Day 25: Enough Food IF

Day 25: Friday 25th January

Friday's menu
Breakfast: Porridge with water, tbsp of sugar and 50g frozen fruit.
Lunch: Cup a Soup
Dinner: Left over portion of Tuesday's Sausage casserole and portion of rice. 
Dessert: Half a sachet of custard (its really not that bad anymore) 


I have been spewing out a lot of facts this month about extreme poverty and global hunger. 14% of the World's population go to bed hungry every night. 1.4 billion people live below the extreme poverty line. Numbers that would shock many but definitely not enough. Lets bring the facts closer to home. The equivalent of the entire population of the UK, USA, Canada, Australia and the rest of Europe all go to bed hungry night after night, after night. What an absolute outrage! Can you imagine if this was actually the reality for one of these countries. It would be headline news. There would be international outrage, protests, emergency international summits; governments would be doing everything they could to change this! So why are the above facts not headline news? Why are there no emergency summits? Why do we know these facts and do nothing? Why is the world not in outrage because of this injustice? 

Is it that we have heard it all before? Is it that we think we can't make a difference? Is it that poverty has always been a reality and so what's the point? What is it that makes us so indifferent to the suffering of so many people? 

Our food systems are broken. There is enough food to feed everyone but still 1 in 8 people go to bed hungry every night? 2.3 million children died last year from malnutrition. What is going on! People all over the world are struggling to feed their families? Why are we not standing up for them? Don't get me wrong, we have made progress in other areas of development, but, hunger is still a massive issue. It really is 'the great scandal of our age'.  

Change is coming.  On Wednesday 23rd of January British MPs met at Westminster to debate how the UK should address the scandal that is global hunger. In 2013 the UK will take on the rotating presidency of the G8 summit. During Tuesday's debate Tom Clarke the MP for Coatbridge, Chryston and Bellshill suggested the UK should use this presidency to push for new global agreements to fight poverty. International Development Minister Alan Duncan also stated that 2013 was the year that the UK would become the first G8 country to actually meet the commitment of spending 0.7% of its gross national income on international development issues. These suggestions and promises need to be kept and put into action. 

On the same day, over 100 UK charities, including Tearfund, launched a new, joint, campaign; 'Enough Food If'. A campaign that is leading the battle against global hunger, working to make sure our government keeps its promises. We need our leaders to tackle the four biggest issues that are contributing to Global Hunger. IF these issue were addressed the process to the food system will be kick started and we can be the catalyst to begin of the end of world hunger. 

The issues... 

'IF. A tiny, powerful word. What IF today was the beginning of the end of world hunger? What IF we could change the future for millions of people?' Help make IF happen and join the campaign today at enoughfoodif.org. 

IF we hold our government accountable, we can help to fight global hunger. IF the government keeps its promises the future can be changed for millions. Its going to take a long time but we can be the change. 'IF' is striving to promote food security and help those countries affected by global hunger. For the next 4 days I  am going to to discuss in more detail each of these big issues and how we can help make a difference. This year the UK has an opportunity to lead the fight against the atrocity that is global hunger.  Lets make sure our government keeps its promise and join the campaign today. 

If you would like to sponsor me for this month's challenge and help Tearfund to fight global hunger please click here and donate today.

Below are a few videos from IF...