| HOPE HEADLINES HELPING OTHER PEOPLE EVERYWHERE |
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| Let's start in the great United States of America. Think about the typical school cafeteria lunch. Just imagine: a nice, elderly lady donning a hair net, who takes a ladle, shoveling out a big, ol' scoop of what is supposed to be clam chowder, plops it on your flimsy lunch tray, where it stays congealed in the ladle shape, until you dig your plastic fork into it and take that first bite... Now, the thought process of that clam chowder being appetizing is a little far away for most of us, especially when we have Subway and Pizza Hut personally serving us at our school. But think of the kids across the nation that are struck with hunger. Those proud kids deny that they need the reduced lunch program to their friends, and bravely look forward to that clam chowder, because it is sometimes the ONLY decent meal that they will have that day. Or, the fifty year old veteran, plagued by post-traumatic stress disorder, that roams the streets at night, because he cannot hold a job any longer, who saves his pennies and buys that McDonald's meal. But while filling and meeting part of the calorie demands of the day, it also is inadequate, because it lacks the vitamins and minerals that he needs for higher brain function, and some basic bodily functions. These atrocities occur more often than society would like to admit.
But American hunger has the potential to be manageable, with this rich of a country, we could easily solve this problem, if the right programs where put into place. However, this is not even a hope for some of the third-world countries. Our poorest civilian in America would be considered extremely rich in these countries. In places like Kenya, or Darfur, there is a scarcity of food and water. Here, people just need the opportunity to acquire the food, but there, there is no opportunity. Imagine yourself, if you can, a twelve year old child, the middle child of a family ranging from ages twenty-seven (the parents) to the youngest child of eight years. It is your responsible to obtain a jug of water from the pump that is 5,000 meters away. But between you and that pump is the mutinous Janjaweed, people that would kill, maim, or worse, as soon as they saw you, and you only have sparse desert vegetation, and rotting cattle corpses to hide your frail form. You push your nutrition-deprived body to reach the pump safely, pump out the dirt-tainted water, sprint back to the moderately protected village, now burdened by the extra weight, still weary of the gun-welding Janjaweed. You have to repeat this endeavor many times a day, because you are one of the only ones strong enough. Your days focus on that next drink of water, that next morsel of food, no matter how unsanitary the source. But how can we really comprehend that desperation? We can never imagine the constant weakness, the constant fear, and the constant knowledge that every second may be the last. When these same cruelties were described by concentration camp survivors after WWII, the world was appalled, but in these present times, it is the norm to see the dirt streaked tears of a child on a TV commercial that is asking for money, so she may eat. It is a distinct possibility that we cannot recognize the desperation of the situation, having lived in a food-market-motivated society, so we disregard it in our everyday lives. Of course, it would be overwhelming to think about all the problems of the world everyday, and successfully live your own life. But just for today, imagine all of those emotions of fear, embarrassment, and emptiness of hunger that weighs heavily upon 38 million Americans, and the nearly 800 million around the world that are not only hungry, but dying from malnutrition. Just for today recognize them for their strength. And just for today, keep them in your prayers. *Big Mac�, two packets of ketchup, salt packet, small fry, and small Coke. Source: http://app.mcdonalds.com/bagamcmeal?process=flash Picture Source: www.guardian.co.uk |
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| 'I FEEL FAT!'- AN ARTICLE ABOUT HUNGER AWARENESS!! |
| June 26, 2007 I feel fat! Ok, of course, that phrase is heard with stereotypical overabundance among teenaged girls, especially when it is hardly warranted, but I am serious on this one. Look around at our American society. If you walk down the street, (not that many of us do, with our readily available vehicles) you can see easily attainable food being blatantly shoved in your face. With one foul swoop, you could go to McDonald's, buy an inexpensive meal, and obtain nearly half of your daily recommended calories of 2,000.* No wonder our biggest epidemic is obesity. But obesity is not what I want to talk to everyone about today; I want to talk about the opposite: hunger. |
| What does hunger around the world look like? STATISTICS Statistics on who is going hungry, from the U.S. Department of Agriculture: *In 2004, 38 million people representing 13.5 million households (nearly one of every eight households) were food insecure. *In the same year, 4.4 million households with 3.3 million children had one or more member experience hunger at least sometime during the year. *Although 15.4 percent of the households in cities experience food insecurity, it is not just an inner-city problem. *Some 9 percent of the households in suburbs and other areas outside cities experience food insecurity. Source: http://www.newsweekeducation.com/ |
| Almost 800 million people�about one-sixth of the population of the world's developing nations�are malnourished. 200 million of them are children.
Source: Bread for the World (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations) |
| Each day in the developing world, 30,500 children die from preventable diseases such as diarrhea, acute respiratory infections or malaria. Malnutrition is associated with over half of those deaths.
Source: Bread for the World (UNICEF, World Health Organization) |
| Hunger continues to plague an estimated 793 million people around the world, including 31 million in the U.S. Hunger kills. Every day, 24,000 people die from hunger and other preventable causes. Nearly 160 million children are malnourished worldwide.
Sources: Oxfam America - Hunger Fact Sheet |
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The richest one-fifth of the world:
� Consume 45% of all meat and fish, the poorest fifth 5%. � Consume 58% of total energy, the poorest fifth less than 4%. � Have 74% of all telephone lines, the poorest fifth 1.5%. � Consume 84% of all paper, the poorest fifth 1.1%. � Own 87% of the world�s vehicle fleet, the poorest fifth less than 1%. Source: UNDP Human Development Report 1998 |
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