When 1 in 7 people are hungry in the world...
"If you can not feed a hundred people, then feed just one" - Mother Teresa
Sitting in my comfy home, being choosy with my food, wasting some of it by eating when I do not really need to or by dumping some in trash, I never thought of hunger.
Hunger is something I read about in books. I did not consciously think of hunger as a problem that is threatening humanity on a large scale.
I am happy sitting in my ivory tower and caring about wild animals while a huge number of people go to bed hungry today...
I feel like a complete hypocrite. I am usually very cheerful and bubbly. I have a positive approach when it comes to contributing something to the society. I do not believe in charity through some faceless organization. My wife and I like to support families where we know our support is needed. However, this problem I am talking about needs the message to be spread all across. One or two people doing things here and there will not solve this problem. Hence this effort in this post - just to spread the message first.
When I saw this bird sitting on a corn of grain, as if it was counting the grains, my mind suddenly veered towards the food availability in the world. I took this nice picture with my Nikon P900 and started wondering about the sufficiency of food in the world.
I took a look at some of the world hunger stats, like the report here and the statistics is just appalling:
The problem of World Hunger
795 Million people do not have sufficient food to sustain good nourishment for their bodies
One Seventh of the world population go to bed hungry every night!
3.1 children every year (nearly 45% of children under 5 years of age) die of malnutrition every year
After reading this, I am almost ashamed to eat a full meal. I have seen many people leave food on the plate and perhaps the food they waste in a year is good enough to feed another person for at least a few months.
Luckily, my wife is very particular about not wasting food. She has trained everyone in our household to take only sufficient helpings and not waste food. So, while we are doing our small bit, I still feel helpless about the overall situation.
People merrily continue to waste tons of food every where - especially in social gatherings and business conferences - all over the world.
We can at least try and help the situation by not allowing any food to go to waste.
The problem is widespread and more acute in some regions
During my travels in Africa and Asia, I have seen impoverished families galore. I however, admit that I had never thought that getting food on plate or having to sleep hungry was an issue. Shows how blinded our own secure financial status and upbringing can make us. I wonder how I would have been so insensitive to these aspects earlier...
The very region I travel in, the problem is actually most acute.
A few things jump out when we look at this 'world Hunger Map':
Many countries in Africa that are shown red or dark red have over 25 % and over 35% of their population, respectively, under nourished
Many countries in Asia that are shown orange have over 15 % of their population under nourished
What can we do to help
Apart from stopping the criminal food wastage at personal and community level, we can contribute to reputable programs such a the 'Zero Hunger' program rung by the leading international body called World Food Programme.
We could provide for needy families in our own neighborhood. As Mother Teresa said, we can at least try to feed one human being if we can not feed a hundred.
It takes only 0.25 US cents ( Less than a cost of a large candy) to feed a hungry child in one of the hunger affected nations and change the child's life forever. Let us pledge to support - to our own capabilities.
In Conclusion:
Do not feel happy that we are well fed - think of those who go hungry to bed
Steemians, please comment freely to share your experiences, knowledge and views about world hunger problem. Thanks.
Note: All images except for the wildlife photos and the title image created by me are from pixabay.com. Image credit has been specifically mentioned for images not falling under these two categories.
