Causes of World Hunger

Looking for a quick way to convey the complexity of why hunger exists in the world? Try a mind map! It works as an individual activity, or with a leader mapping the ideas of a group. Once you've pretty much filled the page, you can talk about how the differed parts of the map are related, and add arrows to help make the connections. If you're interested in a multi-session class, you can start with the overall picture, then focus on specific sections of the map in subsequent sessions. It's also easy to end on a "half-full" note; with so many issues contributing to hunger, there are many points of entry to solving it. And with so many connections between issues, change in one place can cause change in others. If you want to go beyond education, it's also a way to organize for action: which topic is the group most interested in acting on? How might you do so?


Disclaimer: my map here is not complete (ran out of space on the page). Can you name some things I left out?

--Nancy Michaelis

More on the Food Price Crisis

Question: How is ELCA World Hunger responding to the food price crises we are hearing about in the news?

The Short Answer: Relief, development, education, and advocacy.

The Long Answer:

Our church understands that the causes of hunger--including the current food price crises--are deep and complex. There is not one "silver-bullet" solution, but there are proven strategies that work--these strategies are at the heart of our church's ministry of accompaniment with neighbors experiencing hunger and disaster.

The painful news we hear about intensified food crises around the world calls us to carry out our ongoing hunger-fighting ministry with renewed urgency. The stories being told in the news from Zimbabwe, Egypt, Haiti, Mexico and so many more places present an opportunity to talk about hunger in our congregations and invite more people to learn and act. Our partners are counting on us to continue to walk with them and work with them to help communities find food for today and hope for tomorrow.

The ELCA Church Council recently authorized an increase in World Hunger spending for 2008 which will help us strengthen and expand our World Hunger partnerships during this time of increased need. Let's step up to this challenge with another year of record giving to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and increased commitment to fight hunger with action and advocacy!

Here are two examples of how our gifts, prayers, and voices make a difference:

Relief and Development - In Zimbabwe, ELCA International Disaster Response has sent $100,000 to be used for emergency food assistance needed because of food insecurity caused by the overlapping challenges of massive inflation, widespread unemployment, and severe weather that has damaged agricultural production. This emergency assistance complements our church's ongoing support--funded by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal--for the community development and human rights work of Lutheran Development Service in Zimbabwe which provides clean water, health care, education, agricultural development, microcredit, and helps communities break free from hunger and poverty and work towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

Education and Advocacy - Have you heard of the ONE campaign? Have you told someone about it? Have you asked elected officials and candidates for elected office where they stand on the issues behind the ONE campaign? The intensified global food crises we are witnessing are linked directly to the need for sufficient poverty-focused foreign aid, debt relief, and fair international trade policies. Join in and help to make the voices of our global neighbors heard by elected officials and powerful decision-makers.

Thanks for all you do to help end hunger!

The solution lies within the problem

I did a Web search recently, typing in phrases like “definition of hunger.” It was interesting in the vast worldwide Web the lack of coherent information I found on such a broad topic. I received the obligatory links to Merriam-Webster.com and other encyclopedic or dictionary-based sites, but only one source (at quick glance) led me past a one- or two-line description of what hunger is.

I discovered a report entitled “The Concept and Definition of Hunger and Its Relationship to Food Insecurity” by David H. Holben, PhD, RD, LD on the Web site of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS is an honor society of distinguished scholars—many of whom are Nobel Prize winners—doing scientific and engineering research to increase our general welfare. It was born during the Civil War and signed into existence by President Lincoln with the Act of Incorporation. Its research is valued so highly by the U.S. government that Congress and the White House have issued legislation and executive orders to reaffirm its unique role.

This report cites such definitions of hunger as “the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food” or “the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food.” These definitions are not groundbreaking. But what strikes me is the lesser-discussed definition of hunger within the circles we walk: “a strong desire for something.”

Sometimes the solution lies within the problem.

Making the news again lately are the dirt cookies that people in Haiti eat because of the rising cost of food and people’s growing inability to afford it, turning to government protest and acts of desperation. So what is it in us that hungers to combat this problem? If we have a “strong desire” to end world hunger, then we cannot help but be hungry ourselves: hungry for justice, hungry for socioeconomic changes, hungry for progress in the movement to end world hunger once and for all!

Among those who work to end this pandemic, it is a fine line to walk to say we, too, should be “hungry.” But if we aren’t, then the people we advocate for will be.

--Aaron Cooper is Writer-Editor for ELCA World Hunger

4 mothers and fathers and neighbors

Thinking of you this Mother's Day, reads the ELCA World Hunger e-card. In her Lutheran Woman Today (May 2008) article, "All God's Children," Kathryn Sime invites us to think about "the mothers, fathers, and caring neighbors who love the children of the world."

In May you'll be able to read Kathryn's article online. For now, here's an excerpt:

"How would our world be different if we realized that all God's children are as precious as those in our own lives? Poverty presents the greatest threat to the most vulnerable in any community. Around the world, children are the most likely to suffer from hunger, poverty-related disease, and disaster. ...The good news is that your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal provide a mothering embrace to children living in poverty around the world."

Mother's Day is May 11. Father's Day is June 15. Kathryn's article is prompting me to give a special "Nurturers' Day" donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. This year I'm going to expand my Mother's Day "world" to include a gift donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal to (1) bless "the mothers, fathers, and caring neighbors who love the children of the world" and (2) connect with special people who will be tickled to learn that they have received a "Nurturers' Day" gift-donation in their honor. Shhhh...don't spoil the surprise, but I'm thinking these folks will be among those getting an ELCA World Hunger Appeal e-card from me this spring:
* Craig & Gina, parents of Lydia Norma
* Kathryn & Joe, parents of Calla Grace
* Laurel, mother of Sam and Olivia
* Bette, best "Gramby" ever
* Marj and Jerome Leegard, who expanded their nurturing arms to embrace me
* Anne and Melinda, who nurture the youth of my congregation through their music ministries.

Think beyond the rows in your favorite greeting card store...seize the opportunity to appreciate a variety of nurturers in your life and to bless families around the world. It would be fun if the amount you donate ended with a "4" (e.g., $14, $74, $204). It could be our unofficial code to indicate that the gift is "4" mothers and fathers and neighbors who love the children of the world.

Go and do blessings,
Sue-s

How much of your budget do you spend on food?

I've been reading lots of interesting statistics recently. Combine them and they become sobering very quickly. An example:

From The New York Times: Indonesians spend 50% of their budgets on food, Vietnamese spend 65%, Nigerians spend 73%. The poorest fifth of American households spend 16% of their budgets on eating.

Here are some statistics from The World Bank: Global food prices are up 83% in the past year and a half or so, 36 countries are experiencing food security crises, and prices are expected to remain high through at least 2009.

So what happens when you put those facts together? What's a community to do when they already spend over half of their income on food, and the costs nearly double? Riots are one of the answers, a way of demanding help from governments and the attention of whomever is listening.

It makes me glad to be living in America. We certainly have our share of problems, and we can't be proud of how many of our citizens live in poverty and with food insecurity. But as recession looms (or arrives?) and we look to our government, they give us an ecomonic stimulus rebate check. I know it doesn't solve all of our problems, and arguably creates new ones. I know it doesn't reach everyone. But the majority of us are still eating, and many of us are still eating very well. I am grateful that my government is both able and willing to respond to an economic downturn.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops recently pledged to tithe their economic stimulus rebate checks to ministries that serve people living in poverty. I think this is a great idea! The intent of the checks is upheld; the money is injected back into the economy so that goods and services are purchased, so that people keep their jobs, earn paychecks, etc. In maintaining the economy, we strive to avoid the conditions that lead to riots. And if those of us who are able donate some or all of our rebates to poverty-related ministries (like ELCA World Hunger!), the money can be put back into the economy by organizations and people with more urgent needs than our own.

Povery & kids... it's a no-brainer...?

My scientist husband directed my attention two weeks ago to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 29, 2008, “Researchers Probe How Poverty Harms Children’s Brains”). In it, the author interviews neuroscientists studying the impact of poverty on the neurological development of children living with poverty. Their primary findings – that poverty (aside from hunger/malnutrition) appears to affect a child’s brain development in ways we don’t quite understand yet – are both intriguing and yet somewhat of a – pardon the pun – no brainer. Poverty is complicated and complex. To think that we could easily categorize the impact of childhood poverty is to underestimate this multi-faceted problem. This research also questions the slippery integration of poverty, literacy, family stress and other socio-economic factors and their combined impact on a child’s brain development. “Growing up poor is bad for your brain” one researcher summarizes in the article - and I’m not sure we really needed research to acknowledge that fact.

In the end, it's just one more reminder that children are often the most vulnerable in environments of hunger and poverty. When hunger, poverty, racism, and family systems are interwoven, we’re left with complex situations that require – that deserve – our focused attention and smartest thinking… in our schools, in our public policy, in our congregations and in our community services. The solution to hunger and poverty will never be just one thing (food assistance, welfare, school lunches) but an interweaving of many different strategies.

There’s a lot of talk about the economy these days… but what would be a better long-term investment than in strategies that could promote healthier brain development of our children? Now that’s a no-brainer….

A "hunger hero"

Kathryn Sime and I had the privilege of traveling in Peru with Pedro Veliz. I count myself as one of his many admirers and I was blessed to have met him. Pedro Veliz is one of my "hunger heroes." Who are yours?

Below, find excerpts of an LWR press release about Pedro. Find pictures of our Peru travels at www.imageevent.com/elcahunger/peru Blessings, Sue

Picture: Pedro is modeling the Peruvian hat knit for him and stands next to the textile artist who knit it.

LWR Honors Longest-Serving Staff Member
Baltimore, April 8, 2008 - Lutheran World Relief last week celebratedthe 25-year anniversary of its longest-serving staff member, Pedro Véliz, regional representative for the Andean region. Véliz, who is based in Lima, Peru, joined LWR in 1982.

Véliz joined LWR in 1982 as a project coordinator for the AndeanRegional Office in Lima. He has been regional representative, overseeingprogramming in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia, since 1993.
In introducing Véliz, Whisenant recalled his own experience of workingwith and learning from him while serving as LWR’s director for LatinAmerica programs from 1993 to 2000. "To travel to the field with donPedro and to watch him engage with communities is to understand hisprofound appreciation for the innate dignity of others," Whisenantsaid. "I’ve seen him engage with impossibly old people to learn fromtheir experience and wisdom. And I’ve seen him play with children ofthree years old, to help them imagine themselves far into the future."

Véliz addressed the gathering of global colleagues, recalling severalstories from his career with LWR.

"Mr. Garcia was a small farmer who lost much his land when it wascovered by rocks and mud during an earthquake," he said. "He asked me, ‘now what can I do, Engineer?’ I asked him, ‘what do YOU thinkyou can do?’ and he described the greatest plan I had ever heard forrecovering land after such a disaster. The farmer knew what he had todo, but because I was an engineer, he felt the need to validate hisideas. Often, we think that professionals must have all the answers. Butevery day, we learn something new."

"My deepest and most sincere gratitude to Lutheran World Relief, thisextended arm of the Lutheran church, for having given me the opportunityto learn and to serve," he said.

Story of Stuff

This may be another one that falls into the category of, "yeah, already seen it." It isn't cutting edge new. But it's very worthwhile! In case you haven't seen it, or if you'd like a refresher course on how our consumption affects our planet and the people on it, please watch Story of Stuff. It's 20 minutes and 40 seconds of your life well spent - and entertaining, besides! It's the simplest, clearest explanation I've encountered about where all of our "stuff" comes from, where it ends up, and why it matters.

It's also a partial answer to my posting on the Nature of Power, my question about what it means for an individual American to wield American power. (Though it applies to other countries, too.) At the time I wrote that post, I was thinking more about government. But Story of Stuff makes crystal clear how each of us affects the world - and ultimately world hunger - with our purchase decisions every day. Instant empowerment!

When Israel was in Egypt's land...

When Israel was in Egypt’s land...Let My people go!
Oppressed so hard they could not stand....Let My people go!
Go down, Moses, Way down in Egypt’s land; Tell old Pharaoh to let My people go!
No more shall they in bondage toil...Let them come out with Egypt’s spoil
Oh, let us all from bondage flee...And let us all in Christ be free
You need not always weep and mourn...And wear these slav’ry chains forlorn
Your foes shall not before you stand...And you’ll possess fair Canaan’s land

Let My people go!

Clergy in Illinois have grown concerned that immigrants in detention in our state don't have adequate access to spiritual and pastoral counseling. You can find an article from the Chicago Tribune about this matter here.

This morning before work, I went with my pastor and some folks from several other Chicago-area churches and synogogues to a prayer vigil outside the immigrant detention center in Broadview, Illinois. As we sang the spiritual Let My People Go, we saw the detainee transport busses pulling into the center...and as we were leaving, we saw officers loading chains and shackles into the trunks of their cars, getting ready for the day. That was hard to watch.