crying never helped anyone

 

I watched the movie Blood Diamond, with Leonardo DiCaprio, last night. I sat alone, except for the puppy my digsmates and I found in the township, and cried. I cried for the 200 000 child soldiers in Africa that get so hooked on drugs and violence that they no longer recognize their families. I cried for the thousands and thousands of refugees who have nothing but themselves and the clothes on their backs. And I cried for the rest of us, every person who in the comfort of their homes, watches, cries and does nothing about the brutality and inhumanity that plagues our beautiful continent.

 

I know this is slightly of the topic of my blog – the world food crisis – but it is all the same thing when it comes to complacency in times of sheer desperation.

 

The most heartbreaking moment in Blood Diamond was, for me, when Solomon Vandy, a man searching desperately for his wife, daughters and son, looks with hope to Jennifer Connelly’s character (a hardcore journalist) and asks if the people in her country, whom she is writing for, will hear about the atrocities in his country and send help. Connelly, with the cold honesty of a journalist who has seen it all, says, “No”.

 

This is the revolting truth; that we will shed a couple of tears, maybe even start a half-hearted campaign for the cause, but eventually we become wrapped up in our own lives and forget about our responsibility to humankind. It’s “just human error” we say – convenience and complacency always win out.

 

We have only one life to live, why use it to take rather than give?

 

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, watch Blood Diamond, it’s a wake-up call like no other. Oh, and don’t forget about the hands that get chopped off so that we get to have a pretty diamond ring on our engagement finger.

 

 

take a stand and fast for hunger!

At last! A group of ordinary people are taking a stand against world hunger – and a powerful one at that.

Initiated in Iowa, USA, Presbyterians all around the world will fast for the global food crisis the first weekend of every month for the next year. Of course, there are those who are sceptical about the productivity of this kind of protest, but it is definitely a whole lot better than continuing life in a blissful bubble of complacency. Nancy Lister-Settle, who is “hunger-action enabler” for the initiative, believes that over 800 million people are going hungry not because the planet can no longer sustain us, but rather as a result of the political power-play and poor systems set up around the trade of food.

This protest is not, however, open to Presbyterian’s alone, but the whole world is invited to actively empathize with the growing number of malnourished and starving people across the globe. Fasting, while making a statement, will not work alone so it is imperative that participants, and others, make an effort to donate money saved to those who don’t have the option of fasting, but are forced into it. If you need to find a reason to join the protest, simply look at Egypt as an example of worldwide desperation - people physically fighting their way to the front of bread queues, getting crushed against the steel bars of bakery counters and being pushed to the ground when owners can’t handle the chaos anymore. 

As Robert Zoelick, president of the World Bank, says, we can no longer call this a food crisis, but rather a human crisis. So why not – why not make a sacrifice of 2 days once a month to aid those who go to bed with nothing to replenish their bodies or the ability to guarantee their survival everyday of the month. It’s the least we can do

Does First World country mean first class coward?

While researching the reasons for and long term and short term effects of the current world food crisis, I came upon some statistics and information headed “Rich countries wrongly play down impact of Biofuels“.  ”Rich countries”, translated, is the United States of America, where the current president contests the fact that biofuels have contributed to more than 3% of the global food price increase. In a confidential World Bank report, however, it states that plant-derived fuels have forced food prices to rise by 75%. President Bush’s understanding of our global emergency is that the USA’s contributing role in this crisis has been minimal, while attributing the rising food prices to the growing demand in China and India.

Again, however, the World Bank report blatantly disputes Bush’s reasons for the hike in prices, stating that the increase in global grain consumption wasn’t a primary factor, that it’s not responsible for the excessive rise in prices. Currently more than one third of US corn crops goes to biofuels with the EU using more than half of its vegetable oil for the same purpose.

The most shocking fact here is not that the production of biofuels is such a major contributor to the food crisis, but the fact that first world countries are not stepping up to the plate to accept responsibility and, frankly, it reminds me of the way people in high school deal with problems. It is not all that comforting to think that the most powerful people in politics are cowards who refuse to look the starving masses in the eye. Perhaps though, we should be more sympathetic, because I know I would have a problem with telling the world that the primary cause of the most severe food crisis in over a generation could be found in the blood on my hands.

Some food for thought…

We, as citizens of the world, are in the midst of a global food crisis. In the past four years the cost of basic foods has increased by almost 100%, forcing over 100-million people into poverty. What BBC News refers to as a “a silent tsunami sweeping the world” has been attributed to four (debatable) primary factors:

• 1. Bio fuels: agricultural land has been cut to make way for what many thought to be a scientific saviour. With more and more land being used to grow food for cars, more and more people are falling into the grips of famine.
• 2. Global Warming: the dramatic climate changes that our planet is experiencing have, naturally, had dramatic effects. With area of fertile soil and available fresh water resources disappearing at an incredible rate and countries like Australia experiencing its worst drought in 117 years, levels of food production are slipping very quickly.
• 3. High fuel prices: this hikes up the transport of food, the cost of fertilizers and industrial agriculture which equals a massive in the price of food.
• 4. Demand for meat: for some reason the masses in China and India have taken to the taste of meat, a most uneconomical product since it takes 50 kg of grain to produce 1 kg of meat.

While we may dismiss the extreme effects of this crisis as something that only happens in poverty-stricken African countries, we cannot afford to keep our heads buried in the bread basket any longer. It is no longer just a problem for governments to solve; complacency is not an option, we need to be pro-active if we want to witness the change. Keep reading if you want to know how.