From The Field

The Floating City of Iquitos

October 4, 2012 by Abby Theobald
"world hunger" poverty Iquitos Peru canoe "floating village"

A nonprofit called Fire Peru came to Feed My Starving Children early in 2011 through a connection with another long-term partner, Samaritans International. Fire Peru received their first direct donation of food last fall, to use in church feeding programs overseen by missionaries Ron and Michelle Smith in Lima, Peru. The food acts as tangible compassion for this primarily evangelistic organization. I received the following email from Ron recently about the impact FMSC food is having in Peru:

Abby,

These are pictures from Iquitos, Peru. Iquitos is a city in the jungle with no access by roads, only boat or airplane. The church is built to float when the river rises during rainy season. It will rise 15 feet when the river is full.

As you can see by the pictures, the only way children can get to the church is by canoe. The little boy paddling his sister to the feeding program is only 10 years old.

This district (called Belen) is the poorest in the city of Iquitos. We have begun work with another ministry there recently feeding drug addicts and street children.

I hope these photos bless your volunteers and encourage your staff to keep pressing forward in the vision of FMSC.

Blessings,
Ron

FMSC "Feed My Starving Children" "food aid" sustainability Volunteer feed hunger hungry Christian Organization Nonprofit awareness "World Hunger" MannaPack poverty "Fire Peru" Iquitos
FMSC "Feed My Starving Children" "food aid" sustainability Volunteer feed hunger hungry Christian Organization Nonprofit awareness "World Hunger" MannaPack poverty "Fire Peru" Iquitos "feeding program"

Abby Theobald works with FMSC’s distribution partners worldwide as a Food Aid Coordinator. For more stories from around the world, check out FMSC’s YouTube page, Flickr photos, and “From the Field” blog category.