In the wake of widespread reports of a worsening hunger situation in Kenya, an interesting phenomenon has been taking place in the country. While the government has largely been entangled with trying to defray criticisms of doing little to curb and avert the crisis, ordinary Kenyans have come together to raise funds to mitigate the looming situation via small contributions and donations. Using money transfer platforms that are run by the major mobile phone companies including Safaricom, Airtel and Telkom Orange, individuals have been able to donate as little as Ksh10 (half of a quarter) towards hunger alleviation.

The results have been extraordinary despite the seeming meager donation amounts; in fact, a whooping Ksh20 million ($250,000) has so far been raised by ordinary citizens within the span of a week and half through Safaricom’s M-pesa money transfer portal. Similarly, an initiative by a leading local bank, the Kenya Commercial Bank, dubbed Kenyans for Kenya raised Ksh1 million ( $12,500) a day after it was launched and has since caught the attention of the largest business corporations in Kenya, which are currently making vast donations and pledges. The money will be administered by the Kenya Red Cross Society to help the most affected people in the region.

Furthermore, as some Kenyans have taken to social networking sites to raise awareness and show their support for the hungry, others have taken a step further and have been moved to act in very sacrificial ways. For instance, a policeman, constable Hashim Mohammed Elmogo, is reported in the Daily Nation, Kenya’s premier newspaper, to have donated his entire salary for July after he was moved by the plight of a child suckling on her mother’s breast long after she had died. You can read the full story here: http://bit.ly/oItgj4

This clearly points to the fact that giving and helping others has increasingly ceased to be the sole purview of the rich and famous. It seems rather that local everyday people are willing to do their part in giving to the community and making their presence and contribution count. Indeed, the Hatua International community strongly believes that with the right tools and convenient means every single individual can be empowered to act and play a role in changing his or her society for the better. To this fact, the Kenyan citizenry is living proof.

In response to the increasingly desperate famine in the Horn of Africa, the State Department is giving its assurances to aid organizations, including the World Food Programme, that as far as it’s concerned getting food to the region takes priority over the potential legal issues of coming into contact with Al-Shabab, a group that the U.S. considers a terrorist organization. This is a substantial shift in policy based on increasing American awareness and concern regarding the crisis.

Here’s a couple AP and Reuters stories.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jEfPqBnu7_9Iz868pivMkYQAMCqQ?docId=9ca44c3750984fd08a4eb16aff484f7a

http://af.reuters.com/article/commoditiesNews/idAFN1E7710ZU20110802

53 million people in Latin America and the Caribbean are currently affected by malnutrition and hunger. Indigenous peoples make up the greater portion of this number. Their unfortunate reality, according to a recent article by Maria Clara Valencia, has been that “their ways to access food by hunting, collecting and by using the services of the forests is being threatened by the way food systems have evolved in the past 50 years.” The situation in Guatemala in particular, as Valencia asserts, highlights the severity and urgency of the hunger problem; malnutrition affects 50 percent of the country’s children and 80 percent of Guatemala’s indigenous communities.

There is good news in the midst of all this. For one, Latin American countries have been getting together to discuss strategies for fighting hunger. In fact, some solutions have already been tried on a small scale in various countries including Brazil and Ecuador and have shown some level of success. Whether they can be duplicated and extended to the rest of the continent depends on their applicability but more importantly on the will of affected governments and other institutions to embrace these strategies.

Please follow the link below for the full story and details of some strategic solutions to battling the hunger problem in Latin America:

http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2011/06/indigenous-peoples-one-of-the-most-vulnerable-to-food-insecurity-in-latin-america/

As famines and starvation deaths continue to dominate the discourse on hunger, a less emphasized yet equally critical crisis exists in the form of chronic food and nutrition insecurity. Admittedly, the recurrent images of scrawny, starving children in Africa have effectively served to mask the fact that child malnutrition rates in India are significantly higher than most countries in sub-Saharan Africa. According to a report on The Economist, forty-eight percent of India’s children below five years suffer from malnutrition and represent “more than one-third of the world’s 150 million malnourished.”

Moreover, India’s rapid economic growth has been unsuccessful in addressing the food crisis that continues to strangle the country’s rural economy. As a response, according to the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), the government has proposed a National Food Security Act which “will require families who are below the poverty line in rural or urban areas to receive up to 25 kgs of food grain at 3 rupees/kg per month” among other things.

Dr. Vandana Shiva, a respected Indian philosopher, environmental activist, and food and agriculture policy reform advocate tackles the source of food insecurity in India in an article posted below. She discusses some suggestions for ensuring that the Food security Act will be effective in the eradication of malnutrition and hunger in India.

Here is Dr. Shiva’s article as published by AlJazeera on July 12th, 2011:

http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/opinion/2011/07/20117810358528978.html

Let us know what you think.

The word on every aid worker’s lips today is drought. The East African region is currently experiencing a severe drought that has been designated by the United Nations as the worst in 60 years. Extending over the regions of Ethiopia, Somalia and central and northern Kenya, the lack of access to food has led to a massive exodus of refugees from Ethiopia and Somalia towards refugee camps in Northern Kenya in spite of the fact that the situation in Kenya is not much better than the regions from whence these refugees are coming from. Meanwhile, as reported by the East African newspaper, Elizabeth Byrs, the UN spokeswoman of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), contends that “there is no likelihood of improvement until 2012” due to changing climate and the lack of sufficient rainfall for two consecutive seasons that has left the region one of the driest or second driest year since the 1950s.

The World Food Programme (WFP) has reported that the number of people requiring food aid is likely to rise to 10million in coming weeks. WFP, the agency tasked with delivering food aid to millions of starving people around the world each year, has indicated the growing need for special fortified food products to assist in the protection against child malnutrition. Children and infants are generally the most affected by drought and famine conditions. A report by CNN confirms that Dadaab refugee camp located in Northern Kenya and currently the world’s largest with a capacity of 90,000 is presently obliged to play host to 380,000 refugees as a result of the ongoing hunger crisis. Many humanitarian organizations have joined the UN and WFP in calling upon the international community to act fast to bring much needed relief to the troubled region.

In Kenya, as the severe drought and refugee crisis in the northern regions begins to receive some attention, the rest of the country is also besieged by critical food shortages. A report by the Daily Nation, Kenya’s premier newspaper, has confirmed that the country’s stock of maize – the staple food – is likely to run out within two months. In effect, the ministry of Agriculture has indicated that the amount of bags available for consumption is 8.5 million while the monthly national consumption is about 3.5 million bags. In response, the government has given the go-ahead for unrestricted importation of maize in an attempt to increase supply and mitigate the shortage.

In Somalia, relief efforts have been hampered by an ongoing civil conflict in the country and rampant obstruction of Western assistance by the rebel group Al-Shabab. Astonishingly, as Voice of America has reported, the situation in Somalia is so severe that Al-Shabab has recently “lifted a ban on access to aid groups and that all agencies whose mission is only humanitarian relief will be allowed in.” In a separate report by the BBC, representatives from the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) estimate that “ a quarter of Somalia’s 7.5 million people are now either internally displaced or are living outside the country as refugees. Other reports indicate that everyday about 1,500 Somalis are walking many kilometers from hard-hit drought areas towards the capital city of Mogadishu only to find very little or no aid offered to them.

The irony of it all remains the fact that millions of people are on the verge of starvation in an age where technology and other developments have made it possible for the world to produce enough food to feed every single human being. Ten million people are looking up to us to help them in their time of need; the good news is that we actually can. Let us take a minute to reflect on their condition as we share our meal today.

We have released our 2010 annual report detailing our progress, achievements, method, and vision.

We encourage feedback from all of our current and future community members.

The report can be found on the transparency page. (Direct link: download)

Thank you for sharing.

Even as the current tragic political crisis in Cote d’Ivoire continues to deteriorate and is likely headed for an imminent civil war, a group of selfless families in neighboring Liberia deserves a very special mention for its sacrificial efforts. In effect, impoverished families in the neighboring country of Liberia, with little to survive on, let alone share, have been reported by several International organizations to be hosting up to three or four refugees who are fleeing from the fighting in Cote d’Ivoire.  Current estimates suggest up to a million displaced people by the violence; 400 to 600  refugees  are being added daily to an estimated 90,000 already present in Liberia.

One need not be an expert on the history of Liberia to understand that Liberians themselves have barely recovered from many troubled years of hardship and suffering; the nation has effectively been crippled by a succession of civil wars and coup d’états until very recently. And yet, in spite of the myriad economic and social problems that the average Liberian family faces, a great compassion still abounds; one that moves people to share even the little they have with needy strangers.

Such generosity and hospitality can only stem from a greater appreciation and deeper respect for the value of human life cultivated perhaps from experiences such as those endured in Liberia and Cote d’Ivoire. Certainly, it is reassuring to know that initiatives such as the Red Cross and the World Food Programme are on the ground doing everything they can to ensure that food is delivered to the hungry in these hardship areas; it is likewise encouraging that through initiatives like the One-plus-One program we can all stand by those in need, share our meals, and register our support to those who need it most. To all who have opened your doors and your hearts to the starving and the needy, we salute you!

The Florida Times Union, a Jacksonville-based newspaper, published an article detailing the creation, operation, and effects of Hatua International’s One Plus One program.

http://jacksonville.com/community/southside/2011-03-17/story/ju-students-aim-feed-worlds-hungry-children-quarter-time

With a growing base of Hatua Friends taking action through One Plus One, we all can, as a community, provide an immense amount of assistance with small, simple action.

Thank you for your continued support.

Launched this year under the leadership of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the Feed the Future initiative represents a new direction for U.S. policy regarding global starvation. In collaboration with the USAID, the USDA, and the World Food Programme, the initiative is a $3.5 billion effort by the U.S. government, supplemented by $18.5 billion dollars in outside support, aimed at research in agriculture, food security, and aid management. Feed the Future exemplifies the type of long term investments which will yield substantial progress in eradicating starvation when made in concert with the immediate action of the World Food Programme, Hatua Friends, and other organizations. With more investments like this, well-nourished people in the most impoverished areas of the world will be able to adapt technology and instruction to begin to provide for themselves and their communities in the future.

See more info on the site below.

http://www.feedthefuture.gov/commitment.html

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The innovative methods of Hatua International’s One Plus One program were recently featured on Tonic.com showcasing how simple it is for ordinary people to help stop hunger–one quarter at a time.

Directly from their website, “Tonic.com is a digital media company dedicated to promoting the good that happens around the world each day.” Tonic.com publishes on the most respected causes that are making a difference by “inspiring good in themselves and others.”

The full article is accessible at http://www.tonic.com/article/end-hunger-with-one-quarter-one-click-at-a-time-hatua-international.

We thank Tonic.com for their immense support in helping Hatua International provide more relief to starving populations around the world. With a growing base of Hatua Friends taking action through One Plus One, we all can, as a community, provide an immense amount of assistance with small, simple action.