I’m hungry,” but few of us really know hunger. We don’t know the hopelessness of having no clue when or where your next meal will come from.

The hunger season has just begun in Malawi, it will end in April. It’s been five years since the last real emergency, already this year looks like it will be exceptionally bad. It’s not just Malawi. Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Mozambique are all impacted. A combination of floods and droughts have each taken a toll, and now the African Army Worm is reaping havoc on crops too. Studies agree that 9 million people are in need of immediate assistance, even facing risk of death from starvation.

It breaks our hearts. We can’t help everyone, but Y-Malawi can make a difference in Nkhotakota. Our work is changing things for the better, still we have identified 1,200 households that are at risk, about 6,000 souls. I know we have just finished Christmas, I know tax time is around the corner, but lives are at stake. So, I am asking for help again. Together, each of us doing just a little, we can help 6,000 people get through this.

If you help, I’ll share with you about progress being made the first of each month until April. Please don’t wait, these families need our help now. May God bless you for considering those who through no fault of their own, are vulnerable. It’s up to us to give them hope.

Larry Hall, Executive Director