UN Anthem for the Fight Against Poverty

Hindu.com reports on the new UN anthem for the fight against poverty:

Poverty has no caste or gender, but it now has a voice in the form of music virtuoso A R Rahman, whose English single “Pray For Me Brother” will be the UN’s anthem for its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) campaign.

The MDGs comprise a set of eight promises by world governments to end poverty, hunger and disease by 2015.

After rocking India with his “Vande Mataram”, Rahman’s first English song, released by Universal Music, is his call to wipe poverty off the face of the earth.

Read entire Hindu.com article.

The power of music and art can help raise awareness and concern. The UN can’t end poverty and hunger on its own. Hopefully powerful songs such as Rahman’s will inspire more people to get involved.

What do you think?

Hunger Drives Students to Suicide

Malungelo Booi reports that students in South African schools commit suicide due to hunger:

HUNGER and desperation are driving pupils at a school near Mthatha to commit suicide, according to the principal.

More than a quarter of the pupils at Upper Corana High School, in Misty Mount near Mthatha, may be HIV/Aids orphans, and the high scholar suicide rate has become a matter of concern to provincial authorities.

Suthukazi Lujabe, the school’s principal, said most of the pupils walk long distances on empty stomachs to get to school.

She said every year from 2001 to 2006, one or two pupils killed themselves at the school due to hunger.

Read entire article by Malungelo Booi.

Such suicides demonstrate the terrible agony of which these poor children suffer. Even worse, think of the 18,000 children who involuntarily die from hunger. They suffer in hunger pains that would drive some to suicide, which leads to their slow death.

How can we expect children to learn in a school with such hunger?

The world has more than enough food to feed everyone. Why do we allow hunger to continue?!

What do you think?

18,000 Children Die Daily From Hunger

The AP reports that the UN says 18,000 children die daily from hunger:

It is “a terrible indictment of the world in 2007” that 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition, and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs, the head of the UN food agency said on Friday.

James Morris called for students and young people, faith-based groups, the business community and governments to join forces in a global movement to alleviate and eliminate hunger – especially among children.

“Addressing the hunger issue is the most powerful way to break the poverty cycle,” he said in an interview. “We all simply have to do more.”

Read entire AP article on Gulf News.

Almost anyone would work any terrible job for the lowest of pay, if it meant avoiding the agony of hunger. That anyone goes hungry says something about the lack of fair opportunity in the world. Nonetheless, our society denies proper food to children, so extremely that 18,000 children die every day from hunger. Even more sickeningly, the world has more than enough food to feed everyone.

The people of this world need to organize non-governmentally and change the socioeconomic system so that no child goes hungry, and so that every child has access to the necessities including food, clothes, shelter, healthcare and education.

What do you think?

Greens Call for Fresh Fruit in all Schools

In a recent press release the Green Party calls for fresh fruit in all primary schools (of New Zealand).

The Green Party is calling for the Free Fruit in Schools programme to be extended to all primary schools in New Zealand, and for the Government to make available free, healthy breakfasts in all schools, Green Party Health Spokesperson Sue Kedgley says.

Currently only 268 of the 2,662 schools that have children of primary school age on their rolls have access to the Fruit in Schools programme.

“If thousands of children are going to school hungry every day, this will adversely affect their health and well being, as well as their ability to learn. Hungry children won’t be able to concentrate and learn properly, and chronically hungry children inevitably develop nutritional deficiencies and health problems, ” Ms Kedgley says.

“That’s why most developed nations offer free lunches in schools, and it is a tragedy that we don’t have that programme here. The cost would be miniscule, compared to the health and education benefits,” Ms Kedgley says.

Read entire press release.

I find it absurd to expect children to learn while hunger, undernourished, or malnourished. To run a school properly, the children need access to healthy food. Rather than waste time futilely appealing to the government to fix up the under-funded hell-holds that they call schools, we the people need to make our own private schools. We need to ensure that every child has access to education, and that education must come with food, clothes, and shelter. I believe we can best provide this through student loans and boarding schools.

What do you think?

Teens Fast to Fight Hunger

Approximately 500,000 teens across the country intend to participate in the 2007 World Vision 30-Hour Famine.

For 30 hours, starting at noon Feb. 23, the participants plan to go without food, consuming only liquids, learn about world hunger and poverty and perform service projects in their communities.

The money raised by each participant contributes to the national goal of $12 million.

What do you think?

AIDS one of the Top Killers of Black People

Larry Ault recently wrote an article describing the especially harsh effect HIV/AIDS has on blacks in the United States:

The National Center for Health Statistics 2006 report says HIV/AIDS is one of the top 10 causes of death for African-Americans.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has indicated HIV/AIDS is the leading cause of death for African-American women ages 25-34 in the United States. Black youth ages 13-19 account for 73 percent of the young people infected with HIV/AIDS, the state Department of Health and Human Services reported.

In 2006, it was estimated 54 percent of new HIV cases nationwide were African-Americans who are more likely to test later than other races according to Kaiser Foundation reports and are more likely to receive a diagnosis of AIDS from the initial positive test.

Read entire article by Larry Ault.

This global killer hurts all of us, but it especially harms the black community. Additionally, the HIV/AIDS epidemic spreads faster and harsher through poor communities in which the people cannot afford testing and treatment. Although we have no cure, for the most part we can prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS by abstaining from unprotected sex, unless in a monogamous relationship where both participations have passed the HIV/AIDS test.

Sadly, in the United States, approximately 25% of people infected with AIDS do not even know.

What do you think?