One Billion Hungry in the World: What is Your Role?

It’s hard to believe, but according to the ORACLE ThinkQuest Education Foundation, every 3.6 seconds someone in the world dies from hunger. I find that shocking and it makes me want to take action. Realistically, I know that I’m only a teenager and I don’t have the resources or ability to venture to foreign countries and attempt to fight the devastating battle of world hunger.

However, I do know, firsthand, there are numerous actions that other teenagers and I can do to make a difference around the world, from right here in America.

According to, Atem Da’Hajhock with Alliance for the Lost Boys of Sudan, an organization in Jacksonville, Florida that supports humanitarian efforts in Africa, some of the group’s most avid and beneficial supporters are middle and high school students. For example, in 2011, National Honor Society students from numerous high schools in Puerto Rico organized a fund raising event at one of the schools. Hundreds of students pitched tents on the football field and took turns walking through the night, re-enacting the journey of the Lost Boys and participating in various activities. The students raised $50,000 to support efforts by the Alliance.

With these funds, the Alliance was able to drill three water wells in rural villages in South Sudan, where less than half the population (8- 10 million people) has access to clean drinking water. Remaining funds were used to start goat programs for women at risk (mostly widows) and their children. These goats provide milk, cheese, fertilizer for crops and as they multiply, meat and a means of support. The first kid born from each goat is given to another woman in need within the village, allowing even more women to benefit from the program. This is just one example of teenagers who’ve played a role in fighting the war against world hunger.

The Lost Boys of Sudan know firsthand about starvation and its horrible impact on children. They were among the estimated 30,000 children separated from their families in 1983-1986, at the beginning of the civil war between north and south Sudan. Ranging in ages from 2 years old and up, they were forced to walk across rugged and dangerous African terrain in search of safe shelter. The older boys carried the younger ones on their backs. They lived in various refugee camps without adequate food, water or shelter for most of their lives, going to bed hungry every single night. Some relocated to America and one of their personal goals includes “paying it forward,” not only in their American communities, but also in their homeland.

“Now that we’re in America,” said former Lost Boy, Simon Deng, “we no longer hunger for food. We hunger only for a solution for helping our people.” They feel a similar burden for helping Americans in need, because they remember the American people helping them as children when they were in need and then again, as young men when arriving in our country.

Through combined efforts with organizations like the Alliance, they’ve been able to fund numerous humanitarian projects in South Sudan and America. The Lost Boys are excellent examples of individuals from third world countries who’ve experienced hunger, overcome it, and are now playing a major role in helping to ensure that other children will not go to sleep at night; hungry. For most of us, it’s easier to picture faces of the hungry in Africa and Asia, but the faces of the hungry in America often look much different. In 2009, a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture determined that over 50 million Americans lived in homes without sufficient food. One out of three from that study, at risk for hunger, was a child. They may sit next to you in school, church or other places that you might not expect. They may look just like you, except for one difference; they’re hungry.

To look at me, you’d think I’d never missed a meal in my life. My outward appearance suggests that I was born into a healthy and financially secure family. Many would be surprised to learn that I experienced hunger first-hand. I used to live with my birth parents, who were cited multiple times by child protection services for not having a single morsel of food in our house.

Basically, I lived on sugar water and whatever junk food was available. I had multiple health conditions and numerous cavities, as a result of malnutrition and a lack of proper medical care. By the time I was three; I was in the foster care system and bounced from one foster family to another. When I was almost five, I was blessed to be adopted by my forever family who now properly love and care for me and feed me the nutritious meals my developing body needs.

I realize how fortunate I am, because I was once one of the many faces of the hunger. I think that’s one reason why it’s so important for me to volunteer and give back.

Volunteering is something about which my family is very passionate. We’ve seen what a difference one person can make and even more so, the difference that many people working together can make. Two years ago, we helped prepare and serve Saturday night dinner to over 500 homeless people at a local shelter. I’m also very active in my church youth group. We’ve visited numerous inner city communities in Jacksonville and other parts of Florida to serve food and help families in need. It’s rewarding to know you’ve helped make a difference in another person’s life.

One Billion Hungry in the World: What is Your Role?

Food. This is a four letter word that can either kill people or provide them with the necessary nutrition to survive. The horrible, growling feeling that the stomach makes when it has no food to digest can be an excruciating pain, especially to those who experience it every day. It is unbelievable that one billion people around the world suffer from starvation. Why is it that in the past, without advanced technology, there were not that many people suffering from hunger, but today, when supposedly the 21st century is the most prosperous, there are thousands of humans lacking food? As Ed Asner once stated, “There are genuinely sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, at no time, should go hungry.” A major problem is apathy. Nations around the world need to come together and to configure a plan that will help third world countries get on the right track. This world problem appears to be a test for human kind. One way to demonstrate and prove how civilized people nowadays have really become is through resolving hunger. There are many resolutions proposed and others have already gone into action. It all comes down to how the food is distributed, how much agriculture is promoted, and how the dilemma with the low farm prices is fixed

No excuses should be made as to why so many people around the world experience hunger. There is enough food to feed everyone. It is calculated that there is actually a ten percent surplus. One way to resolve the world hunger is through a fair distribution of food. The economically developed countries such as the United States produce large quantities of food, more than they need. Instead of consuming the required number of calories for proper nutrition, which is 2000 calories per day, people in these countries often consume 3000. Many of the people in the less economically developed countries do not even reach 2000. When people have an intake of calories fewer than 1600 this leads to the inability for them to have a full, healthy and proactive life. In young children, malnutrition directly causes destruction of brain cells. The neuron networks develop three times as slowly compared to those children who receive full nutrition. Therefore, developed countries should make food donations to poor nations. The new generation is dying because there is lack of food, and those that have a surplus need to share; it is the right thing to do.

Many of the people in third world countries are not well educated. With education, they will become aware of the different ways in which agriculture could be used to their advantage. They will be able to focus their time and energy on projects that will benefit them in the long run. Education will give them the knowledge and strategies they need to harvest the land. This will promote more self-reliance and will reduce the dependency of imports from other countries.

The people in Africa, for example, will no longer have to deal with having ten percent less domestically grown food. They will be able to grow food on their own terms and to produce a sufficient quantity for more people to eat. In addition, the farmers will learn how to conserve the food so that it reaches on time, in a well preserved condition, another area in need. As an anonymous poet once wrote, “By planting a tree, you will harvest tenfold. By educating the people, you will harvest one hundredfold.”

Ultimately, the dilemma with the low farm prices is very unequal among developed and undeveloped countries. Farmers from Africa would buy all the necessities for growing crops such as fertilizers, tools, seeds that are nowadays expensive. In return, the developed countries would buy these agricultural and raw products at low prices. This does not help poor countries because they do not make any profit. Instead of rich countries trying to buy materials for high prices from poor countries, knowing that this will help the nation to progress, they do just the opposite and hold down the prices for food. These international prices for commodities need to be stabilized so that the less developed countries can actually start to develop. There needs to be better cooperation among nations. These unfair trade barriers need to be removed so that more lives could be saved. The wealthy nations need to understand that the life of a person is worth much more than money.

One Billion Hungry in the World: What is Your Role?

Hunger. A word used so casually, yet starving one billion people worldwide. My experience with hunger has merely been an uncomfortable sensation in my stomach around meal times, and quickly satisfied with an easily accessible meal. My perception of hunger is just a temporary nagging annoyance. To one billion people across the globe, hunger is a way of life. Their days are defined by crippling hunger and pain and malnutrition. To me, malnutrition is only a word. A simple word killing six million children every year. Hunger is an enormous issue in our world. My role in the fight against hunger is to make positive changes, some big, some small. To help eradicate hunger I will inform people of the devastating statistics about hunger, encourage proper irrigation in hunger-stricken countries, and be a strong advocate for educating people on how to grow and find food for themselves- thus producing productive members of a community who will contribute to the fight against world hunger.

There are currently numerous programs and efforts trying to prevent and solve world hunger. A plethora of charities and organizations ranging from “Stop Hunger Now”, which focuses on Haiti, to the United Nation’s World Food Programme (WFP) impacts millions of hungry lives each day. The WPF is funded entirely by donations and is currently fighting hunger in 73 different countries. I’m inspired by each volunteer giving their time and money to save lives every single day. Every single person fighting to eradicate world hunger is like a single drop of water- seemingly insubstantial alone but overwhelmingly massive once united forming a tsunami of change against hunger. My role in helping those struggling with hunger is to inform my peers of statistics and facts about hunger and showing them how to get involved. Poverty directly relates to hunger and vice versa, so by giving back to the poor and doing simple deeds like donating to food drives is helping eliminate hunger. Small changes made by individuals are enormous once joined together. One person alone truly can make a difference on world hunger, but an entire community will move mountains. I am extraordinarily fortunate to live in a safe area where I don’t have to worry about where my next meal will come from, or even if I will live to see my next meal. By informing my peers of other’s struggle against world hunger that we are otherwise oblivious to I hope to provide surges of energy in the fight against world hunger.

Perhaps the quintessential point in solving world hunger is providing proper irrigation to hunger-stricken countries. It is of utmost importance that a country be able to farm agriculture and grow their own food. There are many forms of irrigation that can be put into action, including flood irrigation, drip irrigation, and spray irrigation. Due to the lack of control and waste of water used in flood and spray irrigation, I recommend drip irrigation should be put into place. Drip irrigation is expensive to install but sprays water directly at the plant’s roots, thus eliminating the possibility of evaporation and saving ¼ as much water. With proper irrigation crops grow faster, producing food for the entire area. With more harvests available per year one receives a higher cash flow, which then one can spend on healthier foods and try to break free of the hunger cycle. Therefore I would support legislation worldwide where governments implement drip irrigation systems in starving countries to help eradicate world hunger.

A Chinese proverb states “Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime.” Tons of food can be wasted on the hungry, temporarily satiating them, but within a day they will be starving again. It is essential to teach people how to grow and find their own food. Once these skills are known one can continue to produce food to feed themselves, their family, and their community, thus eliminating hunger in their area. That is why I believe to eradicate hunger it is necessary to educate the hungry about what they can do to help themselves. Educating the hungry will create contributing people dedicated to fighting hunger because they have struggled and lived through it themselves.

The Beast Within

How can a world so rich in technology and knowledge pay so little heed to the voice of human pain--the crying of an innocent child starving in the streets? In Kufunda Village, Zimbabwe, the soft whimpers of a young boy splinter the silence of a rubble-strewn road. The child, crumpled in a corner, almost disappears into his war-torn surroundings. The baggy rags that hang off his bones camouflage his presence and mask his battered heart. Clumps of dirt darken the young boy’s taut face. Only the gurgling sounds from his swollen abdomen betray his “invisibility.” These sounds rattle in anger as his stomach is forced—like a ravenous beast--to feed upon its own weakening muscles. The wretched keening grows louder each day until it creates a din, an ominous humming that forms the background of a dying world. Who will sound the alarm that the universe is in peril? Who will break the silence of suffering? Who will pry open the heart of humanity?

Tragically, hunger’s vicious fangs strike one out of every seven people in the world today. Yet, this fiend does not attack its victims due to lack of food. Farmers today grow enough crops to feed everyone worldwide. In fact, even though the global population has expanded seventy percent in the past three decades, farming today yields even more food per person than it did then (“World Hunger” n.p.). Hence, what drives this beast’s ravenous appetite? In truth, hunger insidiously coils behind a positive “face,” globalization. Proponents portray globalization as the blending of fiscal, cultural, and political resources and systems worldwide (“Globalization” 1). However, self-interest and disconnection seek to poison globalization. Despite media coverage and advanced knowledge, people with plenty do not share. They turn away. They don’t act. Thus, my role as a caring human being is clear: I must strike out against selfish insensitivity. I must target specific issues that “feed” world hunger. And, in so doing, I must help renew the positive purposes of globalization: to share precious resources and to sanction human rights for all.

By design, globalization historically uplifted the goal of destroying hunger. Indeed, advocates saw globalization as a movement that championed human rights, including the “right to food” (“World Hunger” n.p.). This liberty originated in the 25th Article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (United Nations 1948): “Everyone has the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of himself and his family, including food” (“World Hunger” n.p.). Essentially, world hunger means “malnutrition,” a critical shortage of protein and energy-producing food (“World Hunger” n p.). Based on this definition, however, the goals of globalization have been tragically subverted. For, although the 2005 World Food Summit sought to reduce world hunger by fifty percent by the following decade, alarmingly, the overall number of victims has burgeoned to one billion (“World Hunger” n.p.). One billion individual voices crying—dying! Technology and knowledge function as the eyes and ears of the modern world. A virtual holocaust of epic proportions is streaming live in front of the human audience. Yet, self-absorption and apathy hold the human heart captive. We are denying the dying. Thus, through “Target Two,” each caring person must take action.

To help break hunger’s oppression, my first target will be to halt economic and political policies that pit food against fuel. Due to the spike in the price of crude oil, production of biofuels has skyrocketed to meet the need for alternative fuels. Production of “first generation biofuels,” created by processing food grains, has led to food price increases (“Humanitarian” n.p.). Rather than selling these foods for nutritional needs, many producers sell them as fuels for a higher profit. Naturally, these choices decrease the supply of these critical foods—thereby driving demand and cost up. To ensure that all people have access to these foods, I will build awareness of the need to end fiscal and political policies that provide subsidies for biofuel production. Moreover, I will lobby for the implementation of new policies that focus on stimulating development of “second generation fuels from non-food resources (“Humanitarian” n.p.).

To help support hunger’s victims, my second target will be to restructure humanitarian aid. Unfortunately, well-intentioned food donations are simply not enough (“Humanitarian” n.p.). Corruption leads to disastrous mismanagement of critical resources. Often a small percentage of wealthy individuals seize donations for themselves. Further, aid sometimes, ironically, leads to a decline in sales of domestically produced foods due to the availability of international donations. This decline contributes to economic downturns. Causing even greater risk to the well-being of the populace, the availability of international resources can even trigger more violence, as war lords loot and kill to increase their own wealth, power, and status. To reverse these ill effects, I will promote a renewal of positive globalization—by supporting such programs as the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. These shared programs can monitor and distribute contributions more equitably and peacefully, reducing fragmentation and cost. Most importantly, such global efforts can ensure that international aid enriches local farming, marketing, and economic opportunities while also limiting agricultural loss due to climatic events (“World Hunger” n.p.).

One Billion Hungry in the World: What is Your Role?

Imagine for a moment that you are exhausted, drenched in sweat, thirsty beyond belief, and, above all, hungry. You have gone days without a single scrap of food. Food is scarce and you can’t make enough money to buy anything anyway. You scavenge for scraps as your stomach shrieks and moans. Even the tiniest morsel of discarded rotten food is a miracle. Many of your friends and relatives have already died of malnutrition, and you know that you could always be next. Every day you wake up with only the thought of survival. You have to tell your loved ones that it is going to be all right when you know that it won’t. You have to watch the people you care about die painfully with nothing you can do to help. You life is a living nightmare full of fear, pain, and misery.

Meanwhile, in beautiful Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida, children complain about not being able to have their favorite food as they eat a nutritious meal that many starving people would do anything for. Most of the wealth in the world appears in just a few small areas across the globe. These people make up the wealthiest one percent in the world. Unfortunately the disparity between the top one or two percent and the rest of the world is gigantic. In fact, the top percent of income-earners in the world make up about forty-two percent of global income. Plus, the top twenty percent control about ninety-two percent of global wealth. This leaves the people in the lower eighty percent of wealth intake with a very small amount of money to go around. It is up to us top few percent to make the difference for those poor people with almost nothing to their names.

For us people who have never legitimately been starving, we must share our surplus food and money to help make a difference. It is up to us. When I have been lucky enough to have such an easy life, I should make an effort to give a little tiny bit of what I have to make a huge difference for those in need.

Across the globe, mothers and fathers watch their children wilt away and die of hunger at a young age. About every five seconds, a starving child in need dies. When I really think about it, every time I take a breath, a child who I could have helped takes their last. I know now that we can all make a difference. If we could all just give up a little of what we have and don’t need, we could save hundreds of millions of lives. With one billion hungry in the world, my role is giving back.

For the most part, people who are starving can’t help themselves. They just need a little help. Like a nurturing parent for a helpless baby, it is up to the wealthy to help the people who can’t help themselves. If we help the hungry, we could help many potential leaders to grow up and make the world a better place. These people are just like you or me. They have problems, they care about others, they care themselves, and they worry about what they will do one day. They just need a little boost to kickstart their success and journey into economic prosperity, thus paving the way for the rest of their family. All it takes is a little help from some one like you or me. It is up to us. In this brotherhood of global coexistence, we must all help each other when we fall in order to stay strong.

Now comes the real question. What things should we do to help? Should we donate a little money? Should we send in a little food? No. This will not suffice. Sending in a little food will just tide over a few people for a day or two. This will only make a difference for a short amount of time. Although it helps, it is not nearly enough to make a big difference. What we need to do is give them a boost to start the journey to self-sustainment. We need to teach the hungry about nutrition, how to grow food, what water should be avoided, how to treat stomach sicknesses, and how to earn create an environment that can slowly develop into a strong economy. We do not need to give the hungry a few vegetables. We need to give these people seeds. Everything comes down to a perpetually self-sustaining society. That is our role with one billion hungry in the world.

Be The Change

“Everything you do in life will be insignificant, but it is very important that you do it.” (Gandhi n.p.) Although small contributions (such as donating canned goods) seem miniscule in the grand scheme of the world, more often than not, any aid received to benefit hunger causes add up to benefit a vast majority of people. One billion people go without food every day. I figure that starting with small communities, the large scale of the entire world will eventually be changed.

The first step to defeating world hunger is raising awareness. A superb example of this has been demonstrated by two teenagers Lexi Wilhelm and Erin Morgan. These two young women created a fundraiser to raise awareness and donate to the hunger issue present in Africa. Wilhelm and Morgan were shocked by grim statistics that read “Every five seconds, a child dies of hunger somewhere in the world- equal to 17,000 children every day.” (Lieberman n.p.) By following the example of these remarkable ladies, more people will know of the issue. Exploiting gruesome statistics is often necessary to gain the attention of the public. This is called “shocking advertisement”. It is designed to create a buzz among citizens, to gain attention. Shocking advertising through the press is an effective approach to raising the knowledge of hunger all over the world.

In order to create the buzz, research on statistics and facts on world hunger is crucial. When groups are uneducated on a topic, ignorance forms. To begin the analysis of world hunger, the term “hunger” itself is lightly tossed around in average jargon. To elaborate, expressions such as “I’m dying of hunger.” and “I’m starving.” are significantly exaggerated. World hunger refers to the desire or the lack of food in a country. This definition is obviously much more serious than the common overstatement, so I encourage my peers to step back and really inquire what is being said.

Malnutrition tends to be less mocked by exaggeration because the definition is more severe. (World Hunger Notes n.p.) If press and awareness groups used more emotionally intense vocabulary (and forms of media) to describe the circumstances, the impact upon the public would have more effective immersion of details. The term “pathos” in language study is a way to describe the emotional force of writing. Pathos is a form of persuasion; it finds a connection with the audience (of the form of media) and uses that connection to sway in the desired direction. This method is absolutely imperative to attracting people to the severity of the cause. The more of us that know that hunger is persistent in all countries around the world (including the United States), the more power we have to make a change.

More shocking details from the worldwide tragedy can be derived from Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs. The first level of this theory is basic survival needs, food included. Maslow decided that people are determined to complete one level before another is reached. Since the need to be properly nourished is on the very first level, hunger holds those (hungry) back from obtaining safety, belonging, recognition, and self actualization. When an individual lacks these basic needs, he/she will go to the extreme obtain them. (Cherry n.p.) An shocking example is that there are over one million children in India alone trafficking themselves for money to buy food. (More Than 1M Child Prostitutes in India n.p) If humans will stop at nothing to provide their basic necessities, why shouldn’t those of us who have more to offer help?

World hunger is so dear to me because I have had personal experience with helping those without food. I have always had enough to eat, nice clothes, and roof over my head. I have taken these things for granted a majority of my life. One person changed that. Oprah Winfrey did a special on her show in which she traveled to Africa to research how children lived. The conditions were dreadful, only something I would dream of in my deepest, darkest nightmares. Winfrey was an inspiration, and donated a generous amount of money to ensure that the children were fed and able to go to school. This episode really hit me hard. All of the materialistic junk I have and even complain about are luxuries in a poverty stricken area. I was ashamed of my foolish ignorance. I wanted to give back what I didn’t appreciate. So, I started volunteering in soup kitchens. The experience changed my life. The people I met were remarkable and strong. My vision is that my peers stem from my example by reaching out to those in need of help. I have changed lives, which is something I will always display deep pride for.