World's hungry dipped under a billion since breaching the record in 2009. The question is, how long can we keep it this way?
US President Obama finally said the words I had been breathing here and here. When a nobody like me mouthed these words, they're quite meaningless. When it's Obama we are talking about here, that's quite a different matter.
Barack Obama: Consider the millions of people who have relied on food assistance for decades. That's not development, that's dependence, and it's a cycle we need to break, we need to be big-hearted but also hard-headed in our approach to development.
Source: Channel News Asia
Honestly, I am quite startled by the dip despite the ongoing economic hardship faced by the world. I applaud the enormous amount of dedication to care for and feed the poor. With the world's population at approximately eight billion, it is hard to imagine how much effort it takes to feed 1/8 of the world's population.
Yet, I am skeptical if we're able to keep up with this dip, transform it into a positive motivation to do more.
Feeding the poor isn't just about stuffing food to fill their stomach for the day. There are plenty more such hungry days to look forward to and the only way to move forward is to elevate these poor and undernourished population to a point where they are capable of feeding themselves. Wasn't leaving the system of dependency something I once wrote about?
It's little wonder why aid groups are expressing 'strong doubts' about these pledges in a summit which ActionAid's chief executive Joanna Kerr labelled as an 'expensive side-show'. Whether the countries can live up to the pledges is quite another matter. The root of the problem extends as far as, do the world leaders even believe in it?
China's Premier Wen Jiabao reminded world powers of their promises to devote 0.7 percent of gross national income to assistance. So far only five countries have met the commitment.
I still feel we need a more holistic and pragmatic overhaul of the entire aid system. There are countless vocations all over the world that are lacking in manpower, provide the training and fill them up. There are countless sums of money being thrown to wealthy universities, allocate some to build free schools for proper education of those who are truly in need of these monies. There are countless political motivations behind certain donations, go right ahead and enforce a no-string-attached policy. That is, if the world even genuinely care enough.
For now, 925 million is still better than 1.02 billion. Yep, that's for now.
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4 comments:
An insightful post, thanks!
Yes, we need to break the cycle. BUT, I suspect it is more than merely delivering food to those nations or asking those nations to be independent of aid.
I have read a book on North Korea (and the book summary is scheduled to be out perhaps next Monday). The entire nation is starved, hunger for food. But even with aid, the food does not get to the people (only through black market). To make North Korea to be independent of food supply, the regime has to fall. And that is, for lack of better word, beyond the 'scope' of breaking the cycle.
Oh North Korea, yea! I am aware of that. The food aids were being directed to the military instead.
Same thing goes on in Somalia. The tribal warlords hijack some of these food supplies.
Everytime I think of people starving of famine I felt really really sad.
Food is of abundance, God gave abundance resources and food grow from the soil not necessarily from shrink wrap food and vege from supermarkets. If the nomads eat and live well in the Sahara desert with their camels and dates, if the eskimos are eating, if Singaporeans enjoy the best food in a small island with not much land resources, there is no reason any human being should go hungry in a vast land with verdant greens and fertile soil.
As Wilfrid said, some regimes must fall. One man's pride made a whole nation suffers. It's outrageous.
That's true. We can only hope some of them will come down soon.
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