The Starvation Next Door

Hunger is something I don’t really understand. Oh, I’ve got a hearty appetite and my stomach tells me when I haven’t pampered it recently enough. But I’ve never gone without food for more than 24 hours and never been deprived of food for any reason other than my own choice.
I go to the grocery store pretty regularly and generally buy whatever I feel like getting, within reason. I’m used to eating a great variety of foods and enjoying that breadth of choice.
But as hard as it is for me to conceive of it, starvation and malnutrition are still major problems throughout our world. Not only does a significant percent of the world’s population eat a very basic diet comprising mostly of grains and beans, far too many millions experience periods of food shortages every year.
One of the places where our church is involved in mission is Haiti. Please note the following quote from the webpage of the World Food Programme: (http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/indexcountry.asp?country=332)
“Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere, and one of the most disadvantaged countries in the developing world. It ranks 153 out of 177 countries on the UNDP Human Development Index (2004). Seventy-six percent of Haitians live on less than US$2 per day, while 55 percent live on less than US$1 per day.
Chronic malnutrition is widespread among the most vulnerable, with severe or moderate stunting affecting 42 percent of children under five. While easily preventable, maladies like malnutrition and diarrhea kill 28 percent and 20 percent of children aged 0–5, respectively. Food supply covers only 55 percent of the population and daily food insecurity affects 40 percent of Haitian homes.
Haiti ranks along with Afghanistan and Somalia as one of the three countries of the world with the worst daily caloric deficit per inhabitant (460 kcal/day). Some 2.4 million Haitians cannot afford the minimum 2,240 daily calories recommended by the World Health Organization.”
In the mountains southwest of Port Au Prince, the Haiti Education Foundation (HEF—see www.haitifoundation.org) has been working for over twenty years to build schools, feed and clothe children, and bring hope into a desperately impoverished area. Our church has contributed more than $100,000 in the last 19 years in this ministry effort, but HEF still only reaches a tiny segment of the country.
As hard as it is for me to conceive of that, it’s even harder for me to imagine that children are showing signs of malnourishment right here in Sand Springs. No doubt, in many cases, bad decisions by their parents or guardians are responsible for putting their lives in jeopardy. But the fact remains that teachers and administrators are alarmed by the dozens of kids in Sand Springs schools that show signs of food insecurity every week.
Fortunately, there are relatively easy ways that we can help. Sand Springs Community Services (SSCS), in coordination with the Eastern Oklahoma Food Bank and lots of volunteers locally, is able to provide a backpack with nutritious food for the weekend for those children displaying the greatest signs of food insecurity. For just $50/year, a child gets a backpack with nutritious food for 40 weekends through the school year.
SSCS also helps with bills for rent, natural gas, electricity, and water. Food assistance and clothing are other ways the poor in our community are helped. While assistance of over $1000 per family could have been received during 2007 for qualifying households, less than 18% of families received over $400 from SSCS. That’s a pretty good sign that the agency is doing a great job of finding ways to help people without simply creating a dependency on the agency.
Through our annual budget, special offerings coordinated by our deacons, and coordination of care between our church and SSCS, we’re helping to make a difference in people’s lives right here at home. Soon, SSCS will have a new website that will help you learn more about the great work of the agency. We’ll look forward to sharing good news with you.
It’s astounding to consider that so many people struggle for basic nutrition in our modern world; that’s the bad news. The good news is that it’s so easy for us to make a difference.