RICH WORLD, HUNGRY PEOPLE by Akerele Akintunde

Oladejo Olasunkanmi

Amidst the abundance in the world it is ironical that we still witness this level of hunger and starvation across the globe. A world where over 805 million of her population is hungry, imagine the entire North and South America in hunger. Our continual pursuit of a world without hunger has not been helped by the incessant conflict across the world rendering many homeless and refugees. These range from conflict in Northeast Nigeria leaving behind more than a million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs); the crisis in Syrian and others around different part of Africa and middle-east. Other economic downturn has accounted for job loses, fall in the price of crude oil, the depreciation of other currencies against fast rising strength US dollars has left more hardship to the world. More than ever, the gap between the rich and poor globally keep soaring and you can begin to see that the middle class in most economy keep on getting more conspicuous by the day as their numbers can be counted by the fingers.

On October 16^th of every year, the issue of hunger is brought to public conscience in commemoration of the founding of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Through the statistics, it cannot be hard to tell that the culmination of recent global events has left more people to be hungry than currently estimated. In every society where hunger is prevalent, the most vulnerable are the children that are supposed to be the leaders of tomorrow and the mothers that are to nurture them. These are voiceless majority and even when they make a sound they are very inaudible because of their fragility. It brings us to question; do we really have a future? In a world in which one in nine people live with the indignation of hunger, cutting across both rural and urban setting. What will you make of destitute in some of the world's most prosperous cities? 

This year, The World Food Day’s theme: Social Protection and Agriculture: Breaking the cycle of Rural Poverty, brings to mind the how most of the rural communities in Asia, Africa and some in South America are the most affected. 

Hunger is also self-evident in some cities and I totally support that the way to go is not just in Agriculture but also social protection. Beyond advocacy, volunteering and donation government of every nation must be compelled by the United Nation on legislation that will provide safety net for hunger stricken population, support peasant farmers on new technology that will improve productivity and will safeguard food waste. The problem of hunger in the world has gone past a one day aggressive sensitisation; it is a daily problem that requires holistic radical approach to resolving. 

The world has never been more inventive than this time, and solving a humanly solvable problem has become a herculean task. Considering the fact that no human problem or disease has been more devastating than hunger and the approach to rescuing the situation has been sort of lackadaisical. 

Crimes, deviant behaviours and Attention Deficit Hyper-activity Disorder have all been linked with hunger; I would not argue otherwise. I cannot imagine our children concentrating in class when something as simple as what to eat because there is none becomes a mystery to be unravelled. Our world has never made more money as it did now and so her the people has never been as starved as we were now. A collective will wins, and it is no fallacy that we should never underestimate every little help. Government, agencies, corporate organisation, Non-profit and individuals all have a role to play within the reach of their influence to help say No To Hunger!

“There is no vicious inhumanity than keeping children hungry.” 

― M.F. Moonzajer

Akerele Akintunde Hareef is a Cofounder/Executive Director of a hunger relief organisation in Nigeria, FoodClique Support Initiative and a writer for Diaspora Magazine. He writes from Stuttgart, Germany.