Former CMF missionaries Mr. and Mrs. A. recently returned to a large, war-scarred city in Central Asia to check in with some projects they worked on during their years there, including a school for street-working children and a home visitation program to the families of the school children. Mrs. A. spent much of her time on this trip visiting families to deliver food packages with her friend Jamila, a national woman who works for the Christian organization that sponsors the school, the food donations and the women’s sewing classes.

Jamila and Mrs. A. visited 10 families and distributed flour, rice, beans, oil, tea and sugar. Each food packet lasts a month for most families, and costs about $50 per family. If you’d like to help feed families like these this winter, go here.

Here are some stories shared by Mrs. A. about their home visits.

• Many of the families have similar stories: their rent for one room ranges from $20 to $45 per month, and their income varies from zero to $10 per week. Almost all the families have medical issues and are months behind in their rent. They have no way to heat their homes this winter.
• One family we visited was mourning the loss of the father, who was killed by enemy insurgents recently while working in another region. This mother is left alone now to take care of her four children. She has gone through the sewing machine training. She is working on a carpet in her home and has completed one foot in two months. It will take about a year to complete is and she will be paid about $104. She is very concerned that she has no way to heat her room this winter. In her last conversation with her husband he promised her a stove and firewood when he came home.
• Another family is also headed by a widow. She has four sons, three of whom have graduated from our school. Her oldest is 14 and works in a small shop making $1 a day. She cleans houses and makes $8 a week. They pay $20 a month for one room. She wanted us to know how happy she is about our school. She can’t send her sons to a government school because she can’t pay for the supplies or uniforms.
• Another family came to the city because the mother needed kidney surgery. The father left his teaching job of 12 years to come, but has been unable to find work here. They have five children; one son attends our school. They are three months behind in their rent of $45 a month. He was also injured when hit by a car.
• In several of our home visits this week children and mothers verbalized physical abuse by the fathers. They often say “he has mental problems,” but when we ask questions, we hear that the fathers beat and fight with them. One family had to rent two rooms because the father could not be with the family.
• One family I visited had six girls and one boy. The boy attends our school, but the father will not give permission for his daughters to be educated. One 18-year-old daughter verbalized her sadness that she can’t go to school. She did have a job cleaning a neighbor’s house, but lost it.