The following is written by guest blogger Mikka McCracken. Mikka served as an ELCA World Hunger Intern in 2008 and is currently working at the ELCA in the Justice for Women department.

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“Trafficking is a change in your situation, not necessarily your location.” “Human trafficking is one of the top three, international organized crimes.” “I am excited to work for the church, because I get to think about the root causes of human trafficking, like patriarchy, sexism, and racism.” “Rip out your phone book pages!” “Little things matter. Know what it is, and say something.”…and on, and on, again, and again…

I never got tired of it. I said my “spiel” to every wayward person who came by the Justice Town Human Trafficking Post Office. I talked to young people, youth group leaders, pastors, bishops, and sheriff deputy chaperones. I learned, I am inspired, I am uplifted, and I consider my time at the 2009 ELCA Youth Gathering in New Orleans a great success. Here are some things that I learned.

I learned that we cannot underestimate young people. They care. They want to make a difference. I am still in the category of young person, and I underestimated my peers. I will not do that again.

I learned that little things do matter. I stood at the human trafficking booth all day and told young people the little things matter. That night for dinner, some other staff members and I went to eat at a restaurant. To get there, we walked up Bourbon Street and then took a left instead of walking up the parallel street and to the right. I felt like a fool. Here I am, telling young people it’s the little things we do, and I can’t even take a different street to get to where I’m going to make sure that my foot traffic isn’t giving Bourbon a sense of legitimacy. It’s the little things. I truly believe that.

I learned that success is not only measured in numbers. I would estimate that I talked, in depth, with about 100 people during my time in Justice Town at the Gathering. When you count that there were 37,000 people there, I interacted with only about .0027% of the people. However, young people stood around the human trafficking station for 15, 20, 30 minutes. They asked questions and made connections to popular movies like Taken, the Human Trafficking television show, Slumdog Millionaire, and August Rush. When they found out what trafficking was, they mentioned things they’d seen at the airport when they landed, on Bourbon Street, and in their home towns. I watched all day as ‘light bulbs’ went on.

One group took the black and white, two-sided business cards with the National Human Trafficking Hotline number on the back and tried to tape them to massage parlor windows on Bourbon Street on the way back to their hotel. They came back the next day to tell me, and, apparently, saw two people following behind them the whole way taking the cards down. But, they did it, albeit, a little more dangerous than I would like to encourage, but they did it.

I learned that trafficking might be a darker, drearier, scarier reality in our world, but Lutherans care! Thanks be to God that we are blessed to serve in this way, and that we are called to constantly learn from one another.

Peace, Mikka

When you need to get a tune up on your car, you go to the mechanic, and talk with them about just what kind of work is going to be done on your vehicle. If you were going to a hospital for surgery, you may choose to check out the facility as well as meet your surgeon. The first time you sign a lease or take out a mortgage, there is a lot to learn about the whole process.

What about when you are deciding what kind of food to consume? Do you ever wonder where it came from? How do you know exactly what you’re eating? Who do you ask about the fine print?

Michael Pollan challenges many habits of the western culture when it comes to eating in his book In the Defense of Food. The first thing to strike me was that the majority of food in the supermarket was something Mr. Pollan referred to as “food-like substance.” One challenge is to actually take a look at the list of ingredients. Do you recognize everything, or are there some things on that list that you cannot even pronounce?

He picks apart so many aspects of our diets, from nutritionists’ recommendations to the regulations put in place by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. The basis of these recommendations and regulations is challenged.

He says that nutritionists practice a thing called nutritionism, an ideology that believes the key to understanding foods is to understand individual nutrients. It is a science that tinkers with substances in order to have them imitate food and have the right nutrients. Take margarine as an example. When cholesterol and saturated fats were targeted as being bad for your health in the 1950’s, margarine emerged as a fantastic imitator, without the fat and cholesterol. Years later it was discovered that the trans fats in margarine was a ‘deadly’ ingredient, worse that the fat and cholesterol it replaced. One thing Mr. Pollan points out is that since the beginning of nutrition science, the overall trend has been unhealthier eating.

 In 1938 congress passed a bill regulating labeling of food. The Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act of 1983 read “if a food resembles a standardized food, but does not comply with the standard, that food must be labeled as ‘imitation’.”  With new substances, such as margarine lining the shelves, this helped consumers recognize what they were eating. Now, ‘imitation’ is a fairly negative label, so of course the food industry did not appreciate this act. In 1973, the act was repealed by the Food and Drug Administration, who decided that as long as the imitation had the same ‘nutritional value’ as the real thing; it did not have to be labeled as fake. Unfortunately, to meet nutritional standards, only the value of known nutrients must be met, and the ‘food-like substance’ is still an extremely processed and manufactured imposter the original food. It may be that industry takes priority, just above our health, when it comes to these types of regulations.

It makes you wonder, who should we be listening too when we make our food choices? Finding out where our food really comes from is a whole other matter. I definitely suggest reading In Defense of Food as one way to become a better informed consumer.

The following is from guest writer Brandon Reed. He writes about how ELCA World Hunger grant money is being used to involve kids at Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp (CO) in issues of world hunger.

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We cannot merely pray to You, O God, to end starvation;
For you have already given us the resources
With which to feed the entire world
If we would only use them wisely.

Jack Riemer’s inspiring words from his poem “We Cannot Merely Pray to You” serve as a reminder that we as Christians are called to action in our unjust world.  At Rainbow Trail Lutheran Camp in Colorado, we are trying to foster a spirit of service in campers with our new Stewardship program.  This program emphasizes global hunger issues as well as other aspects of being good stewards of all that God has created.  Our approach centers on raising awareness, because without appropriate information and understanding of complex issues such as global hunger, action can be useless and even detrimental. 

Rainbow Trail hosts ten one-week camps throughout the summer, including two junior camps (4^th through 6^th grade), two junior high camps, two confirmation camps, two senior high camps, and two family camps.  In the past, confirmation campers experienced a traditional hunger meal where they were divided into groups to represent the state of the world hunger crisis.  Feeling especially adventurous this summer, we decided to switch it up and try something completely different. 

Our new Tastes of the World Lunch operates with similar goals in mind as the hunger meal, but takes a more uplifting approach.  In small groups with their counselors, campers “visit” five countries where they sample a native dish.  At each country’s table, staff members serve campers and talk for a few minutes about hunger issues in that country as they relate to the economic, social, political, and religious situations there.  While eating plantains sprinkled with cinnamon sugar in Cameroon, campers learn about Islamic culture and talk about African stereotypes.  In India, campers eat chole with flatbread and talk about the poverty and hunger that runs rampant through the country.  When campers visit Colombia, they try hominy cheese patties and discuss the impact that deforestation and illegal crops have on hunger and poverty.  After a scoop of peach mango salsa, campers hear about the uneven wealth distribution in Mexico and Rainbow Trail’s Bridging Borders program, which takes trips to Juarez to build houses for families.  Finally, snacking on cheese pizza in the U.S., campers learn that our prominent economic status in the world does not immunize us from hunger within our own borders. 

Although the campers oftentimes hesitate to try new foods, they are usually pleasantly surprised.  While the impact of such a lunch may not be as dramatic as a hunger meal, it has the benefit of engaging campers in a new way.  The menu for the lunch will change every summer so that returning campers experience an entirely new meal when they return the next year. 

In addition to the Tastes of the World Lunch, we are actively working to reduce food waste.  We measure food waste from dinner every day and present the weights to the campers.  We offer some statistics about global hunger issues, and encourage campers to think about what actually constitutes food waste and why it is important to act responsibly with food.  Emphasizing that some food waste is inevitable (i.e. chicken bones), we set goals for how much food waste we should have at the end of every dinner.  And it seems to be sinking in; the other day I forgot to post our food waste number from the previous night, and a handful of fourth graders came up and asked me where we stood. 

Overall, we are taking steps to ensure that campers leave with a few more tools than they came with to address hunger issues at home and around the world.  The ending of Riemer’s poem embodies the light we hope to shine at Rainbow Trail this summer:

 Therefore we pray to You instead, O God,
For strength, determination, and willpower,
To do instead of just to pray,
To become instead of merely to wish.

Brandon Reed
Stewardship Coordinator