Hunger: Is There A Solution?
By Miranda Whitaker
Picture this: A young boy about age six, tears streaming down his hollowed out cheekbones, ribs protruding from his tiny frame. His head so disproportionate from his body that it’s slightly top heavy. Now think, Is this really what the world has come to? Have I been so focused on my own issues that I haven’t noticed this? What if this affected me or my family? You can call this many things, but I call it child poverty and starvation, and there are 100 million cases around the world. 12 million children die before turning age five each year, and 250,000 children die every week from illness and malnutrition.
Many people around the world are not fortunate enough to have the comfortable standard of living that we in America have. Many people around the world are below the poverty line. Many families cannot afford basic health care, education, or even food and clean water.
Though there are many great organizations and charities contributing to this issue, countless families are still faced with the problem of disease, sickness and hunger.
Back in 2013, my family and I went to the wonderful city of New Orleans. I had an immense amount of fun, but one thing I saw really broke my heart. Countless people without homes and begging for money. Since then, I’ve been more aware of this problem, and I have been finding ways to contribute and spread awareness.
This is a massive issue that needs to be taken more seriously than it is currently. All my life I’ve heard “world hunger” this and “world hunger” that. It’s been going on millenia before I was born.
Given that there are so many charities working in hunger, why does it still persist? I can tell you just a few of the reasons. War or massive destruction can completely damage a country, but those are things we have very little control over. Corruption, on the other hand, is another issue that we have a chance of stopping. Some charities only give about 5% of their profits to the homeless. Some charities are complete scams, and state governments are failing to regulate these “charities”, and people then contribute to the wrong charities.
Some people may think fixing world hunger would be an achievable task, but it’s far more complex than it seems. So how can we make any impact? If enough people devote a little bit of their time and energy to this project, we might be able to make a change.
One person who is making a difference is Daniel Chotzen of Community Hunger Solutions, which is a local organization that delivers organic food to various farmers, food banks, and over 100,000 people who are in need of healthy meals.
Daniel told me a few things about the organization when I asked him a couple questions regarding world hunger. He told me that CHS produces food and it gets locally distributed all across Southern Wisconsin. When I asked if they had reached any particular goals, like a certain amount of people they wanted to feed had been fed, or enough people knew about the organization, he responded with a joyful yes. CHS is one of a few of local food distributers, and I hope to contact a couple more.
Some other possible ways to help are doing research, educating others and donating money to legitimate charities.
It takes a lot to create an organization. People need the proper funding in order to be successful with their charity, and a lot of times, not enough people will contribute.
If you want to make a difference in this situation, I suggest that you take into account the information I have provided and to do your own research. What I’m trying to do is to motivate you to devote some of your time and/or money to this worldwide issue.
Anyone could be affected by this, including you. People who are starving or homeless could turn to drugs, alcohol, or criminal activity, making you and your family feel unsafe or threatened.
So, take action and get involved. Donate, raise awareness, or volunteer.
You can make a difference.
This story is part of a new Storytelling for Changemakers program for Changemaker Schools activated in partnership with Ashoka’s Youth Venture and Start Empathy.
Individual views expressed in this blog are from individual students at YIHS and not representative of Ashoka, Start Empathy, or Youth Venture.
