How doing the 40 Hour Famine really makes a difference.

Guess what?

Thanks to the support raised by last year’s 40 Hour Famine participants, World Vision has been able to deliver 90 metric tonnes of food over the last 6 months to families in Cambodia. These families have been struggling to survive because the main money-earners are sick and can no longer earn money.

90 metric tonnes is HEAPS of food.

It’s roughly the equivalent weight of twenty elephants! And for struggling families, it is absolutely essential. 

World Vision distributes the food monthly, at 34 different sites. Families receive enough basic food to last the month, and extra soy milk, vitamin-enriched corn snacks and noodles are given to children who are particularly malnourished. This helps to get their weight back up to a healthy level.

Imagine knowing that your participation in the 40 Hour Famine could help to do that!

As well as the money raised from the Famine, we’re also able to distribute even more food with assistance from the World Food Programme, meaning we can help even more people.

Why food aid?

For vulnerable families in some areas of Cambodia, food aid is vital. Without a daily food supply, parents who are sick sometimes pull their children out of school to work, often in dangerous jobs. Some kids have to scavenge in rubbish dumps, trying to find things to sell so they can buy food for their families.

Keeping kids in school is super important. Once a child drops out, the chances of them going back are slim. You know why education is so important for you (your teachers have probably told you plenty of times!) and it’s the same for Cambodian kids. If they don’t go to school, it’s likely that they won’t be able to find a safe and secure job when they grow up. 

Home Based Carers

As well as providing food, World Vision has been training “Home Based Carers” in Cambodia who visit families impacted by illness, to make sure that they are getting support. World Vision also works with farmers who can no longer grow food, helping them find other ways to earn money, such as running shops. This means they won’t be reliant on food aid for too long.

And it’s working. Over the last 6 months, 498 households told World Vision they felt that they were now better able to source their own food, and won’t need our food aid anymore.

So basically…

When you gave up something important to you for 40 hours, you could be changing a family’s life forever. Pretty cool, hey?

Find out more about where funds raised through the 2010 40 Hour Famine will go here