316 posts categorized "Global Hunger"

by Amanda Bornfree.

I entered her office.

Instead of a jar of candy, she had a jar of pretty strips of paper.

She offered me one.  I pulled one out.

There were words on it:

“Where there is hunger and poverty, there is almost always poor access to maternal and child health care.”

And then we had a conversation about the 1,000 Days.

The 1,000 Days Jar is a useful tool for starting conversations about the 1,000 Days movement.  It’s practical, creative, and fairly easy to make. Having conversations about the importance of maternal and child nutrition during the 1,000 day window between pregnancy and a child’s second birthday can be challenging at times. A 1,000 Days Jar can introduce the issue of maternal and child nutrition to those unfamiliar with it, or spark new conversations surrounding the 1,000 Days Movement.

What You Need:

1. Computer and printer OR time and good penmanship
2. Recycled colored paper
3. Scissors or paper cutter
4. A medium-sized jar of your liking, preferably a mason jar
5. A location for the jar, such as an office desk, coffee table, etc.
6. An informational list of nutritional facts and reasons why the 1,000 Days is important (provided below).

Steps:

1. If using a computer, cut and paste the provided list to a document. If using pen and paper, write the list out by hand.
2. If using a computer, print out the list.
3. Cut out each statement.
4. Fold each statement in half and put them in the jar.
5. Place the jar in your location of choice.

 Suggestions:

These suggestions may inspire more conversations on how to make a difference for the many women and children who don't get the proper nutrition during the critical window of 1,000 Days.

1. Create the 1,000 Days Jar with:

• Fellow church members during Sunday school
• Friends and family who don’t know about the 1,000 Days Movement
• Preteens and teenagers in your family
• The youth director at your church

2. Step it up:

• Either with a group or on your own, make jars for gifts and give them to friends, family members, or colleagues
• Add Bible verses and/or spiritual quotes about hunger to The 1,000 Days Jar
• Visit the Thousand Days website and check out their resources. Add additional facts to the Jar.

by Inez Torres Davis.

Nutrition for the pregnant woman and her child through the age of two years is such a critical window of opportunity. Women with our own children or women who have never given birth, but have participated in nurturing children “get” how critical this is. And, maybe it’s easier for us to have these conversations for this reason, but I would really like to see men of faith step up for this one and make the commitment to have these conversations!

The 1,000 Days Movement addresses the need for those who “have” to be sure that child-bearing women, women who are pregnant, and infants from birth to two years of age receive the nutritional diet they require to avoid life-threatening physical and mental health issues such as stunting, protein deficiency, and cyclical starvation. Cyclical starvation is when the body has a hunger season each year in which important nutrients are completely lacking from their diets thus providing short term and long term health problems and in many cases, death.

While visiting three countries in Africa with Bread for the World in 2011, I saw the raw and measurable difference nutritionally caring for pregnant women and infants makes in the life of a community as well as in the life of a child. One Malawi village had not had a single case of cholera since learning how to secure clean water, sanitation, and create supplemental nutrient-rich feedings for pregnant women and babies. Dozens of Zambian infants are receiving healthy starts in health clinics and through the campaign for non-HIV positive mothers to nurse their babies.

Here in the United States, programs like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program) provide a nutritionally sound base for children who would otherwise suffer the debilitating effects of malnutrition. Dollar for dollar supporting the nutrition of pregnant women and babies is money “best” spent whether it is spent domestically or as international development aid.

The call of the gospel is the call to be present with the disenfranchised. I can’t think of a more disenfranchised or disempowered person than the infant born to a malnourished woman. Simply put? This is the work of the gospel. Start to share this good news!

 

Inez Torres Davis is director for justice at Women of the ELCA.

The day that hunger is eradicated from the earth there will be the greatest spiritual explosion the world has ever known. Humanity cannot imagine the joy that will burst into the world.

— Federico Garcia Lorca

Photo: Mother and daughter enjoy a block party in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Crista Friedli/Bread for the World)

Rev. Derrick Boykin, Bread for the World's associate for African-American leadership outreach, prepares for an interview. (Photo by Racine Tucker-Hamilton/Bread for the World)

by Susanne Ramirez de Arellano

Newsroom diversity is necessary. It is the driving force behind the honest and hard hitting reporting that is needed to effectively tackle issues such as hunger and poverty. At this year’s Unity conference—the fifth gathering of journalists of color—the hit taken by diversity in the media due to the recession was a central theme, alongside the shifting landscape and the digital frontier.

We exist in a Darwinian media whose architecture is expanding into different platforms with a rapidity that is stunning and at times confusing. Immediacy, flexibility, and mobility are the sons and daughters of the new technology.

by Tony Hall and Abed Ayoub.

As droughts swelter in the American Midwest and the Sahel region of Africa, Muslims across the United States are called to celebrate Ramadan. This month of fasting and spiritual reflection continues until August 19, providing a timely reminder of the increasing number of hungry people suffering during this time of climate and economic uncertainty. The prayerful deprivation of food during Ramadan should be connected to the lives of nearly a billion people who are hungry every day.  

It is heartening to see such compassion fueling the fight against hunger. This year’s Ramadan fast comes at a critical moment for many Americans. According to the latest census, more than 17 million U.S. households are food insecure. Nearly one in four children in our country is at risk of going to bed hungry. Harmful cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly the food stamp program) have been proposed in versions of the 2012 Farm Bill currently being considered before Congress. SNAP helps 46 million Americans put food on the table; the cuts would prove devastating for so many in need.  

Opponents of SNAP and other federal nutrition programs say it should be the responsibility of charities to feed hungry people; however, less than 5 percent of food assistance for poor people comes from charities. In fact, most food assistance comes from government nutrition programs like SNAP. While food banks do their best to feed these families, the reality is that the problem is too large: we cannot food bank our way out of hunger.  

A market in Liberia. (Photo by Laura Elizabeth Pohl/Bread for the World)

by Kristen Archer.

Liberia is about the same size as Virginia, but its poverty rate is nearly quadruple that of African-Americans in that state. 

“Hunger and poverty among African-Americans mirror the unjust circumstances many people in African nations endure,” said Rev. Derrick Boykin, associate for African-American leadership outreach at Bread for the World. “However, hunger and poverty impacts many African nations more severely, often resulting in disease or even death.”

Haitians build a USAID-funded irrigation canal. A rice field is at right. From the Bread for the World Institute 2011 Hunger Report. (Photo courtesy USAID)

In a New York Times opinion piece yesterday, Rev. David Beckmann wrote about how our fate is tied to poor people around the world. He describes why Americans should care about U.S. foreign assistance and why it's a great return on investment. You can read the full story below.

Our Fate Is Linked to Helping Others

by Rev. David Beckmann

This is not the time to cut back on international development assistance. For every dollar our government spends, only less than one cent (0.6 cents) is spent on foreign aid. The return on our small foreign aid investment can be measured in the millions of people we are helping throughout the world, and in our country’s economic well-being and national security.

The Guatemalan Alliance to End Hunger works with the Ministry of Public Health to distribute a fortified drink mix to families at risk of malnutrition. (Photo courtesy the Alliance to End Hunger)

One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth doing is what we do for others.

— Lewis Carroll

Maryland activists participate in Bread for the World's 2011 Lobby Day. (Photo by Jim Stipe/Bread for the World)

1. Develop an “elevator speech” for why ending hunger is important to you as a Christian.
2. Register to vote.
3. Write a letter to your local paper saying that ending hunger is a priority for you as a voter.
4. Learn what the candidates are saying about ending hunger.
5. Speak about the importance of ending hunger at candidates’ town hall meetings.
6. Engage your friends. Make sure they are registered and know what the candidates are saying about ending hunger.
7. Magnify your voice by combining it with those of thousands of other Christians. Become a member of Bread for the World; organize an Offering of Letters.
8. Engage your church.
9. Give money and volunteer time to candidates who are committed to ending hunger.
10. VOTE for candidates who are committed to ending hunger.

During the August recess, as we lead up to the lame duck session, Bread members are setting up meetings with members of Congress and their staff at local offices to make sure that hunger issues are part of the campaign conversations. 

Contact your Organizer who can help you set up a meeting or find a town hall or just check out our elections resources and keep ending hunger a priority and part of the conversation.

Fabric for sale at a Tanzania marketplace. (Racine Tucker-Hamilton/Bread for the World)

by Rev. David Beckmann

Great news for African development today! Bread for the World applauds members of Congress for their support for the renewal of the Third Country Fabric provision of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA). AGOA seeks to increase mutually beneficial trade ties between the United States and Africa and promises to lift millions of Africans out of poverty.   

Several months ago, African ambassadors met with the chairs and ranking members of the Congressional subcommittees on Africa to discuss the urgency of renewing this provision. It has come at a critical time, as declines in apparel orders (due to the uncertainty of this provision’s renewal) were already leading to job losses in several African countries.