An Angel Needs You

I “ ask Him to give me health and strength and healing.” — Angela

In a remote area of northern Nicaragua, lives a little girl named Angela.

She rarely smiles and is watching her childhood slowly drift away. Frail, weak and full of sadness, Angela spends most of her days expressionless, seated on a wobbly chair or lying on a few thin planks of wood she calls her bed. Although she is 15, she looks more like a 9-year-old, weighing less than 50 pounds.

Angela is suffering from severe malnutrition.

“T hey were hungry and thirsty; their life was ebbing away.”

(Psalm 107:5)

But it wasn’t always this way. Angela was once a happy youngster who loved to cook with her mother and go to school. As they cooked, Angela remembered her mother always saying, “...Make sure that your brother and sister get fed.”

Sadly, Angela’s mother was suffering from uterine cancer, but because the family didn’t have money or access to medical care, it went undetected. As her mother’s condition deteriorated, Angela, being the oldest, became her caregiver. She lovingly fed, bathed and tended to her mother.

She did what she could to make her mom comfortable, but the dreadful disease took its toll. When Angela was just 9, her mother suffered a massive hemorrhage. Frantic, this precious girl tried to help her dying mother, but it was too late.

Tragically, she lost her mother at age 9.

Angela was devastated by the loss of her mother. Softly, she recalled her mom. “Her hair was dark.

She smiled a lot. She was happy.”

“She was pretty because she was my mother.”

After her mother’s death, Angela became a caregiver to her younger brother, Roberto, 12, and 10-year-old sister, Frania. She also took on the responsibilities of cooking for her family.

Wanting to honor her mother’s request, Angela took to heart what her mother had asked. She made sure the rest of her family was fed, even if it meant she went without, or had very little to eat.

“When I cooked, I gave my brother and sister food first... then I would eat what was left,” Angela said. Sadly, that wasn’t much.

Angela selflessly gave, while she withered away.

“Honor your father and mother.”

(Ephesians 6:2a)

Angela’s dad, Carmelo, is a farmer who works other people’s land. But over the years, because of bad harvests and not earning enough money, he couldn’t provide enough food for his family. Some days, eating “what was left” meant only a spoonful of beans.

As a result, severe malnourishment has taken its toll on this fragile girl. Angela used to be able to go to school regularly. School is just a 10-minute walk from Angela’s home, but for Angela’s deteriorating body, it is just too much.

She wants to go to school, but is far too sick.

Today, too frail to move around on her own, her loving father puts his arm around her for support.

He helps her stand upright and guides her every step.

Angela’s dad worries about his eldest daughter.

He worries about her health. He knows her condition is desperate. “I pray to God for a miracle for Angela,” Carmelo said.

I “ felt pain in my knee joints, I knew I couldn’t walk anymore.”

Carmelo continues to try to provide food for his hungry children, but has not been working regularly, so he watches over Angela. He tries to get Angela the food she needs to heal, but without money, he has little to give her. “What possible nutrition can I give her?” he said.

Little angels desperately need your help.

With little food, Roberto and Frania are also starting to show the signs of their waning older sister’s condition.

Carmelo is a desperate father praying for help for his children. “I have faith in God. All we need is a little nutrition. So I pray to God. I know He’s going to make it happen. All she needs is a little nutrition. I pray for her all the time. I want God to keep her alive,” he said.

An angel urgently needs help.

An angel desperately needs prayers. AN angel needs you.

Please pray for a miracle for Angela.

Your loving generosity can provide the food Angela needs to survive, and help assure that Roberto and Frania don’t become malnourished like their sister.

It is through people like you and God’s great love and power, that children like Angela can become healthy again. God is our loving Father who cares for the weak and the vulnerable.

Right now is a great time to give, because a generous donor has offered a matching food grant. This means any gift for food will be matched with a dollar’s worth of food to save even more precious children like Angela.

Please, give a gift today so malnourished children like Angela can receive the food they so desperately need. When children have the food they need to be healthy, they can attend school and help break the cycle of poverty.

Any gift for food will be matched with a dollar's worth of food!

“T he kindly man will be blessed, for he gives of his sustenance to the poor.”

(Proverbs 22:9)

A prayer for little ones

Please keep this prayer card asFather, a Dear Heavenly reminder of Angela Please bring health and her siblings. and healing to precious children like Angela They urgently needwho need loving the basics of life. prayers. your Please give Angela perately pThey eace,des health, safety miracle. the future. andneed hopea for Comfort her and give her Thank you. strength. Lord, bless and protect these little ones in need. Thank you for all your many blessings.

Amen.

“You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples.”

(Psalm 77:14,

)

niv

www.FoodForThePoor.org/angela Please click here, or visit the above website to view a short video about Angela.

“Hear my prayer, Lord; listen to my cry for mercy.”

(Psalm 86:6,

)

niv

6401 Lyons Road, Coconut Creek, FL 33073 954-427-2222 • www.FoodForThePoor.org/hungry