The Book of Maudiel

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The Book of

Maudiel

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The story of a little boy who needs a new home

Click the image above to view a short video about Maudiel

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“MY NAME IS MAUDIEL. I am four years and a half.”

Maudiel lives in this shack in Nicaragua. Strung together with sticks, dried palm fronds and plastic, the house would collapse with a well-placed kick. The primitive shack is all his family can afford. Maudiel’s father works hard picking crops, but often there is no work. He struggles to feed his family.

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Maudiel’s family made this simple cross to celebrate the Day of the Cross, a Christian holiday in Nicaragua. Many poor families make a cross and put it in the ground outside their homes to express their faith.

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Because Maudiel and his family live on the side of a mountain, water pours through the house like a river when it rains. The flimsy roof leaks, dripping on Maudiel and his siblings, who always get sick from the cold and the damp. Maudiel is scared to sleep in this house at night.

“I am scared. Because it’s going to fall on me. I don’t sleep. I get wet… feel cold.”

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MAUDIEL’S MOM, Maria, worries about her children’s

safety and health. Their little house has no door that locks and no bathroom. The children are always getting sick because of the unsanitary living conditions. Maudiel’s little brother, Norway, 2, has an infection, but the local clinic is two miles away. Sometimes Maudiel’s father will walk to the clinic carrying his children on his back because they are too weak to walk.

Maria dreams of a better house for Maudiel and his brother and sister.

“I would like a safe house with a door that would have a lock and that is stable,” Maria said. “I would feel extremely thankful and happy if I could get something like that. This would be important for the family. My children would no longer get wet and sick.”

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Maudiel especially gets sick a lot. He’s had pneumonia, and when he gets feverish, he goes into convulsions.

“I love my dad. I love my mom. And my hermanitos (siblings),” Maudiel said.

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THE HOUSE is very deteriorated, so Maudiel’s dad,

Nicholas, tries to plug up the holes when it rains at night. Maudiel’s dad worries the house will crumble down and injure the family, especially because the wind on the mountain can be very strong.

Maudiel’s dad tries hard not to dwell on the misery of being poor and is grateful to God for every blessing. He and the family pray at night and he teaches his children to pray to the Lord and to trust in Him. 6

“The more you do things together, the stronger you are as a family,” Maudiel’s dad said.

“There is a greater chance that your children will accept God and believe in and cherish God. Prayer gives a greater degree of unity in the family.”

Maudiel likes to pray with his father. Together they pray, “Thank you Lord, for life, for health, for your effort… Thank you Lord, for giving me my life.

The daily bread, even if it is not much. But it is the same bread that you give us.”

Maudiel and his family pray every night. Maudiel’s dad asks God to bless everything he does and he likes to say prayers of gratitude. He says it is important to be thankful to God.

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MAUDIEL’S FAMILY lives from day to day. His dad does

not have the money to fix the house, so he has patched some holes with dried palm leaves to keep out the rain. He worries all the time about his children getting sick, especially Maudiel, who is frail. When there is a bad storm, Maudiel and his siblings cry and get scared.

Maudiel’s dad finds joy with his family despite the struggles of being poor. He prays to God for assistance and strength and for a better life.

“I ask that God could free me from everything in poverty and that I could get a house that is worthy of my family,”

x Maudiel’s dad says.

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LITTLE MAUDIEL is in desperate need of a new, solid

house. He needs a house where he can sleep peacefully through the night without getting scared of the wind rattling the roof or the rain turning the floor into mud. He needs a house that will protect him from becoming sick with fever, resulting in violent convulsions. He needs a house that will keep him safe.

Maudiel needs your love and your compassion. He needs you to care.

You can help provide a new house for Maudiel and his family through your gift to Food For The Poor for housing.

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Last year, you turned this family’s

sadness…

Thanks to your generous compassion, they have a new house! So many other families like Maudiel’s pray and wait for solid, secure homes. Won’t you please help today through your gift for housing?

…into great joy.

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Special Matching Offer

A few generous friends of Food For The Poor have offered to match any gift for housing we receive.

Your donation will be doubled! Through this special matching offer, your gift for housing will go twice as far to help families in great need!

A gift of $3,200 will become $6,400!

Give online at www.FoodForThePoor.org/myhome 11

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Maudiel and his brother and sister are afraid to sleep in the house.

Won't you please help them get the safe home they deserve?

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

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