A price shocks report released today by World Vision reveals that for the most vulnerable, food prices are still higher than they were before the COVID-19 pandemic. Analysis of food prices from September 2023 shows that a food basket that would cost 1.5 hours of work in Australia, Ireland, or Singapore would take the average worker 36 days to earn the money to purchase in Burundi and 25 days in the Central African Republic. 

At just 15 years old, she was forced to make the difficult decision of leaving her childhood home in search of food. The hardest part? Her mother was too sick to make the journey, so she was forced to flee with her 10 younger siblings alone. All in hopes of finding enough food and water to survive. 

Every day, Khadija’s heart aches as she sees her one-year-old son, Saiful, losing weight. All that she can feed him is some soggy rice and bland vegetables. Each time he struggles to eat, she carefully saves the leftover because wasting even a grain of rice is not an option for them. 

Every day, nine-year-old Blue carries his four-year-old brother Sunday to school so that he can get his one meal of the day. 

Meeting up with a “stranger” whom I have known for the past 8 years was a great highlight for this trip, being able to see him and have a face-to-face interaction to know more about him. During game time, I saw his father watching him playing with lots of smiles. Despite disrupting his work schedule and traveling this far for this meetup, I sensed lots of warmth from them. This is something that we may not be able to see nowadays. Will remember this trip and the things I’ve seen for a really long time. 

We are so glad to learn that our little girl is working hard to enrol herself into university to move farther in life. For a moment, it felt like our own little girl is going to university soon. It has been a fulfilling journey knowing we have been able to help a little girl grow into a beautiful young lady. 

Leon, a 12-year-old girl living in Kapeni, southern Malawi, faces immense challenges due to droughts, floods and global economic pressures, which have taken a heavy toll on her family's income and access to food. Such natural disasters, and the ensuing economic pressures, pose a particular threat to women and girls, who are more likely to miss school to take care of domestic responsibilities, suffer from domestic violence, experience child marriage and sexual assault, and suffer from intimate partner violence.

Having a sponsor meant Monika, an 18-year-old from a rural community in Bangladesh, had the knowledge, tools and social support resources to stand up to child marriage. Not only has she avoided becoming a bride herself, but she is helping countless other girls facing a similar fate.

Trapped at home while her mother Desi went out to work each day because she has a disability, Heda was just nine when the first man came into the house and raped her. Desi is determined to protect Heda, who is now 14, and to do what she can to help make sure no other children ever live through the same horror. She has joined forces with the World Vision to share her story with leaders in their community, hoping to inspire them to build a stronger community that protects children and understands children’s rights.