Editorials

CAFTA: One Step Back, Two Steps Forward? Kristin Sampson Center of Concern December 21, 2005

Chad: Oil and Development. Washington Post  December 17, 2005 (You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.)

Wanted: A Famine Fund  Washington Post August 11, 2005 (You will leave this site and be required to register [once] with the Post.)

Archbishop Njongonkulu Ndungane Addresses Hunger No More: An Interfaith Convocation, Washington National Cathedral  June 6, 2005

Letters to the Editor

Note: When publishing letters sent to us, Hunger Notes typically does not publish full names of those writing letters in order to protect the privacy of those writing. If you wish that your full name be used, please let us know.

September 25, 2005

Dear  Hunger Notes:

We just wanted to let you know that we included a mention of (and a link to)
the World Hunger Notes web page in the June Extra edition of our column,
"Women In The New Economy:"

http://www.newwork.com/Pages/WITNE/2005/JuneExtra.html

Women In The New Economy (WITNE) is part of the Brave New Work World
website, which is located at www.newwork.com.  We cover issues of importance
to everyone in the "new economy" from charitable giving to ageism to breast
cancer to affluenza to Americans' lack of vacation time to the joy of
discovery. We also cover issues related to work/life balance such as slowing
down, taking time out to enjoy life and discovering the larger world, along
with the important social issues of our time. In addition, Women In The New Economy has been going strong for five years! 

Part of our mission is to highlight and give notice to vital organizations, issues, and initiatives which are helping women, men and children worldwide. If you have "new" news items to share with WITNE readers, please let us
know.

Best wishes to all of you at World Hunger Notes, and may you have continued
success in your efforts to end hunger in the world.

Sincerely,

Teresa Callies

Editor, Women In The New Economy (WITNE)
 

Dear Hunger Notes

I am interested in knowing about our World Hunger Fund, how it gets food to the starving, how many are supplied, how much money will feed one person, or one family or one village for a month.  Is there any way for personalized giving, through a missionary family perhaps?

God has recently made me aware of the millions of children who die of malnutrition yearly and I want to make a difference for some.  I am on a modest fixed income but perhaps I could feed one child or one family.

Any information you can send me will be appreciated.

C.K.

Dear C.K. As far as we know there is no world hunger fund. The closest thing is the  World Food Program, a United Nations organization (www.wfp.org). As you will see by visiting its website, it does provide food aid to very hungry people worldwide and is (by far) the closest thing to a world hunger fund that we know.  You can contribute on-line (credit card), or through the (U.S) Friends of the World Food Program http://www.friendsofwfp.org/site/pp.asp?c=7oIJLSOsGpF&b=245179

A check can be sent to:

Friends of WFP
PO Box 11856
Washington, DC  20008

The World Food Program principally operates by taking large donations of food and money from the United States and other developed countries and using those resources to provide food to hungry people in many countries across the world.  As far as we know there is no organization that provides food to hungry people, where they will reveal the name of one child,  family or village recipient of your contribution to you.  There are missionary families who do work in particular villages, but Hunger Notes has no link to these families. Thanks very much for important questions!

Editor, Hunger Notes 

Dear Hunger Notes

My name is M.A. and I attend high school in San Francisco, California.  At this time in my religion class, we are doing different social justice projects, and  my group was assigned the topic of ‘world hunger.’  As part of the project, it was assigned that we write a letter to an organization regarding our topic.  I decided to write my letter to the World Hunger Education Service because I retrieved a large amount of information from the website.  The purpose of this letter is primarily to thank your organization as along with the others dedicated to educating and helping the worldwide issue of hunger. I felt that the website provided a large amount of information and photos which have inspired me to take more initiative and educate other people on this growing subject.  Organizations and websites like this give more hope to the hungry, and also to the people who believe that ‘world hunger’ can one day be stopped.  After reading through your website and others, I have become inspired to take more action myself, because if this issue is ever going to be solved, every individual must help it themselves.  It is organizations like your that make it easier for people to become educated and help.  From my whole group, I would like to say thank you very much for your efforts, and for giving me motivation to help.

Sincerely, M.A.

Dear M.A.

Thanks for the kind words!  The World Hunger Education Service is a volunteer (unpaid)  organization, and we provide the website because we think the poverty and hunger of hundreds of millions of people is a vital world issue and one that lacks sufficient attention.

Editor, Hunger Notes

May 5, 2005

Dear Hunger Notes,

I am doing school research on hunger in Latin America for a ninth grade high school project. Can you suggest any website or materials that would lead me to some information? Thank you very much. C.M.

Dear C.M.,

Several quick suggestions:

Check World Food Program site (www.wfp.org)--if there is a food emergency somewhere there you should be able to locate it on the site.   See the emergency needs assessment section http://www.wfp.org/operations/emergency_needs/assessment.asp?setion=5&sub_section=6   (Colombia and Haiti)

Also see the Latin American section http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/index_region.asp?region=4. Good basic descriptions of the food and hunger situation. On the Food and Agriculture Organization site www.fao.org definitely see the State of Food Insecurity in the World http://www.fao.org/sof/sofi/index_en.htm.  This gives an estimate of the number of hungry people for all countries in the world including Latin America. Also check the FAO's country information--see the pick on the left hand side of the front page. Good luck!

May 3, 2005

Dear Editor, I am a college student conducting research on world hunger. I am investigating the various human actions that contribute to the problem of world hunger. I would be grateful if you can provide me with information on the following questions.  [The questions and the answers appear below.] I will be grateful if I can get a reply a.s.a.p. Thank you for your time.

Yours truly, T.C.Y.

Dear T.C.Y.,

My answers to your questions:

1) In your opinion, how significant are the actions taken by man that cause world hunger when compared to other causes?

All or almost all are caused by man.

2) I have identified colonialism and inefficient land usage as causes of world hunger that are based on man's actions. Do you agree?

Yes.

3) If so, can you please elaborate on these two areas?

Colonialism is an important part of a history of oppression of one group by another and income transfer from the oppressed to the oppressor.  What constitutes inefficient land usage is a complicated question.  Standard (economic) thinking would say that usage of land for high dollar value production is efficient. I and others would disagree strongly, and would look at how people's needs are satisfied by the land usage.  An economist's diagnosis of "low value production" is often production for poor people such as "low value" staple crops, which I would consider as high value production.

4) If possible, would you kindly provide me with other causes of world hunger,  also based on man's actions, that have significant impact on the problem?

Population growth in resource poor areas (and in fact population growth causing environmental degradation), war, and governments whose actions principally benefit a minority of people would be three important additional causes.

5) Lastly, what changes and actions are needed in order for it to be possible to completely eradicate the problem of world hunger?

We would have to pay much more attention to providing the poorest people with increased income. This would involve quite a few major changes including substantially increased democratization of African and other governments and some way, such as much increased foreign aid, to transfer resources from those in rich countries to poor people, predominately in developing countries. 

Editor, Hunger Notes

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