Partners In Progress Feeding Hundreds of Malnourished Children
March 29, 2006, Cambodia

In an effort to help some of the 7 million malnourished children in Cambodia, we have begun a nutritional feeding program that will provide highly nutritional meals twice a week for children 2 to 12 years, (and all the others that show up, which are many).

The Ministry of Health reports that 47% of the children under the age of 12 years are malnourished and the findings of our physicians put that figure as high as 63% in the areas where studies have been conducted. That means more then 7 million children nation-wide are malnourished. Malnourishment robs children of mental and physical development and robs a nation of its potential to develop with every generation that is malnourished. Young minds do not develop to their full potential and young bodies are never allowed to gain strength to fight disease and have energy to work and study.

Although we had hoped to receive a grant to fund this project, we decided we could not sit idly by and continue to wait while so many children around us were suffering. With the generosity of a Christian family who bought the truck and some limited start up funds, we launched out in faith that others will step forward to help us keep the program going. A study of more than 400 children in eight different communities identified the seriousness of the nutrition problem. We are now feeding from 100 to 175 kids in four of those villages. Plans are to increase this to all eight villages (2000+ children) and beyond as funding can be found.

We are asking our friends to help us feed as many children as possible. Pray that we can find the funds. $0.85 per week, $3.40 per month, $40.80 a year provides nutritional supplementation for a child that will otherwise never have the opportunity to develop mentally or physically. Partner with us and feed Ten children a month for only $34.00, Twenty children for $68, Fifty children for $170 or One hundred for $340.

William E. "Bill" McDonough, Director
Partners In Progress
Phnom Penh, Cambodia