Greetings from California! I'm writing to you today to inform you of the serious food shortage problem in Western Mali, where Sue and I lived for 13 years, and continue to work with the Soninke Bible translation team. Also, to provide you with an opportunity to have a direct hand in helping families to make it until the next harvest season.
The rainy season this year is the worst any living person in the region can remember: besides 2 average storms, there was no rainfall at all. In many villages there are no crops to harvest. Many families did not even plant. Typically, a family can harvest enough crops to see them through until the following harvest season, but not much beyond. This year, with no harvest, families are already coming to the bottom of their grain stocks - indeed some families have already run out of grain. Here's a link to see some pictures taken on November 8th, 2011, of the area around Kayes, Mali.
Thankfully, in our village of Xusaane many families have migrant workers who can send money back to them in order to stave off famine. However, about one-third of the families do not have anyone 'outside' who can help them. This is the group we're concerned about.
Concerned people of faith and the village association named Soobe Fedde have put together a committee of 7 men who have identified these most needy families, and calculated what each family will need to see them through to the harvest of 2012-13, based on the number of people in their family and how much grain they currently have. In addition, they are formulating a plan for the bulk purchase, transportation and distribution of grain. These plans are contingent on the amount of food aid that can be raised. The total cost for this project is estimated at $60,000 depending on at what price we can purchase grain. (The price is climbing as the need increases.) Please read the project proposal put together by this committee.
Our home church, Baptist Community Church of Loyalton, has agreed to receive funds for this project and forward them on to Soobe Fedde. Any funds sent to the church with a note Mali food aid, will be credited to this effort and a tax-deductable receipt issued. The church has agreed to manage these funds at no cost, so each dollar donated will result in a dollar's worth of food aid to the needy of Xusaane.
If you would like to help the people of Xusaane in this way, please make out a check to Baptist Community Church of Loyalton, and add a note: "Mali Food Aid". Send aid to:
You can also donate directly using PayPal:
If you would like further details, please don't hesitate to call me, Brad Smeltzer, at (530) 993-4452.
Please pray for this effort, that we would truly be the hands and feet of Jesus to the needy of Xusaane, and that God would get all the glory!
Because of Him,
Brad and Sue