Let us fight the scourge of hunger together
SOUTH Africa is a beautiful country but despite aspiring to be first world, which when compared to many countries in Africa we actually are, we still live with third world problems.
Our reality at Rise Against Hunger Africa is hunger and malnutrition.
This insidious, highly stigmatised problem is closely linked to poverty and is number two on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) of the United Nations.
Why do we have almost 3.2 million children facing chronic hunger in this beautiful country?
Most of these children facing food poverty are under the age of five and living in KwaZulu-Natal. KZN has almost a million children living in destitute situations.
Why have we become an apathetic society and not taking care of them? Hunger is not a need or a want. It is a basic human right!
I grew up in a society where everyone got together to take care of the children. It didn’t matter who you were but if you were around during meal times, you got fed.
We speak about ubuntu but how many of us really act on it? Have you ever thought about your child in this desperate situation or are we too far removed and focused only on immediate surrounds?
We fast and observe abstinence from food and water but the difference is that we know at the end of the day, there is light at the end of the tunnel. We will have food.
Children living with poverty know that at the end of the day they will go to bed hungry and possibly not wake up the next day succumbing to death. Yes, death!
Every day, 20 children die of hunger and malnutrition. Yet it costs just R100 a month to feed a child a nutritious meal a day. We spend more than that on coffee with friends.
How about starting a coffee club where you can still enjoy your coffee but challenge your friends to sponsor one child a month.
We are a nation of over 40 million people, surely at least 1 million of us can take up the challenge to end hunger?
If you don’t have money to support ending hunger, then spread the word, get your companies involved or just volunteer your time to package those meals for destitute children.
These children are not only orphaned and vulnerable due to disease but also now traumatised by not having food.
Hunger is a growing problem in South Africa and worldwide. In the previous 10 years, we were able to bring down hunger by 20% but in the last year, we have taken a step back as hunger increased by 95 million people globally. Why you’d ask?
Simple, look at the effects of climate change with Bangladesh being 50% under water due to heavy floods and rain.
Look at the political climate in places like Somalia, Myanmar, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Palestine, Syria and Iraq, etc, and the uprooting of people from their homes and their countries.
Think about the drought in Sudan where rain has not fallen for the past four years and if no assistance is given, close to 3 million people will die due to hunger and malnutrition.
We cannot solve the world’s problems but we can behave humanely and assist where we can. We can put a shield around our vulnerable children and end hunger in our country.
When universities come knocking on our doors for support, we realise that the problem is far reaching and more needs to be done.
How can a student or child focus on getting educated and out of poverty when he or she does not have the strength to focus on their education?
Startling statistics from universities reveal that 40% of failure is attributed to hunger and in some cases more than 70%.
So the huge amounts going into tertiary education is going into this big bottomless pit because very few are looking at holistic support, which goes beyond tuition fees, accommodation fees and books.
The elderly are also facing a crisis as government pensions cannot adequately support the elderly with accommodation, food, electricity and water, etc.
Often to save a buck, pensioners are purchasing pet food to sustain themselves. These are our elders, who brought us into the world, supported our development and now in their hour of need, we as a society have abandoned them.
Just take a moment to pause in your busy life and think about this… Ask yourself, are we a just society? Are we a caring society? Do we want our children, our parents and grandparents and siblings facing this crisis? Many of them already are and we don’t know it because of our apathy. If it does not affect our lives, we move on. Let somebody else take care of it.
My question to you is, why not you? You can’t do everything but you can do something. Let your legacy be that of a caring, humane person. Let your children be proud of you and speak about your deeds.
I am who I am because my parents never let anyone go hungry and we had no wealth. I am who I am because I want my parents to be proud of me and what I am doing.
I do what I do because I want my children to understand how privileged they are to have parents who supported them throughout their lives and to hopefully become a reflection of myself.
Doing what I can where I can.
Education is the true pathway out of poverty. Our parents instilled this in us but you cannot obtain an education on an empty stomach.
If we miss out on the developmental years of a child, which begins from conception in the womb of the mother until about 7 years of age, we never gain back those brain cells or physical growth.
Stunting takes place and all kinds of physiological and developmental anomalies come into play. I am not asking you to take on the world, just challenging you to do something, anything to end hunger.
Stop food wastage and eat those leftovers because somewhere, a child is dying because they have not eaten for days.
● Saira Khan is the CEO of Rise against Hunger Africa, previously Stop Hunger Now SA. They operate nationally in South Africa and currently support close to 50 000 children and university students with a nutritious meal every day. It’s not soup nor sandwiches but a nutritionally balanced meal comprising of soya, lentil mix, rice and a vitamin mix with 23 essential minerals and nutrients. The cost per meal is around R2.90. You can become a donor or volunteer by accessing their website www.rahafrica.org. They have offices in Johannesburg, Pietermaritzburg, Cape Town and East London.