Ed. Notes-Today's ICH is devoted to the second in a series of Student Voices, originating from the iEARN project Finding Solutions to Hunger. They can also be viewed in the KIDS Website.

Introducing Zoya Arshad Karim

Hello everyone. My name is Zoya Arshad Karim and I study in Pakistan International SCHOOL-DOHA/QATAR. I like to read books, gain as much knowledge as I can, listen to music.

I'm really glad to Mrs. Mary that she gave me a chance to become a student ambassador! It's really a huge opportunity and I'm really excited on taking a step further in this project.

I joined iEARN in November 2016 and it has been almost two years since I've been a part of this project. iEARN is a major platform which discusses the global issues. It is a place where we all students and teachers come together as one single community and work on the issues and present our ideas on how to solve these problems. Similarly, World Hunger is one of the major global issues at the moment and I'm looking forward to contribute as much as I can in solving this problem with my fellow mates through iEARN.

You all are most welcomed to share your ideas and ways on how you people want to contribute in this project. Don't be shy, we all will work together. So let's all come together as one and help each other to find solutions to hunger.

World Hunger-A War Long Forgotten by Zoya Arshad Karim

“The war against hunger is truly mankind’s war of liberation” -John F. Kennedy

Hunger, one word common to every person on this Earth, but are we really familiar with this word? No. We are not. For us, hunger is going to bed without dinner, not eating anything and drinking for 3 hours, but to others, Hunger is much more than just getting to bed without dinner. Behind this one word, “Hunger”, there is a whole story full of pain and suffer which has been thrown into the shadows of arrogance and helplessness. It is now time to lift off the curtains of ignorance and selfishness and fight for the lives long forgotten.

A small girl carrying her baby sister towards an aid station with barely enough energy to reach for food, “Her dark, frightened eyes were desperate.” “Please, they beseeched, something to eat, anything at all. In a famine, the starving speaks their eyes.”

A mother crying with her three years old son in her arms, desperately trying to get a small piece of bread to feed her malnourished son, “For how long!”, she screamed helplessly, “For how long are we supposed to suffer for when we have done nothing? For how long is my son going to starve?”. “Help us!” she begged for anyone to hear her plight.

Right now, more than 1 Billion people suffer from Hunger. This means that 1 in every 6 person on Earth don’t get enough food to live a healthy lifestyle. While our children sleep peacefully at night not a thing to worry about. On the other, there are children who are afraid to sleep, no idea whether they will be able to get one small piece of bread to eat. We all know what World Hunger is, we all show “empathy” towards the victims of this war yet we don’t think twice before dumping a whole plate of hard- earned food into the trash, the same food those people would dream of in their painful sleep.

“There are people in the world so hungry that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.” -Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist)

Currently, about 58,352,950 tons of food is being wasted whereas about 35 million people are dying due to World Hunger all around the world. Every day we hear about people dying due to World Hunger in Latin America, Ethiopia, Sudan, Haiti, etc. but did we ever sit down for a minute and thought why this Hunger happening when there’s enough food to feed in the world? Everyone’s talking about the solutions,

But why talk about the fruit when we don’t know the root.

Hunger slowly and gradually kills a person which can bring a man down to his knees. Hunger mostly attacks the countries already suffering from problems like overpopulation, natural disasters, poverty, etc. Countries like Sudan, Somalia, Pakistan, etc. are the major victims of this issue. World Hunger is a global tragedy caused by overpopulation, natural disasters, wastage of food, etc.

Over the half last century, the population of the world has exploded. At this time there are about 8 billion people on the Earth and this number is projected to grow in a short period of time. Overpopulation demands more housing units, more working units, more Food. Majority of the developing countries are suffering from this issue, struggling to feed its growing population. The lands of these countries are losing their fertility due to the fact that they are now used 24/7 trying to fulfill the demands of its country. Due to lack of age of food, more than half of the nation sleeps on an empty stomach on a daily basis. Out of this 75 % of the children are less than 15 years of age.

World Hunger is also caused by natural disasters. Countries like Haiti, Somalia, Ethiopia, etc. are unable to feed their population due to famine, earthquakes, and drought, etc. These natural disasters destroy the buildings and beautiful sceneries of the country. The country suffers a major loss, confused whether to help the hungry people or re-evaluate the economic structure providing yet another chance for World Hunger to capture their population.

“Poverty is like a punishment for a crime you didn’t commit.” -Eli Khamarov

The ratio of poverty is increasing day by day. More than half of the population is hardly able to make 1$ a day, hence their families are left with nothing but empty palms to beg for a crime they never committed. They are not able to buy proper nutritious food for themselves, making them more physically weak, so they are less able to earn more money that would help them escape Poverty and Hunger.

In developing countries, farmers can’t afford seeds, so they cannot plant crops that would provide food to their families. They are not able to afford the fertilizers, herbicides for their crops causing more trouble. These countries lack efficient system of irrigation and well-built storage houses for the crops. The transport is higher than the annual amount of money earned by the farmer himself. Farmers are not educated enough about the trends of agriculture. Hence, they are left in the trap of Poverty and Hunger. The person who grows food for the others isn’t able to grow enough food for his own family.
But the question still remains, have we been ignoring the fight against the World Hunger all along? Leaving these helpless lives in the dungeons of misery and suffers?

“Individually we are a drop but together, we are an Ocean.” -Ryunosuke Satoro

The answer is a big ‘NO’, we have not forgotten them, and we are fighting day and night for those lives which have been left on a forgotten journey. To tackle World Hunger thousands and millions of people have joined their hands and doing everything, as humanly as possible they can. Individuals are trying to tackle this issue starting from their very own homes. They are saving food thinking twice before wasting even one bite of food wondering how many people would do anything for that one bite. They are spreading awareness regarding the seriousness of this issue among them.

The youth is volunteering day and night to become a contributor member in finishing this horrendous issue.

The youth isn’t the only one taking action. Thousands of institutions and organizations have been established. “Zero Hunger” is one of the major goals of “World Food Program” which is a non-profit organization which has been working non-stop to stop World Hunger, going from houses to houses informing people about the severe consequences of their ignorance towards this issue. This organization has set up Hunger campuses all around the globe which provides nutritious food for the people who are victims of Hunger. This organization also held hundreds of campaigns to grab peoples’ attention to this issue.

Among all these organizations and institutions, “IEARN” is playing an active role. This non-profit organization has provided a platform for the youth to voice their opinions and solutions regarding World Hunger. Students and teachers all around the world come together as one united family and fight against Hunger.

The youth keeps on collaborating, discussing, trying to figure out as many solutions as possible. iEARN has become a medium for the youth to connect with humanity, to reach out and save the victims of
World Hunger. Through yarn, hundreds of students were able to make a change in the world.

In a nutshell, World Hunger is a global tragedy, snatching away the lives of more than 1 billion people on the Earth. World Hunger is a war long forgotten yet long fought by the world which is caused by overpopulation, poverty, and natural disasters, etc. But now people all around the globe have realized the seriousness of this issue. They have all come together as one strong army striking against World Hunger day and night. The youth, the future of the world, has started this journey to save the victims of World Hunger, starting from their homes for as they say, “If you can’t save the life of a Hundred, at least save One.”