My name is Allie Stehlin and I am an intern at ELCA World Hunger this summer. I am a senior at Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and am studying Political Science, Peace Studies, and Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies.

I first became interested in the issues of hunger and poverty worldwide when I took a mission trip to Tanzania with my congregation in high school. It was there that I met a boy with polio; a disease easily cured in the Western world, and saw a hospital without running water. The vast inequality in wealth and resources hit me hard, and I decided then that I wanted to devote my future career to making this gap between the rich and the poor, the hungry and the full, a little smaller.

In college, my classes focus around social justice issues that have continued fuel my passion for creating positive peace in our world. This past fall, I had the opportunity to spend the semester in India studying Social Justice, Peace and Development. This was a great chance for me to dig deeper into the topics of hunger, poverty, the environment, gender, caste, globalization and development and meet with those affected by these issues.

I am very excited for the work I will be doing this summer at ELCA World Hunger, and am looking forward to learning more about hunger and poverty. Stay tuned for more rumblings from the interns and the rest of the ELCA World Hunger staff!

-Allie Stehlin

The following was written by guest blogger, Mark Goetz.

I love ziplock freezer bags. They are handy and durable, seal well, and don’t take up much space in a drawer waiting to be used. In the freezer and refrigerator they don’t take up any more space than their contents do. I’ve used them to hold meat, chili and spaghetti sauce in the freezer. I’ve used them for the same things in the fridge, although the kids have objected (on aesthetic grounds) to a plastic bag full of gravy or mashed potatoes or chocolate pudding. With the “double zipper, fresh shield: tough on the outside, fresh on the inside” quality they are a delight and at only pennies a bag I can afford to throw them away after a single use.

When we lived in the village of Bohong, Central African Republic, there was no garbage. Everything was used – multiple times. Empty cement sacks were used for writing and wrapping paper. Tin cans became water glasses or storage bins, especially if they had a reusable lid. Bottles, plastic or glass, became canteens. We washed and saved almost every empty everything and periodically, nomadic Fulani herders would stop by and ask if we might happen to have any containers they might use.

Most things in the market, including bread, peanuts and meat, didn’t come wrapped and we (and everyone in the village) had our (their) own tote bags of one kind or another. When we did have a plastic bag, we’d wash it and dry it and reuse it in the kitchen or the market until it wasn’t possible to use anymore.

We had to re-adapt to American culture on our return. In many ways that was harder than adapting to village life. After some months back in the US, empty 2-liter pop bottles spilled out of the pantry when I opened the door. We couldn’t throw bottles away.  I imagine we were still expecting visits from wandering nomads that could use new canteens. Saving what for us was garbage, but for someone else was of value, was no longer a sustainable practice.

We’ve continued to use canvas tote bags for grocery shopping but, for some reason, not for other kinds of shopping. Up until a few years ago we were still washing plastic bags, out of habit, I suppose. But lately I noticed that we’ve been throwing away plastic bags, even our tough durable ziplock freezer bags, after a single use. In some way, it doesn’t seem right.

When our children were little, we used cloth diapers. It was a deliberate decision based on the personal financial situation of a graduate student with a family to support. We did not make a conscientious decision to use canvas market bags and to reuse plastic bags. It was just a lasting habit developed from normal life in another culture and it seemed right. I didn’t make a decision to start throwing away used ziplock bags either. It was just another habit I picked up from our own culture in the last few years. I’m not even sure when I started to do it.

Now, I’m not really thinking about ziplock bags, or the amounts of disposable plastics in American landfills, or the inadequacy of landfills in the developing world, or the great garbage patches found in the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. I am really thinking about decision making, or more specifically, choices that I didn’t really make.

We’ve been around the global block so to speak, having lived in a number of countries other than the USA.  And that experience has affected the way I see my world and the way we live. (I suspect that friends think we march to the beat of the different drummer and that she plays in syncopated rhythm.) Some “life style” choices were deliberate decisions e.g., the neighborhood we live in, the vehicles we drive, maybe the clothes we wear. These types of decisions are mostly a balancing act of costs, convenience and some sense of social morality/accountability. But I wonder how many decisions I really don’t make; the decisions I don’t recognize, where I just go with the social/cultural flow.

Mark Goetz is a consultant and mediator in Montana. This post first appeared on The Table, a social network for volunteers working with ELCA World Hunger.

So what’s the scoop on twenty-somethings and vegetable gardens? My brother and I were talking this afternoon about all the people we know of, our age, who are beginning to grow their own food. I think that this is very cool, and I too love a good fresh leaf of lettuce or handful of blueberries, but I also wonder…what’s the motivation for our age group? The friends we thought about ranged from Seminary students to general contractors and insurance agents; different people from different walks of life. As my brother and I are both in our twenties, I wonder if all those films we saw in school are finally settling in? We have grown up with the likes of Fast Food Nation and Super Size Me, forming an awareness and interest in more recent documentaries like Food, Inc. and The Cove. Could it be that our generation is finally putting their foot down on all those chemicals disguised as food? Is it that when we mix this media with the growing trend of rooftop and community gardens, then add in our recent independence and the financial crisis that we’re simply reaching critical mass? Or is everyone else just beginning to till up their grass for gardens as well, but they are simply a bit further from my radar?

Here are my questions:

To my fellow twenty-somethings – Do you grow your own food? If so, why…is it all those documentaries, are you trying to save a buck, is it the rooftop garden scene? Or did you grow up with it, so it just seems natural? Perhaps something else entirely?

To more seasoned adults – When did you find that you started to become interested in growing your own fruits or vegetables? Has it been in recent years; are you also enjoying the organic gardening trends and responding to the economy? Or is this just something that begins in your twenties?

Thanks for your thoughts, and thanks even more for your gardens!

~Lana

Last week I posted the suggestion that the way in which depictions of those who are hungry often make them less than human.  I wondered how we could possibly see their full humanity (along with all their power and dignity)  by only seeing their limitations (that in many cases are simply material).  A couple people responded with thoughtful ideas along the same lines (props to Kris and Mary!).  A blog post I found today via my Twitter account (thanks @meowtree!) raised a similar question.  The author writes,

And what would communities in general think if they saw the kinds of marketing appeals that go out in their names. … I’m bothered by these kinds of appeals, imagining a photo of my own children plastered on a ‘needy children’ billboard or direct mail piece somewhere, thinking about what that might do to their self-image or my image of myself as a capable parent.

The point is well taken–how would you feel if that less than flattering image was all that was known of you?  Her concern also perhaps reveals a bias we have against those who receive aid.  We too often assume that those receiving aid have some flaw (and the images of people who live in poverty don’t always help with that!).

The fact is I have been the recipient of all kinds of aid.  My dad was a doctor, and rewarded me with cash for good grades.  My mom (and, yes, you too dad) created a loving, safe environment.  They had time, energy, and resources to give me a well-rounded childhood experience.  I had the help of a good education system and a stable government (things that I did nothing to create or sustain).  My skin color and gender gave and (continue to give) me many unearned advantages.  Why is it that it is so difficult for me (and people like me) to recognize and admit all of the aid that we have been given (both monetary and otherwise)?  And why is it so easy for us to categorize (and even denigrate) people who did not receive a similar aid package?  What sort of soul searching do we need to do?

I have digressed from the question implicit in my first post on this topic (namely, is there a place for a charity mindset), and I hope to engage it next week.  For now, I’d appreciate any thoughts or responses you have on the topic!

– David Creech

For me, the prime benefit of the accompaniment approach to global mission and development is how it prods us to replace  “over there” thinking (as in, “let’s pray or send money to those poor folks suffering somewhere else from a problem we have nothing to do with”) with a “right here” attitude (as in, “how might our own political and economic structures and personal habits be connected to that terrible problem afflicting people somewhere else? And how is that same problem present right here?”).

So I’m glad to see that at least some people are connecting the dots between our personal driving habits and our national catastrophe in the Gulf. And I was happy that blog follower Aleta Chossek of Milwaukee lifted up this “I Am” prayer for the Gulf from Frederic and MaryAnn Brussat.

As they say on their website, “Spirituality and Practice: Resources for Spiritual Journeys,”  “The spiritual truth is this: We are the polluted water of the Gulf and we are the polluters.”  In all our responses to the oil spill, may we not lose sight of this truth–and instead of screaming at BP, may we calmly put down our car keys and pick up a bus pass or a bicycle instead.

Anne Basye, Sustaining Simplicity

I was recently listening to the soundtrack from Wicked, when a few lines from the song “Wonderful” struck me. The lines were these:

“A man’s called a traitor – or liberator
A rich man’s a thief – or philanthropist
Is one a crusader – or ruthless invader?
It’s all in which label
Is able to persist
There are precious few at ease
With moral ambiguities
So we act as though they don’t exist”

Working in the field of world hunger, it’s not unusual to have conversations with people who are reflexively negative about large corporations. From profit motives, to workers’ rights, to enviornmental exploitation, most of the world’s ills and many of the causes of hunger can be laid in the headquarters of corporations. And without question, some of the criticism is completely deserved and must be called out.

But for all the outrage that is justified, some of it is not. Some of the outrage is applied beyond what is deserved, and I don’t know that it’s helpful. Yes, companies do bad things. But they do good things, too. Standard Oil serves as an iconic historical example. On the one hand, it was a ruthless organization, using boldly smarmy tactics that are now illegal to drive competitors out of business and acquire their assets cheaply.  I don’t know how many people lost their jobs as a result, but I’m sure it’s a large number. On the other hand, they also hired a lot of people. And according to Wikipedia, they did some things that the general population found very helpful, like cutting the price of kerosene in half,  and developing many other useful products including tar, paint, and chewing gum. Then, too, Rockefeller used his (ill-got?) gains to do some extremely good things, like funding research that led to a vaccine for yellow fever and founding the University of Chicago. So what of Standard Oil? Good or evil? And what is gained or lost by declaring it one to the exclusion of the other?

There are, of course, many modern-day examples of corporations doing both good and bad things. Kind of like people. I don’t write this blog to defend the bad; only to acknowledge that corporations are complex and deserving of more careful consideration in our judgements. Ending hunger is a big, complex job. Personally, I think corporations have a role to play in it. Calling them out on the bad is necessary and important. But so is praising and encouraging the good, which requires acknowledging it – and often acknowledging moral ambiguities, too.

-Nancy Michaelis

When I turned on my computer this afternoon I had an article link from Fast Company waiting for me in my inbox. The article is about cell phone charging via bicycles. My first response?…Cool! The phones which are optimally designed to go with these chargers have a range of basic attributes including:

• Standby battery time of six weeks
• Double SIM card capable – meaning two people can use one phone on different accounts
• Standard flashlight
• Where available, information covering healthcare, agriculture, education and entertainment

The phones were made public today at a press conference in Nairobi, Kenya. I often hear about how cell phones and computers are leap-frogging land lines and print books in the developing world. This, however, means electricity is necessary. So enter the bicycle cell phone charger. According to Fast Company, “Hit 7.5mph and your bike will be charging your cell as quickly as a traditional charger would.” I’m about ready to switch out my touch screen and jump on a bike myself! While the article makes a great point that we can’t overlook the possible increased need for food intake inherent in bicycling to charge the phone, and of course no system is perfect, I can’t help but think that this little device is very handy. If a ten minute bike ride gives one nearly 30 minutes of talk time, then a bike ride to sell goat milk at the market in the next town could charge a cell for enough time to talk to a doctor about a health concern, enroll a child in a local school or let family in the capitol know that the caller survived the earthquake. Now that’s communication progress.

Check out the article and press release for yourself, what are your thoughts?

~Lana Lile

Dare You to Move (don’t mind the typo)

I am developing a hunger education event that will be similar to World Vision’s 30 Hour Famine.  I have been watching videos and exploring activities that are usually a part of these types of events and I find one of the recurring features a bit troubling.  So much of the multimedia has many pictures of emaciated, sick children.  Emotive music plays in the background as sometimes overwhelming statistics flash across the screen (even www.girleffect.org, an organization that frames the issues particularly well, wants you to imagine a girl in poverty with flies hovering around her).  Videos and images such as these seem to be popular, but are they really effective?  If so, what is it about them that draws people in?  Maybe you can answer for yourself–are these types of stories and images effective for you?  Why or why not?

For me, I struggle with them.  I wonder if the dignity and power of those who live in poverty is lost when we only see them as dying and sickly.  Is our ability to truly walk with someone inhibited when we only see their weakness?  Or are those images necessary to finally move us to action?  If so, what does that say about our motivations?  Let me know your thoughts (maybe I’ll give you a footnote in the new resource…).

-David Creech