World Hunger and Poverty Blog

Guest post by Echo Fox, author of Wave Singers

I woke up this morning, promptly. I went through my usual routine, finishing up with a bowl of cereal and a cup of tea. I clicked on an article that popped up on my Facebook feed, advising me that the coming ‘eating – oops, I mean holiday – season’, is upon us. The article was offering tips on how not to gorge oneself over the holidays, when so much food is on offer.

Still feeling decidedly rounded after my breakfast, in which I couldn’t choose between two types of cereal and decided to mix them up, I was struck by the lack of self-control inherent in that articles advice.

The fact that it is necessary to publish information around this time of year reassuring people that they won’t permanently gain weight through holiday feasting seems exceptionally sad.

I appreciate every day the abundance available to me. I enjoy visiting the supermarket, I love to cook and peruse food blogs, to eat out occasionally and to attempt to grow my own vegetables (unsuccessful as that may be). I would go so far as to say it is a significant part of my life, this dealing with food.

When it comes down to it, the wealth of choice I have when it comes to a single meal is astonishing.

So I urge you, this holiday season, to practice a little restraint. To show full appreciation for the food you’re eating, instead of just piling it high and gobbling it down. Enjoy each bite and eat because you need to and not because a third slice of Aunt Anne’s chocolate cake is on offer.

Not because you’ll gain less weight, or save money on snacks. But because the choice we have is so great, compared to so many who lack any choice at all. Choose wisely. Maybe consider donating your surplus to a food bank, or a homeless shelter.

Let your choices make the holiday season a joy for someone else, as well.

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Books by Echo Fox

Wave Singers ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon

Guest post by Zagham Karim, author of Town of Dudley Sixth

Today we live in a modern era. Our lifestyle is constantly changing through various technological advancements. Every week a new better electrical component is invented. As such a lot of money is being poured into technological research. Which begs the question, could that money not have been used for a better purpose?

Millions go into space projects, be it making a more powerful satellite or sending a rocket to the moon. If that money was instead spent on our own planet, think of the difference it could make. The money could be used on the under developed countries. To ensure everyone has the basic resources: Food, Pure drinking Water and Shelter.

Many poor people live around us and we do not see them. There whole lives are spent accumulating every pence they have to just get at least one meal a day.

To counter this not only the big organisations in charge, but us as individuals have to change. New projects need to be started to solve all these problems that exist on our small planet Earth. If we cannot solve our own problems, how will we be any better on any other planet (if we do ever reach a habitable one). Is it necessary to buy a gold plated phone or device. Why not use that extra money for donations on schemes that are at some level trying to solve these problems. But without the right funding they are unable to make a huge difference. However every little matters.

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Books by Zagham Karim

Town of Dudley Sixth ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon

Guest post by Justin McDonald, author of JSA: The World

Growing up as a young man during my early years a child, my mother always had this saying whenever my other siblings got into trouble and I didn’t do anything to prevent it from happening. She would always say this quote: "If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem." For the longest, I wondered to myself why would my mother say I was apart of the problem, when I didn’t do anything to lead my brothers into getting in trouble? But as the years went by, I finally understood.

If I didn’t do anything to prevent my brothers from fighting when I was well and able to, I may as well had been the one that teased them up into fighting. So to this day, I’ve learned that whenever you have the ability to help someone else or prevent something unpleasant from happening and choose not to take action, its a sign that you agree wholeheartedly with whatever’s taking place. As a child, my parents always taught us to help those in need (especially during the holidays).

I can assure you that this post isn’t just another post telling people, "Hey Everyone! Stop what you’re doing and give all you have to the poor!" No. That’s not what I’m here for, unless you want to end up in poverty yourself, afterwards. However, the main point of this post is to tell people that whenever you’re well and able to bless and make someone else’s life better, you shouldn’t sleep on that golden opportunity. Thanksgiving is right around the corner and for a moment, I’d like to break down that term.

"Thanks," as in giving thanks for the things that you have rather than focus on what you don’t. "Giving," as in continuing be charitable and give to the people care most about, least about and also to the people you know nothing about. Because after all, you never know when there might be a time that you’ll need something. My family and I do what we can to help get involved.

Once or twice out of the week, the family and I donate clothes and all sorts of other goods to places such as Salvation Army or Goodwill, in hopes that we can be apart of the solution. Although what we’re doing may seem small and insignificant, if we could at least make a difference in just one person’s life, then we’ve at least made a difference.

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Books by Justin McDonald

JSA: The World ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon

Guest post by Jason Crawford, author of Chains of Prophecy

As a writer, books are my life. I write them, I read them, I live and breathe them. I create characters one minute and enjoy the characters that someone else has created the next. I laugh when the story takes me to new heights, or weep when my favorites suffer heartbreak and devastation. I talk story to other writers, discussing with them their techniques, learning from them and offering pointers of my own, then I take everything back to my computer (or my pen and paper if I’m feeling old-school) and I make my stories.

But those stories didn’t come from nothing.

As a U.S. American, I’ve grown up in a state of complete and utter privilege. I know this, even if I can’t fully imagine what life might be without it. I have food on my table every day. I have a roof over my head. A car. A job that I like. And this allows me the time and flexibility to weave the tales that come to my mind, to create magic with my words.

Have you ever heard of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? It’s a simple thing that I use a lot in my teaching career. It says that, unless a person’s base needs, such as shelter, hunger and thirst, safety and security, are met, they will not be able to create, to express, to learn or grow. Basic biology – if your life is constantly in danger, how can you make art?

Make stories?

We love stories. Every one of us, from the day we’re born, enjoy stories from our parents, we enjoy making them up in our own minds as we grow. We tell ourselves stories about how we’re the superheroes, and how we’ll be better than our parents were and buy them red BMW convertibles and houses when we’re rich. Most of us never get farther than that with our storytelling.

But, what I realize now, is that there are a LOT of stories out there.

Think about it. Billions of people live in abject poverty, where the next meal isn’t a certainty, where the next glass of water isn’t for sure. Where survival may or may not happen. And these people, all of their energies are (rightfully) focused on survival, on seeing another day.

But how many of them, given the chance, could make magic with their words? How many of them could weave stories that would enchant the most unfeeling heart, could offer a new perspective on the world, could motivate someone, inspire them to become better than they were?

But these stories are lost. Every day, these stories are lost because their keepers die, waiting for things to get better.

And then I realized that it’s because we’re failing them. We, the people who don’t hunger, who have security. We’re in the position to be altruistic, to give. And, as a society, we do – I’m not going to diminish or look down on the accomplishments of those philanthropists who have done an immeasurable amount for the world, for people in need. But the very fact that there are still people in need…that’s our failure.

It is not an inevitability. Hunger is not a given.

These people deserve to tell their stories. I want to hear them. Don’t you?

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Books by Jason Crawford

Chains of Prophecy ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon

Guest post by Gwynn Braswell, author of Macey Harold: Attorney at Law

Most of us think of love as an emotion, thought, feeling or desire. But have we really captured the true, deep down essence of love? Have you ever considered that love may be more in line with colors than feelings? No, not the ‘Black-White’ that we call colors, but the many hues that make us who and what we are.

I look around me and I see the many brilliant colors of life, love, existence, living, smiles, tears, happiness and pain. Many times I have said, “You’re as pretty as a peach”, or when sadness is abound, “why so blue?” Get it? So many of our lives are surrounded by many colors, yet we overlook the obvious: the colors of life.

The colors that troubles me more than anything are the colors that consumes us with illness, hunger, despair, loneliness and a feeling that we and all around us is lost. As a whole, as a people, we can change those colors with the colors of human kindness, empathy, understanding and a genuine respect for life. We do not need to try to ‘fix’ the whole world. We only need to start in our community, our neighborhood, our city, our state; one person at a time and with that in mind we can bridge the communities, neighborhoods, cities and states, and with enough drive and determination-the world.

My 95 year old mother and my three year old grandson, are true examples of the colors of love. I contribute Mother’s longevity with all the years she spent giving, caring, nurturing and never forgetting how to show her colors of love. She is the one that showed me how to appreciate and associate love with colors: The peaceful blue waters of an ocean, or the blue of the sky with the soft, white, billows of clouds, or the pleasant smell of freshly cut green grass or pine trees in the forest. All colors that we find pleasing and just as deep as emotional love. My grandson is just a bright bundle of love.

If you noticed, there was no mention of Black or White, because if you think about it realistically, Black and White are not colors, just void of color! So what are your colors of love?

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Books by Gwynn Braswell

Macey Harold: Attorney at Law ~ View on Bookshelves | Amazon link unavailable.

Miss Mamie’s Girl ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon

Guest post by Betty Adams, author of Dying Embers

Haiti had an earthquake…

Facebook lit up with pictures of the terrible conditions. The Red Cross rolled up its sleeves and did what it does. The world reached out in compassion to a poverty stricken country that had taken a blow that could cripple far more powerful nations. From one small, wet corner of North America a handful of doctors, nurses, and midwives came and offered their services to the mammas and babies of Haiti. They learned very quickly to say one sentence. MWEN REGRÉT SA (I’m sorry your baby died.) Hunger and nonexistent sanitation meant that even a mild childhood disease could be deadly for both mother and child.

The ten day sensation faded. Facebook moved on, and though the Red Cross still plugged doggedly away, the world forgot. The small group of healers from the Pacific Northwest would soon have to return home but they could not abandon the women and children they had come to serve. So they joined with the midwives of Haiti and formed Mamma Baby Haiti

Their goal is simple. They never want to say Mwen Regret Sa again.

Mamma Baby Haiti has been offering free pre and neo-natal services to the women and children of Haiti for half a decade now. They offer education on nutrition and formula among a host of other work. They are donation funded and volunteer staffed.

For anyone looking for a reliable charity this one is golden. The website states that:

In 2014, our Haitian midwives attended, 5,789 prenatal appointments, 452 births, 1272 postpartum visits, and 83 family planning appointments; 2015 is proving to be just as busy of a year!

Be a part of this year and the year to come! http://www.mamababyhaiti.org/

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Books by Betty Adams

Dying Embers ~ View on Bookshelves | View on Amazon