“We’re here to help them break the cycle of poverty, while allowing them to shape their own future and destiny.”

Elizabeth Mabie
Spur Ottawa Correspondent

When faced with a hungry crowd, Jesus told his disciples, “You feed them.” Inspired by that message, a group of Ottawa-area Christians founded a ministry named for that phrase, with a goal of offering sustainable development to impoverished African communities.

You Feed Them’s vice president, Bob Elliott, says they believe in “taking what little you have, giving it away, and seeing what God can do with it.”

You Feed Them began 10 years ago in an Osgood church. In 2008, a team of passionate Christians travelled to Yogo, a poor village in Kenya, and helped the locals transform their community into a sustainable society.

“Sustainability—nobody can really identify what that is. It’s different things at different times. To better understand that we renamed it a healthy community, a healthy project, and a healthy family,” explains Roland Poirier, President of You Feed Them.

Christian development agencies focus on three pillars to help a struggling community thrive: feeding the body, mind, and spirit. You Feed Them does this by helping villages rejuvenate their crops, educating both young and old to prepare all for the future, and—most importantly—providing the village with the opportunity to connect with a church or pastor.

You Feed Them team members look over a plowed field in Yogo, Kenya. Photo courtesy of You Feed Them.

“It seems like no matter what challenges we are facing, if you bring those three things together, we’ve got a pretty good chance of winning those challenges,” says Poirier.

“It’s not like North America coming in and imposing their ideas. We’re equipping them to make their own decisions towards their own health and sustainability,” says Steve Densham, You Feed Them’s executive director. “We’re not here to tell people how to live their lives, we’re here to help them break the cycle of poverty, while allowing them to shape their own future and destiny.”

Since helping Yogo, You Feed Them has taken on more projects using the same format. The goal is to turn each project into a community-based organization, which takes over the leadership. You Feed Them is currently assisting two other villages, one in Tanzania and the village of Seje, in Kenya.

What You Feed Them wants, now, is to either form more partnerships with churches and organizations in Ottawa or to act as mentors to those who are looking to perform similar work in struggling communities. From its inception out of one church, You Feed Them has grown into an ecumenical ministry. Their main caveat for partners is that they understand the ultimate goal: to prepare the communities to lead and own the projects, themselves. You Feed Them members simply act as facilitators and educators.

“People no longer have to beg for food.”

Poirier has farming experience and has been using his knowledge of agriculture and nutrition to teach the villagers how to grow their own food. Through their desire to help the communities provide for themselves, You Feed Them launched Future Farmers of Kenya and Future Farmers of Tanzania, which offer villagers hands-on vocational training, like how to more successfully grow crops and raise animals. They also help fund start-up businesses.

Elliott explains that the Future Farmers programs “create a network of hope, stability, and community so that these people no longer have to beg for food. Now they’ll be able to barter for food and trade for other products they need.”

Many churches want to help struggling communities in the developing world, but don’t know where to start. You Feed Them wants to help these churches through the connections they have in the villages and the experience they have in fostering healthy growth within communities.

“Sometimes you try to qualify yourself. ‘I’m not a missionary or a farmer, so what can I do?’” says Poirier. “The answer is simple: You are called to the Great Commission and the Greatest Commandment. It’s pretty clear what we’re asked to do.”

You Feed Them is organizing a “Pioneer Family Fun Day” in September to raise awareness about their projects.