John 6:9 is a known passage in which Jesus uses a boy to perform one of His biggest miracles, providing for the needs of a multitude. According to some authors, what Jesus multiplied was a boy’s lunch. Others believe that the bread and fish were what he had available for sale to support his family.

Bear in mind that in Jesus’ time, children were not appreciated by society. Children and women were of such little value that this story mentions only five thousand men, overlooking the women and children completely.

In spite of that, the boy became a resource that Jesus used to supernaturally solve a community problem and to help people recognize the awaited Messiah (v. 14). Similarly, what children and youth have today given to Jesus could also become a way to transform communities and for people to recognize the Savior they need.

Our Lord takes children and youth into consideration and wants to do through them something so big. Indeed, Jesus Christ started from a boy and used what He had to unfold His power to benefit many.

Scripture says that Andrew came up with the solution to the food problem: “Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.” This came as a response to Jesus’ question, “Where shall we buy bread for these people to eat?”

Andrew’s answer gives us a great challenge: to be sensitive to the call of Jesus, to discover each child’s potential — “what they have in their hands” — and to present them to Jesus, trusting that He will continue using them with great power, supernaturally, to meet the needs of today.

This passage allows us to come to the conclusion that children and youth “have something” that in Jesus’ hands could be of great impact and significance.

“Here is a boy with five small barley loaves and two small fish.” — John 6:9a

Prayer: God, please help us to be sensitive about the potential of each youth and child that you intend to be a great blessing in Jesus’ hands.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Carlos Escobar is the Country Director of our office in Colombia.

Read all the One in Spirit devotionals.

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Andis’ father walked out on his wife and son when Andis was in second grade. Andis prayed daily for his dad to return. When his father didn’t come home, Andis became angry and tried to forget him.

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Mwanza is located in the northwestern zone of Tanzania on the shore of Lake Victoria. It is the second largest city in Tanzania, with an estimated population close to 640,00 that is growing at a rate of 11.3 percent per year.

Mwanza is the most important port on Lake Victoria, and it is home to the terminal of a branch of the central railway line from Dar es Salaam. Its geographic location makes it an important transit point for business, people and travellers from Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and the outlying towns of Bukoba, Musoma and Shinyanga.

Mwanza City is characterised by gently undulating granites and granodiorite physiography with isolated hill masses and rocky inselbergs. It is also characterised by well-drained sandy loamy soil generated from course-grained cretaceous. The vegetation cover is typical savannah with scattered tall trees and tall grass.

Culture

Mwanza is known as Sukumaland because most of the population comes from the Sukuma tribe, which mainly covers the regions of Mwanza, Shinyanga and Tabora. Apart from speaking their native language, residents speak Swahili, which is the national language. Sukuma people are famous for traditional ngoma (drum music) and dancing.

Economic activities and employment

The majority of Mwanza people are self-employed. Most employed people work in the service sector, while those who are self-employed are involved in petty trade, tilling land, micro-fishing activities, etc.

The current employment figure in the city (employed and self-employed) stands at about 50 percent. The average per capita income is about $21 per month.

Fishing in Lake Victoria has a long, historic background. However, the introduction of Nile perch to the lake has changed both the social and economic nature of the sector. Today fishing is done mainly for commercial purposes, contrary to traditional fishing, which focused on household consumption.

Nile perch first appeared in Lake Victoria in the late 1950s. The fish is locally known as Mbuta or Sangara. It can grow to two meters in length and weigh up to 440 pounds.

The decline of cotton production, after the decline of the crop’s price on the world market and the death of cooperative societies in Mwanza in the early 1990s, changed the social economic development of the region. The emergence of the Nile perch trade has created new opportunities for development in the region.

A large quantity of sardines

Sardines are also fished in large quantity in Lake Victoria and are shipped all over Tanzania.

According to available statistics from fish processing plants in Mwanza and Musoma towns, the fish industry has created direct employment for over 8,000 locals and outsiders and indirectly employs about 300,000 others.

At the same time, an estimated 3 million people living around Lake Victoria in the Mwanza, Mara and Kagera regions also benefit from the Nile perch trade (popularly known as marine gold) in one way or another, causing the rapid growth of social and economic activities in the region.

There are also about 52,000 fishermen on the Tanzanian side of Lake Victoria who benefit directly from Nile perch.

Food Crisis Update

Mwanza has been impacted by the food price escalation, which has been caused by poor harvests in the past two years and the city’s population growth.

Mwanza is close to the Mara region, which neighbors Kenya. Whenever a food crisis occurs in Kenya, it is felt here because businesspeople take advantage of the shortage and export food across the border, thus creating further shortage in Mwanza and increasing prices.

The region also experienced low paddy harvests last year and this has complicated the situation. Most of the sponsored families struggle to make ends meet and to put food on the table.

Local Issues and Concerns

Mwanza is attracting a growing number of people who move to the area for business and work. However, this fast growth brings along an increased level of crime and the problem of street children.

The cost of living is also becoming expensive since the demand for services like housing, food distribution, education and health services keeps growing.

Another issue of concern for Mwanza has been the killing of old women and albinos as a superstitious practice. Mwanza and Shinyanga have been the areas where this practice continues. This practice has also been fueled by the people who associate the practice with gaining wealth in the gold mining business.

Home Life

Many families of sponsored children rent single or double rooms. The houses built on the hills are located in unsurveyed areas classified as squatter settlements, and most of them lack basic amenities like water and electricity.

Schools and Education

The government has made primary education compulsory for all school-age children. The system of education and the time a child spends in school is the same all over Tanzania. The only problem that has been experienced now is the lack of enough classrooms to accommodate children who qualify for secondary school education.

Church and Religion

The presence of the church is much felt in Mwanza, with the African Inland Church of Tanzania as the most prevalent denomination. There is also the presence of many other Christian denominations in Mwanza, like Lutheran, Anglican, Assemblies of God, Mennonite, and Roman Catholic.

Islamic religion is also evident in town, and the church and Islam coexist peacefully, although from time to time there are elements of tension between the two groups — especially when Christians organize public gospel rallies.

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“Hey, here is another one,” says Keila with enthusiasm while they search for more eggs and the chickens walk between their legs.

The center is in a fresh environment with lots of pine trees. The 140 chickens lay eggs to feed the 257 children at the Pentecostal Student Center.

One of the desired outcomes of our programs is the physical development of children, but the rise in food prices has worsened our church partners’ ability to help the children grow healthy.

In Honduras, 70 percent of families in the rural areas live in extreme poverty, and in the past year, the cost of basic grains has doubled. The price of fertilizer has gone up 71 percent.

This egg farm is one of the ways Compassion Honduras is responding to the global food crisis, which has created great difficulty in the holistic development of the children.

The chicken project started as a dream of this student center in November 2008, and the dream came true through our Complementary Interventions program (CIV).

Like any new activity, the center faced many difficulties — especially when moving 200 chickens. Some of the chickens died and others were stolen.

“We decided to move again the whole thing to a better and safer place, and we currently have 160 chickens and 14 roosters,” says Sandra, the center director.

In spite of all the problems 140 chickens are laying eggs twice a day, and the center is collecting approximately 280 eggs daily.

The children now recieve a nutritional, healthy lunch based on eggs daily. The blessing goes beyond that because the children’s families can buy a cardboard box of 30 eggs for a low price, allowing the center to generate the necessary income to purchase chicken feed.

Pentecostal Student Center is now prepared and confident about the future. This activity gives them the opportunity to bless others in need.

“We have been able to rescue families from precarious nutritional conditions, and we are encouraged to keep working hard and bless many families and children in this city of Siguatepeque,” says Sandra.

In the meantime, Keila and her sister Keren continue with their chores at the egg farm, and have a great time playing with the chickens. Both know how important their work is.

In the warm city of Comayagua, another great CIV program is taking place at Vida Cristiana Student Center: a micro-project fish production that intends to help 312 children and their families.

For Yanira, the center director, this idea started as a vision to help many people, especially children who are living in extreme poverty with so many needs.

“We have seen the need of many families, not only for the lack of food but also because many parents do not have a job and as a result do not have the means to buy food for their children.

“We have seen children with headaches and stomachaches simply because they have not eaten at home, so we are here to attend those children who are going through these difficult times, and we feel blessed to have the opportunity to keep their weight and nutrition.”

It was a common desire within the church to strengthen the children’s nutritional lunch at the center during the global food crisis. Perhaps the biggest challenge was to purchase the material for the fish tank, which is sometimes difficult to find in Honudras.

But the church was always confident that God was going to provide the tools for this activity. They were able to obtain the fish tank material, and eventually began to set it up on the hill behind the church.

Currently, the fish tank has 2,000 fish that are being taken care of by young boys like 15-year-old Gerson.

For two months Gerson has been responsible for the fish tank, an activity he enjoys because of the benefits it will bring him and his friends at the center.

Every day he walks 2 kilometers to the site to do his job with enthusiasm and professionalism. His job is feeding the fish thre times during the day, and also activating the pump that add oxygen to the water.

“They have trained me over the handling and maintenance of this fish pond, also about agriculture and many things.”

In spite of having just two months of experience working with this fish tank, the center is starting to see the fish gain weight and size. They continue training young people how to take care of the fish pond.

In the near future, these fish will be part of the children’s daily lunch. According to Yanira,

“In six months, this cycle of fish will be ready and then we will start over with another 2,000 fish. There is a good market to sell the fish, so the fish pond can be maintained economically.

“We wish the children to learn to dream big and hope that this experience will help them to have the opportunity to become entrepreneurs.”

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