Tags
Biafra, current-events, Human Rights, Humanitarian Programs, Hunger, Pioneers of Peace, WFP, World Food Programme, World Hunger
“One of these things is not like the others, one of these things just doesn’t belong, can you tell which thing is not like the others by the time I finish my song?
Did you guess which thing was not like the others? Did you guess which thing just doesn’t belong? If you guessed this one is not like the others, then you’re absolutely…right!” Sesame Street
All six cups are red.
All are containers.
Five hold drinks.
One is a Pioneer of Peace.
How Can a Red Cup Be a Pioneer of Peace You Ask?
It’s simple but elegant. The Red Cup and its army of clones feed 20 million children in the poorest regions of the world. It is both the vessel and symbol for The United Nations World Food Program’s (WFP), Fill the Cup Campaign, created to raise awareness and funds for 59 million children who are suffering from hunger.
“The campaign slogan and logo are based on the millions of plastic cups that WFP uses to handout porridge or other food rations to millions of school children around the world.” http://www.wfp.org/node/7863
Kudos to the Red Cup because according to WFP…
– It feeds on average 20 million children a day
– It serves in 70 developing countries
– It promotes education by providing food at school
– It encourages girls to receive an education, preventing early marriage and pregnancy
– It provides all the daily essential nutrients to maintain health in one, 25 cent serving
– It provides relief and hope to both parents and children
It was 1969, and the awards night for our Annual 6th Grade Science Fair. I didn’t want to go to the event, but my parents informed me we WERE going. To this day I don’t think they knew in advance that I had won first prize, because when we arrived and saw the blue ribbon hanging on my simple red poster we were all speechless.
Earlier that morning my fellow classmates and I submitted our entries to be viewed and voted on throughout the day by students, teachers, and other so called important people. There were elaborate electronic contraptions, the most impressive being projects that obviously had a lot of parental collaboration.
My mother helped me with mine, but it was very simple. I’m not exactly a left brained person so I struggled with what on earth my science project could be. Did I mention it was mandatory?
Biafra was all over the headlines in 1969, so it was no surprise that one afternoon while walking through the kitchen, I spotted a Life magazine sitting on the counter featuring a photo of starving children. That moment my inner social worker roared to the surface, and I made the decision to risk ridicule and write a report on world hunger, highlighting Biafra.
A report and a red poster featuring a paper doll, collaged from newspaper photos depicting victims of hunger became my entry. Thinking about it now; it must have looked malnourished itself, hidden behind the elaborate electronic contraptions, mini green houses, and models of how the body works.
Last night while writing this post, I decided to see what happened to Biafra, and found out it had lost it’s independence, and is once again part of Nigeria.
Strangely after googling it, an article called “Who Cares About Biafra Anyway?” written by The Harvard Crimson, came up on the search page.
The weird thing was, it was dated February 25, 1969. Well that’s odd, I thought. How bizarre to happen upon an article written in the same year I did my science project. I began reading it with great interest and the first paragraph brought back childhood emotional memories, reminding me of why I chose Biafra for my project.
Between Aug 1968 and Feb 1969, one million, YES, one million people starved to death in Biafra. The article went on stating, at that time there were five thousand Harvard grad students. If each student died 200 times, it would equal a million.
I am grateful for an elementary school that was brave enough to take a stand, by recognizing the atrocity of world hunger over other fancy science projects. I’m guessing the school administration had to deal with many disgruntled parents.
Re-creation of my 6th grade science project
7 Facts From The Hunger Project
1. 870 million people do not have enough food to eat
2. 98% of the worlds undernourished people live in developing countries
3. Asia and the Pacific have the highest number of hungry comprising 578 million people, followed by Sub-Saharan Africa with 239 million people, and then Latin America and the Caribbean with 53 million people
4. 60% of the worlds hungry are women
5. Malnutrition is the key factor contributing to one-third of all global deaths (2.6 million per year).
6. Every 5 seconds, a child dies from hunger related diseases
7. There is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life
5 Reasons Why You Should Care
1. Because basic nutrition is identified under Article 25 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as an integral right of every human being
2. Because hunger is the number one global risk to health, killing more annually than malaria, AIDS and tuberculosis combined
3. Because solving chronic hunger creates peace and stability in the world
4. Because the suffering of men, women and children is unacceptable
5. Because there IS enough food, yet people are not receiving it
7 Ways to Show You Care
1. Be in the Know and inform others. Go to http://www.wfp.org to learn the facts
2. Express genuine gratitude for what you have
3. Don’t Be Wasteful. One of the main reasons people are not getting food is that it spoils before it even arrives. Think about that the next time you’re cleaning out your fridge.
4. Live Simply, So Others Might Simply Live -Gandhi Be satisfied with what is sufficient for your needs, freeing up resources for others.
5. Be Mindful. Be awake, slow down, see what is real. Eat you’re own food slowly, appreciating it’s life sustaining purpose
6. Claim Your Inner Pioneer of Peace. Stand up for what your heart knows is right. The true mark of a resilient person is the recognition of suffering and the desire to heal
7. Give. Share your abundance with others. Play Free Rice, the worlds only vocabulary game that feeds the hungry. http://www.freerice.com Check it out. It’s a good addiction
We Are Global Citizens:
Have you ever pondered your role as a citizen of the world? Like it or not, as human beings we share this planet and it’s resources. We truly are all connected. Many question why there is such a disparity between the haves and the have nots, and of course there are answers; but none is acceptable.
Lead by Eleanor Roosevelt, on December 10, 1948, The United Nations General Assembly signed The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was the first global expression of rights to which all human beings are inherently entitled. The following countries voted in favor of the declaration
- Afghanistan
- Argentina
- Australia
- Belgium
- Bolivia
- Brazil
- Burma
- Canada
- Chile
- Republic of China
- Colombia
- Costa Rica
- Cuba
- Denmark
- Dominican Republic
- Ecuador
- El Salvador
- Egypt
- Ethiopia
- France
- Guatemala
- Haiti
- India
- Iran
- Iraq
- Lebanon
- Liberia
- Pakistan
- Romania
- Greece
- Iceland
- Luxembourg
- Mexico
- Netherlands
- New Zealand
- Nicaragua
- Norway
- Panama
- Paraguay
- Peru
- Philippines
- Sweden
- Syria
- Thailand
- Turkey
- United Kingdom
- United States
- Uruguay
- Venezuela
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universal_Declaration_of_Human_Rights
SHOCKING ISN”T IT? Many of the countries listed above are shamefully the worst offenders. Clearly, governments are not taking adequate responsibility for their citizens. As global citizens, what is our responsibility? Each person must answer that question for themselves. What are you thoughts? Please share what you think by pressing the comment button but first…
Take 17 minutes to watch the Ted Talk below that changed my life.
I really mean it! It changed my life!
Where can I get a red cup?
No, I REALLY MEAN IT; WHERE CAN I GET A RED CUP?
I will be taking a break from my weekend posts for the next couple of weeks, while I try my hand at guest blogging. I will continue to post Weekly Wellness Check-in on Mondays, and Wednesday’s Words of Wisdom on Wednesdays. If you like what you have read please share it with your friends and follow me by pressing the follow button at the top of the page. Thanks everyone for helping me build my audience.
Until next time, Shine On 🙂
Barbara
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WOW I didnt know that about you. You were destined from the time you were young to do what you do. Great fantastic job!!!!!!!!!!! Love ya Date: Sun, 28 Apr 2013 14:32:10 +0000 To: debhar51@msn.com
Wow, is right. I had no idea. What an incredible story. I am very impressed and moved by what Barbara did and the very important message that she left with us. There are so many agencies out there that do various kinds of humanitarian service that we CAN trust. It’s wonderful. What an awesome responsibility, yes, I did say responsibility we individually and collectively have to help with this service in some active way.
Did you notice that in the list of those countries that agreed to this “Bill Of Rights” for ALL the citizens/people of the world to be able to count on at least one meal a day, the United States is among those nations? I don’t know whether we are shirking our responsibility (collectively as a government) in any way to all people, but I know that right now the only thing that I can do is act in some way to change or at least maintain things already in place.
All of that is a large introduction to what I really want to say. Please be patient and stay with me on this. Please excuse my being personal here. First, I will tell you that I am an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some of you will recognize then that I (most likely) DO pay an honest Fast Offering every month which, among other things, goes to help the Humanitarian efforts of The Church. Besides that, there are things that you and I can do to aid the world cause.
In mid-November of 2012, my husband and I moved from suburban Salt Lake valley to downtown. I’ve never lived in a city before. I’ve always been in the suburbs. We now live in the inner city. Again, speaking using the terms of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, our ward (religious congregation) boundary is roughly 18 city blocks (Salt Lake City blocks) which equals 1/8 of a mile per block.
Why do I bore you with this information? What does this have to do with world hunger? In answer to those questions, I want to tell you that within those 18 blocks, we have people that go from billionaires to broken families, many of the older population, people of various races and nationalities, and everything in between and worse where they DO NOT have food to put on their tables and don’t know where any is going to come from. This area also includes places where homeless people “live.” THIS IS LITERALLY IN MY BACKYARD. I don’t have to walk more than half a block to find someone that fits in one of these categories.
My point in this big explanation is this. As was so well pointed out in the Ted Talk, there are children around the world who are dying every minute of everyday. There are reputable agencies all around that you can donate time and money to. I am not trying to tell you not to use those avenues to help. I just want to point out that although we might not have children dying of starvation around us or even people as malnourished as so many people around the world, we do have families, children, the elderly, and those truly homeless right in our backyards wherever we live who do not have food to put on their tables even if they are lucky enough to have a roof over their heads and a table to eat from.
I am not saying what follows to bring anything to myself, but since moving here and not working any more, Barbara and my doctor have been concerned with what I am going to do with all my free time now to keep me from letting my severe depression pull me into bed all day etc. I used to really enjoy cooking. I used to make homemade bread for my family and to give away to my friends and neighbors. So one thing that I decided on even before I understood the dynamics of the people around me is that I would make a batch of bread (3 loaves) periodically and give a loaf to people in my congregation who really needed it. It is not much, but from the comments of appreciation that come to me from those who receive these loaves of bread, (I have turned the decision of who will receive these loaves and the delivery over to our ward Relief Society President), I feel like I am making a very small difference to some of those who really need it right here within just minutes away from where I live.
I guess in all of this what I am trying to say is that no one of us has to look very far from our own home to find people who are in need of our help in various ways. We cannot change how governments choose to put into play the “Bill of Rights,” but we can do something. That could be as simple as trying to meet the needs of someone living in our backyard that is in need of a friend, knowledge that we can teach and share, or some food to put on their table or help fill their cupboards. These things are very small, but vital to those we serve AND to ourselves in getting us up and doing something, and thus giving us that warm feeling inside of satisfaction that comes with serving our fellowman. Even if we do something from purely a selfish attitude of how this will help me, whatever we do, as small as it may seem to us, if we just do something, we will be helping to decrease the problems that exist all around the world today.
My challenge to each of us is to do something, anything, to help with this terrible tragedy that exists all over the world. If we do this, we will be serving others and helping ourselves at the same time. What a great win-win situation.
Finally, to quote Edward Everett Hales an American author and Unitarian clergyman, “I am only one; but still I am one. I cannot do everything; but still I can do something; and because I cannot do everything, I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.”
Despite the depression that we all feel and all the symptoms that come with it, I hope that we can all do as Edward Hales said and “do something that I can do.” Good luck to us all in trying to make even the smallest amount of difference.
Thanks Shirley for your passionate comment. Wouldn’t it be amazing if everyone did one thing. I love the quote you shared by Edward Hales. …”but still I am one”
I can’t speak from a global level. I’m too simple minded for that, but yes, it would be really amazing if everyone in their own community or if needed, starting within their own families, would do just one thing. As is talked about in the Ted Talk, it doesn’t even have to be giving food. It could be teaching a young mother to cook healthy food for her family or teaching the adults that their health is as vital to their growing family as anything.
When the pioneers crossed the plains, there is story after story of husbands giving up their portion of food to their wives so they could eat, and likewise mother’s giving their portion to their children. But what ended up happening is that the one who sacrificed more often died leaving those left behind in an even worse condition. So teaching good principles of various kinds can be just as helpful as giving food if there is first food to sustain them.
So again my challenge, we should ALL do something, because a vast majority of us won’t have to look very far to find a need and say that “still I can do something.” 🙂
😉
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