Say what you will about capitalism, it has its place! If there’s a demand, a supplier will appear. And the latest business I’ve run across is so perfectly American that I can’t help but admire it, although it makes me cringe a little at the same time. Pehaps you’ve heard of it: 1-800-Got-Junk.

This is a business that exists because we’ve got too much stuff and no time (or desire) to deal with it. Some nice, uniformed employees will come to your house and haul away a whole truckload of stuff you don’t want for a little over $500 (here in Chicago; pricing varies by location). Plus they recycle or donate some 60% of what they take away, and they’ll sweep up the place after they’ve emptied it out.

I so enjoy the irony. We work long hours to earn money to buy stuff, and then we pay people to come take it away, all the while complaining that we don’t have enough time or money! And it’s not just one or two of us; the company expects to earn around $150 million in revenue this year.

In the time that I’ve worked for ELCA World Hunger I’ve become much more aware of what I buy and what I waste. Here’s to hoping that once the truck leaves my house and I have a cleanly-swept floor, I won’t set to work filling it again.

This weekend, please remember the people of Myanmar in your prayers and offerings. It is still unclear how many people have lost their lives, and also unclear how the government of Myanmar will serve to help or hinder the international response efforts. ELCA International Disaster Response has been mobilized, and assessments are already underway by our partners in the region: Action by Churches Together and Church World Service. As funds are collected, these partners are putting together an implementation plan for how we can be most helpful, given the realities of the Myanmar political situation. The fact that multiple Action by Churches Together partners were already in place in Myanmar will be very helpful. Here is a bulletin insert you can use to inform and mobilize your congregation on both the Myanmar Cyclone and the World Food Crisis.
Myanmar%20Cyclone%20alert.pdf

I’ve decided to go out on a limb today. I’m writing about something I probably have no business writing about. I apologize in advance to all whom I offend with my ignorance, and I welcome your comments and corrections. But I’m curious about something: How should businesses (globally) respond to the food crisis? And what should we ask and expect of them?

My question arises from an article I read today on the BBC International web site about garment factory owners in Bangladesh. Factory owners there have started to distribute subsidized rice to their lowest paid workers as food prices force people to skip meals and some food groups. The government is doing something similar, but government purchasing locations are only open during working hours, so factory employees haven’t been able to participate.

I also learned that the garment industry accounts for 3/4 of Bangladesh’s export income. In my mind, that ranks the importance of the garment industry close to that of the government’s in some ways.

At this point you may be thinking, “Why don’t the factory owners just pay their employees a living wage and give them the time off work they need?” Certainly the thought crossed my mind, too, and certainly the companies aren’t acting from pure altruism when they subsidize rice for their employees. People who don’t get enough to eat, and who need to wait in government lines during the day, will be less productive and have increased absenteeism. That’s bad for business, especially when you’re competing with China, India, Vietnam, and other low-cost locations. What’s more, since the garment industry is such a huge part of Bangladesh’s economy, slowing its production and growth would cause even more problems, at least in the short term (though there’s certainly an argument to be made for longer-term diversification). And it won’t help a factory worker to lose his job in order to stand in line for cheaper rice. So even if these garment factories are not doing all they could do, and even if their motives are displeasing, they are bringing relief that’s not otherwise available.

So I ask myself, if businesses and industry have power and resources, and also have an interest in keeping people healthy, working, and buying their products, why are they not a larger part of the conversation about addressing the food crisis? At a minimum, people spending more of their income on food will have less to spend on other products and services. At worst, people who are starving will not be coming to work, and the business or industry will falter. Yet most of the reporting I hear involves the responses of government, globabl political bodies like the UN and WTO, and not-for-profits. That’s why today’s BBC article caught my eye – it seemed unusual. Buy why? Where are the voices of business and industry? Perhaps they are there, and I just haven’t been reading or listening to the right things (entirely possible!). But I also wonder if we don’t somewhat overlook the business sector when we look for solutions. Perhaps our initial reaction to a crisis should be not only “What are governments doing?” but rather, “What are governments doing and how are businesses assisting or complementing those efforts?” And then we should expect a real answer.

I stumbled across an intriguing book list recently: winners of the Bellwether Prize. I love to read, and one of my favorite authors is Barbara Kingsolver. So when I read that she had founded a prize for literature, I immediately looked it up. Here are the introductory sentences from the Bellwether Prize web site:

“Fiction has a unique capacity to bring difficult issues to a broad readership on a personal level, creating empathy in a reader’s heart for the theoretical stranger. Its capacity for invoking moral and social responsibility is enormous. Throughout history, every movement toward a more peaceful and humane world has begun with those who imagined the possibilities. The Bellwether Prize seeks to support the imagination of humane possibilities.”

What a delightful surprise! A list of novels, recommended by a favorite author, that address social justice issues! It’s so satisfying when different aspects of one’s interests intersect. I am hopeful that some of these books will be another resource for starting conversation and reflection about hunger’s root causes.

I admit I haven’t read any of the winning books (is it embarrassing to admit I haven’t even heard of them?). It’s possible that the concept will outshine the reality and I’ll regret this blog later. But I’m sure looking forward to finding out!

Looking for a quick way to convey the complexity of why hunger exists in the world? Try a mind map! It works as an individual activity, or with a leader mapping the ideas of a group. Once you’ve pretty much filled the page, you can talk about how the differed parts of the map are related, and add arrows to help make the connections. If you’re interested in a multi-session class, you can start with the overall picture, then focus on specific sections of the map in subsequent sessions. It’s also easy to end on a “half-full” note; with so many issues contributing to hunger, there are many points of entry to solving it. And with so many connections between issues, change in one place can cause change in others. If you want to go beyond education, it’s also a way to organize for action: which topic is the group most interested in acting on? How might you do so?

Disclaimer: my map here is not complete (ran out of space on the page). Can you name some things I left out?

Question: How is ELCA World Hunger responding to the food price crises we are hearing about in the news?

The Short Answer: Relief, development, education, and advocacy.

The Long Answer:

Our church understands that the causes of hunger–including the current food price crises–are deep and complex. There is not one “silver-bullet” solution, but there are proven strategies that work–these strategies are at the heart of our church’s ministry of accompaniment with neighbors experiencing hunger and disaster.

The painful news we hear about intensified food crises around the world calls us to carry out our ongoing hunger-fighting ministry with renewed urgency. The stories being told in the news from Zimbabwe, Egypt, Haiti, Mexico and so many more places present an opportunity to talk about hunger in our congregations and invite more people to learn and act. Our partners are counting on us to continue to walk with them and work with them to help communities find food for today and hope for tomorrow.

The ELCA Church Council recently authorized an increase in World Hunger spending for 2008 which will help us strengthen and expand our World Hunger partnerships during this time of increased need. Let’s step up to this challenge with another year of record giving to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal and increased commitment to fight hunger with action and advocacy!

Here are two examples of how our gifts, prayers, and voices make a difference:

Relief and Development – In Zimbabwe, ELCA International Disaster Response has sent $100,000 to be used for emergency food assistance needed because of food insecurity caused by the overlapping challenges of massive inflation, widespread unemployment, and severe weather that has damaged agricultural production. This emergency assistance complements our church’s ongoing support–funded by the ELCA World Hunger Appeal–for the community development and human rights work of Lutheran Development Service in Zimbabwe which provides clean water, health care, education, agricultural development, microcredit, and helps communities break free from hunger and poverty and work towards achieving the Millenium Development Goals.

Education and Advocacy – Have you heard of the ONE campaign? Have you told someone about it? Have you asked elected officials and candidates for elected office where they stand on the issues behind the ONE campaign? The intensified global food crises we are witnessing are linked directly to the need for sufficient poverty-focused foreign aid, debt relief, and fair international trade policies. Join in and help to make the voices of our global neighbors heard by elected officials and powerful decision-makers.

Thanks for all you do to help end hunger!

I did a Web search recently, typing in phrases like “definition of hunger.” It was interesting in the vast worldwide Web the lack of coherent information I found on such a broad topic. I received the obligatory links to Merriam-Webster.com and other encyclopedic or dictionary-based sites, but only one source (at quick glance) led me past a one- or two-line description of what hunger is.

I discovered a report entitled “The Concept and Definition of Hunger and Its Relationship to Food Insecurity” by David H. Holben, PhD, RD, LD on the Web site of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS). The NAS is an honor society of distinguished scholars—many of whom are Nobel Prize winners—doing scientific and engineering research to increase our general welfare. It was born during the Civil War and signed into existence by President Lincoln with the Act of Incorporation. Its research is valued so highly by the U.S. government that Congress and the White House have issued legislation and executive orders to reaffirm its unique role.

This report cites such definitions of hunger as “the uneasy or painful sensation caused by a lack of food” or “the recurrent and involuntary lack of access to food.” These definitions are not groundbreaking. But what strikes me is the lesser-discussed definition of hunger within the circles we walk: “a strong desire for something.”

Sometimes the solution lies within the problem.

Making the news again lately are the dirt cookies that people in Haiti eat because of the rising cost of food and people’s growing inability to afford it, turning to government protest and acts of desperation. So what is it in us that hungers to combat this problem? If we have a “strong desire” to end world hunger, then we cannot help but be hungry ourselves: hungry for justice, hungry for socioeconomic changes, hungry for progress in the movement to end world hunger once and for all!

Among those who work to end this pandemic, it is a fine line to walk to say we, too, should be “hungry.” But if we aren’t, then the people we advocate for will be.

Thinking of you this Mother’s Day, reads the ELCA World Hunger e-card. In her Lutheran Woman Today (May 2008) article, “All God’s Children,” Kathryn Sime invites us to think about “the mothers, fathers, and caring neighbors who love the children of the world.”

In May you’ll be able to read Kathryn’s article online. For now, here’s an excerpt:

“How would our world be different if we realized that all God’s children are as precious as those in our own lives? Poverty presents the greatest threat to the most vulnerable in any community. Around the world, children are the most likely to suffer from hunger, poverty-related disease, and disaster. …The good news is that your gifts to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal provide a mothering embrace to children living in poverty around the world.”

Mother’s Day is May 11. Father’s Day is June 15. Kathryn’s article is prompting me to give a special “Nurturers’ Day” donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal. This year I’m going to expand my Mother’s Day “world” to include a gift donation to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal to (1) bless “the mothers, fathers, and caring neighbors who love the children of the world” and (2) connect with special people who will be tickled to learn that they have received a “Nurturers’ Day” gift-donation in their honor. Shhhh…don’t spoil the surprise, but I’m thinking these folks will be among those getting an ELCA World Hunger Appeal e-card from me this spring:
* Craig & Gina, parents of Lydia Norma
* Kathryn & Joe, parents of Calla Grace
* Laurel, mother of Sam and Olivia
* Bette, best “Gramby” ever
* Marj and Jerome Leegard, who expanded their nurturing arms to embrace me
* Anne and Melinda, who nurture the youth of my congregation through their music ministries.

Think beyond the rows in your favorite greeting card store…seize the opportunity to appreciate a variety of nurturers in your life and to bless families around the world. It would be fun if the amount you donate ended with a “4” (e.g., $14, $74, $204). It could be our unofficial code to indicate that the gift is “4” mothers and fathers and neighbors who love the children of the world.

Go and do blessings,
Sue-s

I’ve been reading lots of interesting statistics recently. Combine them and they become sobering very quickly. An example:

From The New York Times: Indonesians spend 50% of their budgets on food, Vietnamese spend 65%, Nigerians spend 73%. The poorest fifth of American households spend 16% of their budgets on eating.

Here are some statistics from The World Bank: Global food prices are up 83% in the past year and a half or so, 36 countries are experiencing food security crises, and prices are expected to remain high through at least 2009.

So what happens when you put those facts together? What’s a community to do when they already spend over half of their income on food, and the costs nearly double? Riots are one of the answers, a way of demanding help from governments and the attention of whomever is listening.

It makes me glad to be living in America. We certainly have our share of problems, and we can’t be proud of how many of our citizens live in poverty and with food insecurity. But as recession looms (or arrives?) and we look to our government, they give us an ecomonic stimulus rebate check. I know it doesn’t solve all of our problems, and arguably creates new ones. I know it doesn’t reach everyone. But the majority of us are still eating, and many of us are still eating very well. I am grateful that my government is both able and willing to respond to an economic downturn.

The ELCA Conference of Bishops recently pledged to tithe their economic stimulus rebate checks to ministries that serve people living in poverty. I think this is a great idea! The intent of the checks is upheld; the money is injected back into the economy so that goods and services are purchased, so that people keep their jobs, earn paychecks, etc. In maintaining the economy, we strive to avoid the conditions that lead to riots. And if those of us who are able donate some or all of our rebates to poverty-related ministries (like ELCA World Hunger!), the money can be put back into the economy by organizations and people with more urgent needs than our own.

My scientist husband directed my attention two weeks ago to an article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (Feb. 29, 2008, “Researchers Probe How Poverty Harms Children’s Brains”). In it, the author interviews neuroscientists studying the impact of poverty on the neurological development of children living with poverty. Their primary findings – that poverty (aside from hunger/malnutrition) appears to affect a child’s brain development in ways we don’t quite understand yet – are both intriguing and yet somewhat of a – pardon the pun – no brainer. Poverty is complicated and complex. To think that we could easily categorize the impact of childhood poverty is to underestimate this multi-faceted problem. This research also questions the slippery integration of poverty, literacy, family stress and other socio-economic factors and their combined impact on a child’s brain development. “Growing up poor is bad for your brain” one researcher summarizes in the article – and I’m not sure we really needed research to acknowledge that fact.

In the end, it’s just one more reminder that children are often the most vulnerable in environments of hunger and poverty. When hunger, poverty, racism, and family systems are interwoven, we’re left with complex situations that require – that deserve – our focused attention and smartest thinking… in our schools, in our public policy, in our congregations and in our community services. The solution to hunger and poverty will never be just one thing (food assistance, welfare, school lunches) but an interweaving of many different strategies.

There’s a lot of talk about the economy these days… but what would be a better long-term investment than in strategies that could promote healthier brain development of our children? Now that’s a no-brainer….