“AfriThrive saved my family from starving during the Covid-19 pandemic”

For Thaddius Mogendi, relocating to the United States in the year 2018 to further his studies was a dream come true but what awaited him and his family was unknown to him as it was to the whole world because of Covid-19. 

Hardly before he could settle with his wife and his two children, the pandemic hit and he was struggling to find food to eat.   

“I came to the US on a J-Visa and it was already very difficult for me because as a student I have limited hours to work so the pandemic hit me hard,” says Mogendi, who has physical disability.

“I suffered polio when I was six years old and that affected me so badly. So being disabled and in a foreign country, with limited time to work and everything was crumbling on my head because I could not provide for my family.”

Mogendi then heard about AfriThrive through a friend at the height of desperation. He called AfriThrive, just to see if he could get help with food because his family was starving and he had no way out.

“It was unbelievable when I called and they asked me for my address so that they could send food over and I honestly never thought they were going to bring anything.

“When the food was delivered to my door, tears rolled down my cheeks because my family was going to have a proper meal after several days of barely making it.

“I was awestruck when they told me that I could go and get food every week from AfriThrive Distribution site in Middle River, Baltimore. But more importantly I was shocked that I was not paying anything because I come from a background where getting food for free and if we do, then there is always a rider to it or someone is giving it expecting something in return.”

Since that time and throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, Mogendi’s family were regular beneficiaries of the food distribution program and they have since continued to engage the community on the impact of AfriThrive’s programs.

“We have become community ambassadors about the work that AfriThrive does and we always pray that they can reach many other needy people in our community because there are many people who suffer for lack of knowledge.

“My wife and I are now a part of the AfriThrive pool of greatest supporters because AfriThrive saved my family from starving during the Covid-19 pandemic. We have become more like the Samaritan woman who when she met Jesus, she went out and called the whole village to come and witness the love she had seen from the Messiah.”

Mogendi, whose wife has enlisted as one of the cohorts for the Balozi Advocacy Project, is always on hand to tell his story as a way of encouraging other African immigrants to come out and share their plight as a way of amplifying the challenges they face as they try to settle in the United States.

“African immigrants like me go through hell but a number of factors mean they suffer in silence because they lack information about how or where to get assistance with the daily challenges they have to deal with.

We thank God for AfriThrive and we urge everybody out there to contact them to get help, even if it is just for the food alone.”