Restoring Hope this Christmas

Living in rural Albania, with little opportunity or work, life for Resmije was very difficult and isolating. After her husband, Baftjar moved to northern Albania in the hopes that he would find a way to end his family's poverty, Resmije was left to raise her four children alone. But, Baftjar's employer hasn't paid him in months - he continues to work in the hope that one day he will be paid.

When this struggling mother of four was gifted with a Seeds of Hope box, her life completely changed. Before Resmije joined MWB's seeds project, she struggled with depression and hopelessness as the poverty she faced was so desperate. Resmije said, "My children often went to bed hungry as I could not provide more than one meal per day. I felt like I was in shock and that death was the only escape for me. But then MWB came and things started to change. I still remember when the MWB Coordinator shared a verse with me, from Psalm 40 and told me how Jesus Christ could be the rock in my life." The gift of seeds gave Resmije so much more than food on the table. It gave her the gift of knowing Jesus and set her family on a path towards a life free from poverty.

Resmije continued, "The gift of seeds is helping our family to change everything and build a new life. Before MWB, we did not have enough food to feed ourselves. It was hard for me watching my children begin to understand our situation. But this summer, our crops were plentiful, and we had enough food to feed the family as well as sell the extra produce to make some money. We made enough money to purchase a cow and firewood for winter!"

In Albania, as winter falls over the villages and the -20 degree temperatures set in, a pile of firewood is a welcomed sight and relief to these families. For Resmije, her newly purchased pile of firewood was a sign of how life had changed for her family. She no longer needed to fear for their future.