A ration pack is a month of not being frightened. But we do not simply hand over a bag and drive away — after the preaching, after the film, after the programme, we cook. Rice and a proper hot meal, served on the spot, for everyone who came.
The pack itself is unglamorous and it is the thing families ask for most: flour, rice, cooking oil, lentils, sugar, tea. Enough that a household of six is not calculating portions for a month. Widows and households with no earner are at the top of every list.
But the part people remember is the meal. After every gathering — a preaching meeting, a film screening, a Christmas programme — we cook. Great pots of rice and curry over open fire, and everybody who came sits down together on the mats and eats a hot meal.
It matters more than it sounds. For many of the children there it is the best food they will eat that month, and for the adults it is the first time in a long while that somebody fed them without wanting anything back. The preaching is the reason we came. The meal is what makes it a welcome.
Flour, rice, cooking oil, lentils, sugar, tea and salt — enough staple food for a household of six for roughly thirty days.
A standing monthly list of the most vulnerable households in our communities, visited and prayed with as well as fed.
When floods come, when a kiln closes, or when a family suddenly loses their home, we move within days with food, water and blankets.
Every Jesus Film night and every village crusade ends with a hot meal cooked and served on the spot.
Every gathering ends the same way. After the preaching, after the film, after the Christmas programme — we cook. Great pots of rice and curry over an open fire, and everyone who came sits down on the mats together and eats a hot meal.
It is not an afterthought and it is not a small expense. For a lot of the children in that courtyard it is the best food they will eat that month. For the adults it is the first time in a long while that somebody has fed them without wanting something in return.
The preaching is the reason we came. The meal is what makes it a welcome.
“Give, and it will be given to you — pressed down, shaken together, running over.”Luke 6:38
“Do not merely look out for your own interests, but also for the interests of others.”Philippians 2:4
“The harvest is plentiful, but the labourers are few.”Matthew 9:37
Every picture here was taken by our own team in the village itself, on the day the food was handed over, household by household.
See the full gallery
“After my husband died I stopped opening the door because I had nothing to offer a guest. Every month a ration bag arrives and someone prays with me. I am not forgotten. That is worth more than the flour.”SalmaWidow, Faisalabad
“For I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink.”
Matthew 25:35
And a little more puts rice and a hot meal in front of everyone who came to the gathering — which is often the best food a child there will eat all month.
Pick an amount — it opens PayPal straight away. No account needed.
All ways to give
