My Story

Eri is in good health. He attends the third grade at high school in Rodokal. At the end of this school year he graduates. He needs to walk from Homezh and it takes him an hour to reach to school. He likes to study and spends most of the time during the afternoon reading his school books. During the day he is also helping his family by feeding the cow. The season of winter is already present in Homezh and the first snow has arrived. The roads of the village get blocked by the snow and the people don’t have easy access of the town for weeks. He is at school from morning till midday and after finishing school he comes at our feeding programme centre with his class friends.

Eri attends twice a week the feeding program at our centre in Homezh. On Mondays he enjoys the warm meal containing pasta and sausages and on Thursdays fried chickens and rice. Usually during the meals the children also take a fruit. After the meal Eri attends the discipleship classes and there he receives the Bible lesson of the day from our teachers. After the lessons, Eri and the other teenagers play different games or become part of different activities at the feeding centre under the care of our teachers. Once a year, Eri has the possibility to be seen by our dentist and get a free dental care.

There are six persons who live in Eri’s family. Their old home contains three rooms. Eri’s uncle, his wife and their son live in this home too. The father has planted wheat during the previous year. They grind it to flour and the mother is able to make the bread at home. They also have a vegetable garden in which they work from spring till autumn and profit fresh vegetables for consumption. They plant peppers, tomatoes, spinach, beans, etc. They keep a cow and benefit milk, butter and other products for consumption. Once a year they might sell its calf and profit a bit more of income. The income received by working in the land or carrying for the cow is way too low therefore the father is challenged to emigrate and work for three months each year in Greece. He is hired there as shepherd and what he earns is better off considered to what he gets working in the village.  He is yet not fully able to provide the basic living needs and the well being of the family remains in poverty. The government is also giving to them a social assistance which is useful to cover the bills for electricity or help just a bit to cover their immediate needs. The team visited the family to receive this update as well as to present the gospel but the parents were not at home during this time.