People in our world are starving. Right now, at this very minute.
When I was a kid, I used to hear that familiar phrase whenever I, or some other kid, wasn’t finishing the food on our plates. Some adult would say, “You know. There are children starving in Africa.” Yeah, well. Back then, I did sort of know it, and I didn’t. We’d see those commercials on TV asking us to send just dollars a day. Those commercials that showed emaciated, fly-covered, dark African children, with soulful eyes, crying for food. But while I knew it was happening somewhere, I felt no attachment to it. Not really. It was just something I saw on TV coming into our living room — momentarily — from far, far away.
Hunger has been a global problem for quite some time.
Up to 811 million people — about 10% of the world’s population — regularly go to bed hungry.
I won’t go into all the statistics because there are many, many.
But. Essentially, at this minute, more than 48 million people are facing emergency levels of hunger. That means acute malnutrition, starvation, and death, according to the World Food Programme (WFP).
The number is growing. Quickly. About 193 million people in 53 countries/territories experienced the worsening of acute food insecurity at crisis levels last year. This, according to Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC).
These places are the worst:
East Africa: Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Uganda, and Tanzania
Southern Africa: Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo
West Africa: Burkina Faso, the Central African Republic, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, and Niger
Latin America and the Caribbean: Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, and Venezuela
Middle East: Afghanistan, Lebanon, Syria, and Yemen.
Asia: Myanmar
And, along with these severe levels, there are “lesser” degrees that exist around the planet. Nearly one in three people in the world (2.37 billion) did not have access to adequate food in 2020 – that’s an increase of almost 320 million people in just one year. And it has been growing every year since then.
Right here at home, in the United States, 34 million people are food insecure. We see it right here in Preble County, for sure.
Besides making donations to worthy organizations dedicated to ending hunger, we can also do other things.
We can write to Congress. We can send emails to our representatives in Congress to advocate for ending world hunger.
We also help in raising awareness on social media.
And we can stop wasting our own food.
Here is a list from Charity Navigator listing the best organizations for fight hunger.
https://www.charitynavigator.org/discover-charities/best-charities/end-hunger/
(Info: Charity Navigator’s End Hunger List is an expertly-curated list of highly-rated, US-based charities focused on feeding the hungry and reducing food insecurity. This list includes some of the best food banks, pantries, food distribution programs, and international hunger relief organizations, all working to end hunger and food insecurity globally or in their communities.)
Oh. This. The reason I wrote all of this today. I just read an article about some ice cream in Japan. The frozen dessert, called “Byakuya” or “White Night” in translation – is currently fetching 880,000 yen for a serving. That would be $6,380 for one small dish. This extravagant price officially makes it the most expensive ice cream in the world, according to Guinness World Records. The ice cream is topped off by an edible gold leaf, two types of cheese, and “Sakekasu,” a paste-like ingredient derived from the process of sake-making.
I’d say we have big problems, don’t we?
Thanks for reading this today.
And may we always be thankful for our daily sustenance.
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“I would maintain that thanks are the highest form of thought; and that gratitude is happiness doubled by wonder.”
—G.K. Chesterton
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“A thankful heart is not only the greatest virtue, but the parent of all the other virtues.”
—Cicero
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“When you arise in the morning give thanks for the food and for the joy of living. If you see no reason for giving thanks, the fault lies only in yourself.”
—Tecumseh
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