I
ngrid placed a cool cloth on her young son’s forehead. “Sweet boy,” she cooed. “I hope this brings your fever down.” She bent over to kiss him. He looked at her with such pitiful eyes that her heart wept for him.
Just then, the door opened, and her husband stormed into the house. “Fix me something to eat,” he demanded. “I’m hungry.”
“Edwin has a fever,” she tried to explain. “I’ve been so busy that I haven’t had time to cook, but there is rice in the pot and . . .”
He turned and glared at her, angry eyes flashing. “You are first my wife, then a mother!”
Ingrid guessed his intentions and quickly stepped away from the bed before her husband’s fist contacted her head. Two blows later, she lay on the floor, afraid to move. He picked her up by the shoulders and jerked her around to face the kitchen. “I’m hungry!” he repeated.
Ingrid’s husband ate silently and then left. By then, Ingrid had made a decision. She couldn’t reason with her husband about his abuse because it only enraged him more. Maybe his own family could speak with him. She called his grandmother and appealed for help.
“I want nothing to do with that situation,” the grandmother replied.
Fortunately, Ingrid’s brother stepped in to help.
“Sis,” he told her, “I don’t have much, but you are welcome to live with me.”
With her brother’s help, Ingrid moved in with him. He made sure there was food in the house and sometimes watched her son so she could attend classes to become an accountant. The little family was able to live in comfortable peace until COVID-19 hit Honduras with a vengeance. Thousands died, including her brother.
Once again, Ingrid was in dire circumstances. Even though she had a job, she didn’t earn enough to support herself, her young son, and now, her mother. The family lived in an area of Honduras that frequently suffered ruined crops from erratic weather. This led to chronic malnutrition.
Ingrid struggled in abject poverty until the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), with a funding partner, began the Transfer Project in her neighborhood. This project changed her life. The agencies’ goal was to establish self-sufficiency and generate opportunities for trade. Through the project, Ingrid received health and nutrition programs and a cash voucher to meet her immediate needs.
ADRA gave Ingrid drought-tolerant seeds, such as sorghum, and taught her how to increase the yield of her crops, including preserving water for the garden and saving seeds for the next crop. The family can now grow most of their food, which allows them to spend the grocery money on other bills.
“We have learned that we can support our family with tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet chilies, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes,” she says. “And if we go out to sell them, it is an extra benefit. . . . I also bake goods from the sorghum and sell them at the market.
“Thanks to ADRA’s project, my life has changed for the better. My mom’s and my son’s [lives] also [changed] because ADRA supported us when we needed it most.”
Ingrid’s story is one example of how ADRA continues to help communities around the world with sustainable farming and support areas affected by climate change.
ADRA is a global humanitarian agency with more than 5,000 employees and 7,000 volunteers serving in over 120 countries. Besides supporting communities in long-term humanitarian crises and conflicts, ADRA responds to an average of two disasters per week. Although their country offices are spread across different continents and thousands of miles apart, ADRA works as a unified body to provide innovative solutions to a world in need. To learn more about ADRA, visit ADRA.org.
Thank you for supporting ADRA through your weekly mission offerings and, in North America, by giving to World Budget. To give, visit adventistmission.org/donate.
Travel around the world with ADRA at m360.tv/adra.