Fighting World Hunger

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   Three children will die by the time you finish reading this sentence. By midnight, 29,000 children will be dead because of a preventable problem. Yes, they will be dead because of something that only causes minor discomfort for most of us. 

   These children will not fall victim to a gun wielding terrorist or an unpreventable natural disaster. No weapon of mass destruction will blow up their village and disintegrate everything they know in a matter of seconds. Their death will not be so quick. This death will settle on them slowly, deceivingly gently -- naturally, in the beginning, with pangs in the lower extremities that come and go for hours. Then, the migraines attack. With sharp knife-like pains, their heads throb for weeks on end. Toddlers scream in the darkness, their only desire being neglected, pain invading their tiny bodies. Soon the screaming ceases. Lethargy seeps in like a demonic fog. Flies and vultures swarm over the masses of still children. They die one after the other. Most of them never reach the age of five. Hunger killed them. Unclean water killed them. 

   Most of us never have and never will experience hunger like this. We will never know what it is to lie and wait for death as vultures and flies hover around us. It is a graphic image but it is a very real image in our world. It is an image that the masses do not want us to see. It disrupts our nice, comfortable lives and takes our minds off of our problems like, what to watch on television or who to stalk on Myspace. We cannot eat our “extra big cheesy grande super value” deal in peace if we are thinking about starving children in Africa. We honestly cannot do anything about can we, right? Actually, you can do something about it.

   Friday night I participated in the 30 Hour Famine. An organization called World Vision sponsors a side project in which students raise money for world hunger. For 30 hours participants fast (go without food) to get a small idea of what it is like to live in hunger and do community service. Participants also learn facts about world hunger and about the World Vision organization.  For example, 1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day. So, if you donated $30 to sponsor a kid in the 30 Hour Famine, you just fed a person for a month!

   The beauty of World Vision is that they are not in the business of giving hand-outs. The World Vision teams travel to countries in need, bring supplies, teach people to farm, bring water purification systems and bring food for farm animals.   

   The fact that our neighbors live on so little and we think we need so much resonates with me in a way I cannot express. The fact the obesity is a recognized disease here and there are people dying in this same planet because they cannot find enough food to eat is astounding. We need to see the graphic images and the staggering statistics. It is past time for our wake-up call. The government cannot be solely responsible for feeding those who cannot feed themselves. It is time we put down the cheeseburgers and burritos, spare some cash and feed someone else!

Visit www.30hourfamine.org for information about starting a famine group in your church or civic group or donating money to 30 Hour Famine.