The Oxford university press dictionary elucidates Hunger as 'A feeling of discomfort or weakness caused by lack of food, coupled witht the desire to eat'. The thesaurus gives other words as 'Malnourishment', 'Ravenousness', 'Emptiness' etc.
In the world we live in today, It would shock you my friend to know that more than 925 million people go to bed hungry and hunger kills more than AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria combined, making it the #1 health risk in our world. The day I came across this information, I was weak. To know that each passing day, i threw food crumbs away notwithstanding and now found out that someone died out of lack for it was bitter to me. I went for confession.
Usually, I’ve received news that has made me really angry but lately The UN announced that famine has spread to more areas in the Horn of Africa and '750,000 PEOPLE' are now at risk of dying in Somalia by the end of the year. I pondered for a while, Is it just food that is the problem or what?, Can't famine be tackled? . I decided to then write. My friend, Please note that this piece is a plea, a call for YOU and I.
Bolajoko Fadipe, A Hunger fighter told me recently that after a research carried out by His company, it was found out that 1 in 7 Nigerians go to bed without food for that day. A nation blessed with rich human and natural resources I wondered. I never took hunger to be a serious issue until I came across certain pictures and videos from the 'World food programme' organisation. You could see individuals with bleak futures already as the only thing they cared about was their stomach, violence is inevitable in such cases.
The above news comes on top of an already desperate situation:
12.4 million people in five countries across the Horn of Africa are affected.
Tens of thousands of people have already died from starvation, half of whom are children – and malnutrition rates in some regions are worse than anything previously recorded.
Half of the Somali people now depend on food aid to stay alive,But something CAN be done I believe. Drought might be inevitable, but famine is not.
I consider truthful the fact that every act of compassion makes a difference to someone. We can end hunger if we chose to come as ONE and Fight it. There are genuinely sufficient resources in the world to ensure that no one, nowhere, and at no time,should go hungry. A man not only needs to know how to fish, he needs to have the freedom to do it and a place to do it. That's where We all come in. We have to help each other, and I feel the government has a very important role therein. Hungry people cannot be good at learning or producing anything, except perhaps violence. It pains me to see that foreign aid is being sought for situations we as africans could tackle in House.
The desire to write this piece grew in me when I heard Vice-chair of the US joint chief of state Admiral David Jeremiah recently say and I quote 'there is nothing of geo-political value in somalia that should engage the US interest, the intervention had only one motivation - humanitarian. It appeared to me that the western power has never involved in a crisis that will not favour them, rather they consider their benefits before spending. Is this Humane?
We are a country that prides itself on power and wealth, yet there are millions of children who go hungry every day. It is our responsibility, not only as a nation, but also as individuals, to get involved not just for our country but for somalia now also.
Drew Barrymore remarked recently that She could not think of any issue that was more important than working to see that no schoolchild in the world goes hungry and I fully agree to that. Education as we know cannot be overemphasised.
'School feeding not only fills stomachs, but has a proven track record of boosting enrollment, attendance and academic performance. For just pennies a day per child, this program changes lives – and ultimately can impact the futures of poor countries around the world in a profound way', She opined.
When we work to end childhood hunger, we are giving our love to kids who need it so much they will never ask for it. One of the greatest feelings for me in the world is knowing that we as individuals can make a difference.
Many of you may think that hunger is unavoidable in any society, even a society that is blessed with great abundance. That is not true. The European community does not have widespread hunger. Somalia being a failed state today does not mean its people should die. Most of Our citizenry believe that hunger only affects people who are lazy or people who are just searching for a handout, people who don't want to work, but, sadly, THAT IS NOT TRUE. Over one-third of our hungry people are innocent children who are members of households that simply cannot provide enough food or proper nutrition, some live only on the paltry #18000 in Nigeria. And to think of the elderly suffering from malnutrition is just too hard for most of us. The problem to me is about not caring enough!. Renowned Member of the US Presidential commission on world hunger David Brooks posits that "If we are going to stop wars on this earth, we are going to have to make war on hunger our number one priority."
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