How Does World Hunger Affect You Or Does It?

[Gilbey]

Everytime I see those images of starving people on my TV from remote parts of the globe, I kinda feel guilty that I have enough, or even more than enough. In America, we have the abundance of blessings and we just take it for granted. I always tell my kids to finish everything that they put in their plate because some people are starving. Does it make any sense? I know some families who don't force themselves to finish their plate when their full because according to them, it will just turn to fat. So why put it in the belly? So why get more than what you could finish in the first place? Only get what you can finish, then get some more if you're still hungry but always finish the blessing. We say the blessing before every meal so I believe nothing should go to waste. I am also haunted by guilt if I wanted to buy something nice for myself that is a luxury item because I feel that I should have given the money to those people instead. What is your take on this?

 

[Twitch]

Don't feel guilty. What have you done wrong that you should have to feel guilty? Feel blessed. Give what you can to where you can in the charity department and go on with your abundant life knowing that there simply isn't much you can do about anything in the world.

Due to the blatant greed of lending institutions many, many people have, and more will, lose their homes in this country and one day soon those folks might be hungry. Let's worry about our own neighbors 1st.

With Thanksgiving and Christmas coming let's think about giving what we can to the entities that support our less fortunate right here. If some of you have adult kids take the money you used to spend on toys and junk and give it to your local aid facility like we do.

Above all don't feel guilty. Guilt is what all the talented exploiters elicit from people weak enough to feel vicarious guilt. You're guilty for the beached whales, earthquakes in Bucastan, animal experimantation, the prosperity of pharmaceutical companies and every other thing you may wish to wring your hands over.

Do the right thing and God wil llove ya!

 

[Baron Kurtz]

I feel far more guilty when i eat some rice that was, let's say, grown in Pakistan and then hear about a famine in the very regions of Pakistan that grow the rice. There's something wrong with that kind of (admittedly made-up, but very realistic) scenario. But when i eat a potato grown in England, i don't feel particularly odd about it.

It's a very complex issue for me. Images of people suffering through famines are gut-wrenching (Oh, the humanity!), but always at the back of my mind is the fact that people can always move. People don't need to stay in a region that gets famines 9 years out of 10 (if you've suffered through the famines of 1984, 85, 86 and 88, why on earth are you still there in 1989, to await the next famine? I have the same issues with people who whine about the effects of hurricanes while refusing to move from Florida). The first year there was a famine, i'd be out of there. There are very few countries in the world in which every part of that country is suffering through a famine. People usually have options (i.e. can move to another part of the same country).

(all of this, of course, applies to adults only. The children are of course at the mercy of their parents/guardians/the rest of the community)

bk

 

[Paisley]

My understanding of why some countries are continually in a state of famine is the way the countries are run (kleptocracy). A lot of the food donated to the poor there rots in the docks or is confiscated by corrupt government. Keep in mind that one of the richest cities of the ancient world was Babylon--a city in the desert. In contrast, Ukraine, which has some of the world's richest farmland, had a terrible famine and mass starvation in the 30s or 40s.

Why should any of us feel guilty about another country's poor management?

 

[scotrace]

Sam Kinison

Had this take:

"Addressing himself to starving Ethiopians, he roared: This is sand. Nothing grows here. Know what it's gonna be like in a hundred years? It's gonna be sand! You live in a [beep] desert! We have deserts in America - we just don't live in them! Why don't you move to where the food is?"

I don't mean to be flip. It's a serious issue.

But I am also thinking of the classic scenario with parent and child:

"How can you leave food on your plate when there are children starving in (wherever)?"

"You can send them this meatloaf, mom."

 

[deanglen]

There is plenty of food in the world to feed everyone. I'm a firm believer in charity. I agree with Twitch, guilt is not necessary. Simply do whatever you can to provide for the poor. Action cures guilt everytime.

dean

 

[Mr. Lucky]

Please do not take what I am about to write as being trite or propigating cliche' - Act locally, think globally. I truly believe that statment and I truly believe that one person can make a difference, if there's enough of them.

I worked in the non-profit sector, specifically healthcare for the homeless, for almost ten years. I've seen what a single person can do, that they can, with an idea and help, effect positive change. A few years back the Gov. of Cali. vetoed a small, relatively speaking, item from the state budget on a Friday afternoon simply out of spite. But that one item, about a million dollars, would open the state Armories during exceptionally bad weather (this was the year of the El Nino season) and allow OTHER organizations to provide shelter, food and clothing for the homeless. And that act just really cheesed me off! So, with an idea, and lots of help, I started a campaign to have the program reinstated. And after much work by many people, and the enlistment of some heavy hitters, the Gov. put the money back and the program, when it was most needed, was there.

Now, that was just my small victory - and I quickly retreated to a much safer venue for my bread and butter. There are men and women out there, every day, swallowing their pride, scrimping for pennies, battling a massive system rigged against them, just to help another person - that is their sole purpose in life and God bless 'em for it! And that starts locally - but it DOES happen globally! You do what you can. But so will the next person. And usually the person after that. People, despite what we are told and shown, do care for each other - it's just not broadcast as much as the negative: if it bleeds, it leads is the old adage of the media. But there are people, ten thousand miles away in Africa, that are trying to do the best they can, just like we here.

So, do what you can where you are. The spirit of the act, if not the act itself, will spread. How do I know? Because it always has before.

 

[Twitch]

And for those of you affiliated with a church remember that 100% of your gift goes to the needy. Organized charities have like 92% administration expenses and 8% gets to real people. Your church direct all of it to the target chosen.

The only other thing we give to is the Heifer Project http://www.heifer.org This outfit buys farm animals with your money and sends them to people who, instead of having one meal, have a productive source of products and can increase their numbers through animal husbandry.

It's the "teach a man to fish" concept.

 

[HungaryTom]

Organized charities have like 92% administration expenses and 8% gets to real people.

Yep, I was told exactly this by a woman who worked for one of those organizations, she comes from Africa...no other details..


Tom

 

[Mr. Lucky]

And for those of you affiliated with a church remember that 100% of your gift goes to the needy. Organized charities have like 92% administration expenses and 8% gets to real people. Your church direct all of it to the target chosen.

The only other thing we give to is the Heifer Project http://www.heifer.org This outfit buys farm animals with your money and sends them to people who, instead of having one meal, have a productive source of products and can increase their numbers through animal husbandry.

It's the "teach a man to fish" concept.

That's not quite true. Depending on the charity, and who, if anyone, underwrites it, the amount of admin. cost varies. For example, Comic Relief, which aired on HBO for a number of years, had almost all of the admin. costs paid for by HBO: Offices, salaries, the cost of the show itself, etc. Therefore, 99 cents of every dollar pledged got to the projects - the other penny covering the costs of fulfilment of premiums. You know, all those t-shirts!

There are a number of charities out there that have similar situations. So, before discounting them, investigate them. Because of the nature of the 501(c)3, all accounting is available to the public.

 

[Viola]

I don't have time for the International Red Cross, but I've heard only great things about Heifer Project.

 

[Gilbey]

Don't feel guilty. What have you done wrong that you should have to feel guilty? Feel blessed.

Thanks Twitch
I guess my guilt is not what I've done, but what I haven't done. Sometimes it's just having the abundance (in America) that makes me wealthy if I compare myself to others (in Africa, etc.) who don't know when or where their next meal will come. Could be false guilt lol But it's just feeling bad that you have the abundance while some people are starving. Is it just me??

 

[Bebop]

And for those of you affiliated with a church remember that 100% of your gift goes to the needy.

I hate to be the naysayer but......

I think you are a bit off track. I suppose some church somewhere, at some time in it's existence gave 100% to the needy but there have been way too many examples of way too many churches that give way less than they claimed.

Gilbey, your words say a lot about what a caring person you are. :eusa_clap You can take solice in the fact that it was noticed.

I don't think we take for granted anything we have here in America that others do not have. I think we are by far the most giving country in the world. Be glad you live in such a country. That should make you feel less guilty. Guilt is one of those things that should rear it's head only when you are able to do the right thing about a situation and you don't.

I can respect a parent asking their children to eat everything on their plate but I don't see how it is connected to starving children in other parts of the world. Those commercials with starving children are as slick as any new car ad. You can sell a lot of sentiment and guilt with children, starving or not.

 

[Gilbey]

Be glad you live in such a country. That should make you feel less guilty. Guilt is one of those things that should rear it's head only when you are able to do the right thing about a situation and you don't.

Thanks for the encouragement, Bebop
One of the reasons why America is so blessed is because we are indeed such a giving country. I just wish the third world countries could have a system like ours.

 

[Dracca]

Everytime I see those images of starving people on my TV from remote parts of the globe, I kinda feel guilty that I have enough, or even more than enough. In America, we have the abundance of blessings and we just take it for granted. I always tell my kids to finish everything that they put in their plate because some people are starving. Does it make any sense? I know some families who don't force themselves to finish their plate when their full because according to them, it will just turn to fat. So why put it in the belly? So why get more than what you could finish in the first place? Only get what you can finish, then get some more if you're still hungry but always finish the blessing. We say the blessing before every meal so I believe nothing should go to waste. I am also haunted by guilt if I wanted to buy something nice for myself that is a luxury item because I feel that I should have given the money to those people instead. What is your take on this?

I have thought a lot about what I can do to help. I have also thought a lot about what doesn't help. Honestly, my take on it is that education helps the problem a LOT more that throwing money at it but when you are dealing with people in foreign countries, there is also the issue of corruption and their government not getting the money where it needs to go. I don't know if you saw recently former Zambian president Frederick Chiluba taking $57 Million? Not that he is the first and he probably won't be the last to do such things while his own people are starving. This often seems to happen when large sums of money (like from other governments to help a country and its people) are involved.

What I do, personally...two main things.

1. At home, I always try to give to food banks when I can. By that I mean, I live ON a mountain, literally, so it is only a few times a year that we have a food drive anywhere near us or a fairly close town. I go to the store and go through my cabinets and give soup, tuna, beans, etc. I also encourage others to do so and try to get the word out when these events are happening. I just go with a $20 bill and get the most I can each time.

2. I DO sponsor two of those children you see on TV. I looked into the program carefully and checked all of the charity watchdog sites and such before doing so...and I have been doing this for 3 years now (they were both 1 when I started). One is a 4 year old boy in Zambia (and I have actually visited this family in person). I would share some photos but I only took a polariod camera so that I could give them photos while we were there. The other is a 4 year old girl in India. I plan to visit her in 2009. We have a really hard time getting time off to go that far (my husbands family is in England and Holland so most of our vacation time goes to traveling there) or I would have visited her sooner. Anyway the money does not go to the family, but you can send money specifically to them, which I do for Christmas and Birthdays. This helps them a lot, you can specify a gift (like soccer ball, a dress, etc.) and their program people will buy it and take it to them. I just send cash and tell them to do with it as the family pleases. They usually write back and tell me to the penny what they buy and it is usually like a pair of shoes for the child then the remaining $8.14 in grocery or so. I write to them every two weeks and send small stuff like coloring book pages, hair ribbons, anything that will fit in a letter envelope and not look like a "package" as those can get stolen and if they are too heavy they can't pay the customs fees. The money goes to a general fund for their program...which helps to support the school (so all children there) and affiliated programs in their community (like HIV prevention education, prenatal care education, etc.) but they do make sure the child stays in school and also that they get at least one solid meal a day in the school as well as basic health care, etc. Granted the monthly fee I pay to keep them in the program does not go 100% to their specific school/program...but it is pretty high. I think most of the people that work for those two programs are volunteer type people, the one at Tithandizane in Zambia is a Buddist group that started this program in that area several years ago. The family in Zambia also speaks and writes English so I talk to them in more detail ever two weeks. Kalayani's family in India does not read or write at all and they do not speak English, her program (Amalas Kutumba Abivruddi Yojane) is run by a group of nuns...so they translate between us and her family every two weeks. Anyhow it seems to help a lot, they are SO grateful in every letter and when we visited.

Anyway, I got somewhat OT I think but as I was saying above, I think education is the most important thing you can do there. So this is why I choose to give in this way, and also started with VERY young children. Maybe over a full childhood with them it will have more impact...or maybe it won't but for now at least they get food and they are both at normal weight now and even if they do get stuck in the same life as their parents, farmers that make like $87US they will at least have the pleasure that comes with education, living a fuller life, being able to read and write, etc.

Now as to your question about finishing food on a plate or feeling guilty about buying something when it could really help other people. I just try to use common sense when eating. I generally eat until I am not hungry anymore as opposed to full, so yea I often won't finish a plate but I also try to balance it to where I will cook enough for one meal, not have a ton to throw away. I also spend the same amount every month at the salon getting my nails done as I do sponsoring Progress and Kalyani. That sounds REALLY bad but to be honest if I were prepared to change my lifestyle overall I guess I would totally change it and try to really help a lot by going over there and living without electricity and teaching them or so. SO I just try to do what I can but not to the point where it takes away from my own life to do so.

 

[jgilbert]

I do donate to my local food bank. I do what I can locally.
Lousville is the home of Stan Curtis, the founder of Kentucky Harvest, one of the best non profits I have seen.
Do what you can but do not feel guilty.

 

[Twitch]

It is the season, so let's forget about our pecadillos and give money and things to charities of our choices this year. I say local churches because that's how mine works. If we raise $1,000 for a specific needy group they get the whole amount. Don't know what big time organized "chain" churches do. But most official international charities do not do very well in percentages to those in need. Most all are well under 50%.

Local TV station here had a deal last couple years where you could be a secret Santa to someone in need who wrote a letter. You take that letter and shop for the desired items and you know that they'll get 100% of what their kids wanted because you controlled it.

 

[reetpleat]

I feel far more guilty when i eat some rice that was, let's say, grown in Pakistan and then hear about a famine in the very regions of Pakistan that grow the rice. There's something wrong with that kind of (admittedly made-up, but very realistic) scenario. But when i eat a potato grown in England, i don't feel particularly odd about it.

It's a very complex issue for me. Images of people suffering through famines are gut-wrenching (Oh, the humanity!), but always at the back of my mind is the fact that people can always move. People don't need to stay in a region that gets famines 9 years out of 10 (if you've suffered through the famines of 1984, 85, 86 and 88, why on earth are you still there in 1989, to await the next famine? I have the same issues with people who whine about the effects of hurricanes while refusing to move from Florida). The first year there was a famine, i'd be out of there. There are very few countries in the world in which every part of that country is suffering through a famine. People usually have options (i.e. can move to another part of the same country).

(all of this, of course, applies to adults only. The children are of course at the mercy of their parents/guardians/the rest of the community)

bk

Are you kidding. Forgive me but I can't tell. Sam Kinison, the comic, used to have a joke about that. "Move to where the food is." he would yell in his trademark style.

SOme poor schmuck starving in Ethiopia can't just pick up and move. Where. To somewhere where they can't even try to grow some food? To be immigrant laborers somewhere overloaded with cheap labor?

Some do I suppose. there are refugees all over the world. Of course, many in this country complain about illegal immigrants here, but I don't. They are actually able to take your advice.

As far as guilt, I know what you mean. I used to feel funny eating in an Ethiopian restaurant here when there was news of famine over there.

I don't really agree that we should worry more about those here rather than those over there. Starving people are starving people.

I believe we should not feel guilty abut having and appreciating abundance. But we should try to live simply and only spend our money on things that will really improve our quality of life.

(edit: This is a bit political for us. -Bartender)

 

[reetpleat]

There is plenty of food in the world to feed everyone. I'm a firm believer in charity. I agree with Twitch, guilt is not necessary. Simply do whatever you can to provide for the poor. Action cures guilt everytime.

dean

Agreed. Lack is a myth. It is about distribution, not too many people or lack of food or other resources.

 

[Gilbey]

I DO sponsor two of those children you see on TV. I looked into the program carefully and checked all of the charity watchdog sites and such before doing so...and I have been doing this for 3 years now (they were both 1 when I started).

God bless your heart, Dracca :eusa_clap