Allow me to introduce myself. My name is David Creech and I am the new Director of Global Hunger Education at the ELCA Churchwide Office. I am just finishing up (hopefully) my PhD in Theology, with an emphasis in New Testament and early Christianity. I am excited to participate in that long stream of Christian tradition that looks out for widows and orphans, or, in our context, the most vulnerable people in our global village.

The Gospels tell us that Jesus came announcing that the kingdom of God had arrived. Its coming meant that the poor would hear the good news, the sick would be healed, and the hungry would be fed. Throughout his ministry Jesus invited his disciples to join him in living out the kingdom. The first followers of Jesus were notorious for their care of the orphan and the widow. Greek and Roman authors mercilessly ridiculed the early Christians for their naïve (and self-sacrificing) attention given to the most vulnerable persons in the Roman Empire. 2,000 years later the Church is still called to live out the kingdom of God by meeting the needs of those who are most desperate.

Today, the most vulnerable in our global village are the chronically hungry. Though the statistics may be familiar, they are worth repeating:

• Over 850 million people wake up and go through their day until they finally go to bed without ever having their hunger assuaged. That’s nearly one in six people. Sadly, one in six people are also over fed.
• Every day, more than 31,000 children die of hunger and other related, and preventable, causes.
• Approximately one-half of the people in the world are malnourished.
• Perhaps most frightening of all, there is enough food for every person in the world—men, women, and children—to have 2,500 calories per day.

The numbers are staggering. They can be paralyzing. They call the Church to be and do what it has historically been and done. I am so thrilled to be a part of that mission and I look forward to conversations with all who want to see God’s kingdom here on earth.

The following was written by Emily Davila, Assistant Director, Lutheran Office for World Community.

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I spent the last week in Papua New Guinea – not something I ever expected to do! With over 800 languages, communication in PNG is fascinating. There is no internet and even phones are hard to come by, a few cell phones are here and there. Most people I met promised to write me – as in a letter. We will see how that goes.

I went to PNG as an invited guest to a Lutheran women’s conference. Colonized by Germans, more than one-fifth of the country is Lutheran. One of the key features of the conference was a bible study called “Jesus Liberates women in PNG from male dominated cultures.”

Growing up, Pastor Michael, a seminary professor, watched his mother suffer in a polygamous marriage. His father, a “bigman” would forceably take the pigs she raised so that he could enjoy a high status in the community, beating her if necessary. When menstruating, women were (and still are in some places) secluded, and some believe that even the food they touch is contaminated so they are not allowed to cook meals. After the age of 13, Michael was discouraged from spending time with his mother. Because of a tradition called the “Bride price” -similar to a dowry- a woman cannot divorce her husband because her family is expected to pay the money back. By paying for their wives, it encourages a culture where many men consider their wives a possession. In the case of Michael’s sister, despite the fact that she was often beaten by her husband, culturally, it was impossible to divorce him and she eventually committed suicide.

All this caused Pastor Michael to read the bible searching for stories of women’s liberation. At the conference he distributed a 60-page book written in Pidgin (the national language) and English that systematically unwraps the stories of women in the bible to deliver a message of respect and encouragement for women’s leadership. It ends with a chapter: “Jesus’ approach to the Samaritan Women (and others) could be a model for PNG men to follow.” Some of the suggestions:
-PNG men should put aside their beliefs of gender-based concepts of clean and unclean…
-Women ought to be given equal invitation and opportunity for leadership roles in the church
-Women should be given equal theological education…
-Women should be ordained

Now – the format of this communication was not modern: it came in a dense booklet – footnotes – even the original greek in some cases. But he systematically made the argument for gender equality in a country where it is an urgent life or death issue with one of the highest infant and maternal death rates in the world. He took nearly 8 hours over four days to deliver his lecture to 1,000 women and some men, including high ranking pastors and the Bishop.

But this is an oral culture, so the women may not read this thesis booklet. But they will remember his new interpretations of the Samaritan woman and the woman at the well, and they will take it home to their villages and retell the stories. They asked him to address the synod meeting next year, which will be mainly men, and hopefully this will happen. In a male-dominated culture, it will help women gain credibility to have a man – and the Bible – speaking on their behalf.

I think this was a historic occasion in PNG, and it speaks to the power of education. He went to school and chose to study this subject, and is now preaching a new gospel in his own language in a country that is hungry for it. The “West” cannot export gender equality, it has to come from the grassroots within. PNG is a very religious country. They have mixed Christianity with their own beliefs and it permeates almost everything they do. I can’t think of a more credible way for a gender equality movement to gain foothold in this country.

I visited on of my heroes last Thursday. I had heard that Ken Peterson, from NE Minnesota, was being moved to hospice care, so I decided to make a pastoral call.
If you don’t know Ken, let me tell you a few things. He has been working for social justice since the mid-60’s. He once said that he felt the tug of the Spirit when he took a bus ride through the south and heard a young Black man talk about freedom and dreams. I will always think of Ken as a red (flannel shirt) liberal. Who would think you would find one in the woods of Northern Minnesota. Ken loves Jesus, the Bible, and the church, probably in that order. He has farmed his entire life on land that his grandfather homesteaded and that has never been tainted by human concocted chemicals. He is loved by his family, friends and nearly anyone who has ever met him. He is the salt of the earth.
Ken told me the best time he had working to end hunger was in the 1980’s touring Minnesota, city by city, in nearly revival style. His small group told the stories and encouraged stodgy Minnesotans to remember Jesus’ call to care for the poor. In that trip they met over 800 people who committed to helping the cause.
I spent about an hour with Ken laughing (he has not lost his humor), crying, telling stories and, for me, gaining more wisdom. I asked him what advice he might have for the rest of us, especially for someone who might be just entering justice oriented ministry. He thought for a moment and then said, “work for peace”. He went on to say that unless we can achieve peace we will never be able to fully conquer hunger. With his signature smile he said, “you know the peace I mean, the peace that passes all understanding!” I sense he was talking about peace within the minister (lay or ordained) as well as in the world.
He complained that his eyes keep watering alot, as where mine, and we prayed. I wish I had been able to spend more time with this hero of mine, both last week and through life. I cherish what I was given. I am now thinking that I need to find other heroes and be intentional in sitting in their presence. Keep Ken and his family in your prayers.
Rodger

The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) is currently running two ads on the Travel Channel. You can view them here. According to the ELCA News Service:

“‘We hope that through television, billboards and printmedia, members of the
ELCA will be equipped to own and tell this church’s story, the story of what God
is doing in us and through us for the sake of the world,’ Bangert said.”

We in ELCA World Hunger especially like these two ads because in addition to telling what it means to be Lutheran, they also demonstrate that there are many ways to approach the problem of hunger. Again, from the ELCA News Service:

“One television spot — “Hope” — shows a woman quizzing her daughter as they
walk along a road near Yeumbeul, Senegal. It highlights Senegal Lutheran
Mission, which teaches women how to start their own businesses.

The other spot — “Dignity” — opens with workers setting tables in a fancy
restaurant. The “restaurant” is actually Trinity Lutheran Church, Bismarck,
N.D., and volunteers are preparing a banquet for homeless neighbors.”

I’ve written before about the importance of girls education to reducing poverty and hunger. Teaching women how to start their own businesses falls along the same lines and addresses the 3rd Millennium Development Goal: Promote gender equality and empower women. Poverty is disproportionately prevalent among female-headed households. In many places, patriarchal societies make it difficult for women to own property, find work, or participate in decisions that effect them. Thus marginalized, they lack the means to provide for themselves or their children.

On the other hand, women who are able to earn their own incomes have more choices and greater ability to lift themselves out of poverty. What’s more, this ability typically spills over to their children. Educated women are better positioned to tend to their children’s health and educational needs, thus raising a future generation that is also healthier and more skilled. Beyond education, women with their own income have greater access to resources, and more power in their communities. The work the ELCA is doing in Senegal and other places to help women start their own businesses is critically important to ending hunger.

The ad about serving a meal to homeless neighbors is another part of the fight to end hunger. Education is critically important, but when you’re hungry right now, simply eating is top priority. Without adequate food and nutrition, people are more vulnerable to illness, lack the calories to physically move through the day, and are less able to concentrate. Is it any wonder that hungry people are unable to work and, without work, unable to pay for shelter? In such cases, food aid is just as important as longer-term solutions like education. Again, the work of the ELCA is critically important to ending hunger.

It’s a lot to think about during that next commercial break.

-Nancy Michaelis

A few weeks ago, I wrote a post about how much food is wasted because we supermarket shoppers prefer “attractive” produce. Ugly, misshapen, blemished produce doesn’t even make it in the doors of most large grocery stores. In fact, it often doesn’t make it out of the field! Not having been previously aware of the scope of this type of food loss, I had lots of questions about it.

So I was quite delighted to read this post from the Sierra Club on the same topic. It includes lots of great links to related information. In particular was a link to this report from the USDA’s Economic Research Service about food loss in the United States. It explains so much! Admittedly, some of their data is quite old, and the report itself is from January 2007. But even so, even adjusting for the possibility that the numbers have improved, much of what the report describes is still valid. It explains, in very understandable language, how both edible and inedible food is lost at each step of the food chain, beginning with the farm and ending with us throwing away moldy leftovers from our refrigerators.

A few statistics that caught my attention in the report:

“…about 96 billion pounds of food, or 27 percent of the 356 billion
pounds of the edible food available for human consumption in the United States,
were lost to human use… in 1995.” (pg. 3)

“If even 5 percent of the 96 billion pounds were recovered, that quantity
would represent the equivalent of a day’s food for each of 4 million people.”
(pg. 3)

“From foods forgotten and spoiled in the refrigerator to the uneaten
vegetables tossed in the garbage, consumer and foodservice food waste is the
single largest source of food loss in the marketing chain. Estimated at 91
billion pounds, this food loss accounted for 26 percent of the edible food
available for human consumption in 1995.” (pg. 6)

What astounding statistics! 91 of the 96 billion pounds of food lost each year in the United States is lost during and after it is prepared for eating! If those figures are accurate, imperfect produce is a significantly smaller problem then the food we leave on our plates at restaurants, the uneaten salad bar items, and the food we purchased with good intentions but failed to cook before it went bad.

It seems so recoverable! (See second statistic above.) It feels like something each of us could really act on. What would happen if we all started buying only what we could realistically prepare and eat in a given time period? What if, instead of leaving half our “supersized” meal on the plate at the restaurant, we took it home – and then actually ate the leftovers rather than just throwing them away a week later? Think of how many people the “extra” food we don’t buy or throw away could feed! And as a side benefit, think how much money would we save if we bought only what we actually ate!

I understand that this topic is really much more complex. There are many, many issues surrounding it, not the least of which is how this “extra” food would even get to the people who need it. But still. I love the closeness of these numbers. It’s not only what some distant farmer is deciding about his crops. It’s about what I’m doing with the food in my refrigerator, and what I’m doing at the restaurant on Friday night. It illustrates that my daily life is part of both the cause and solution of ensuring everyone can eat. And in that, I find power and a great source of hope.

As in my previous post this week, I’m still thinking about consumerism. My daughter is already asking for things for Christmas (the catalogs have begun arriving). And she loves practically everything she sees having to do with Halloween. Of course, Halloween things will be forgotten by Christmas and we certainly don’t need any of it. But that’s hard for a child to grasp while looking at all the glittery, cool stuff. It can be hard for adults, too.

So I found the following article helpful in this year’s copy of Who’s Birthday Is It, Anyway? from Alternatives for Simple Living. It is written by Sandi Baete from Henryville, Indiana, and quoted here with permission from Alternatives for Simple Living. Full disclosure: I’m on the board at Alternatives. If you like the message, I encourage you to order a copy of the publication. It’s full of reflections and ideas on how to keep the Christmas season simpler and more meaningful. And with the catalogs in my mailbox, I know it must be near December and time to start thinking about this.

The Best Gift I Didn’t Get
by Sandi Baete

As Christmas approaches, I know I will be asked, “What do you want for Christmas?” Now, if I think about it, and look around on the Internet, check out magazines and catalogs, and window-shop at the mall, I am sure to come up with a long list of things that I really want. Most of which I probably didn’t even know exist until I started looking for things to “want.”

So last year, before the question was asked, I did a little soul-searching. And the truth that I found was this – I didn’t really want anything. On top of that, there wasn’t anything I needed either. So, this was my answer to the “What do you want for Christmas?” question. “I want you to take the money you were going to spend on me and find someone who truly has a need. I want you to help that person, and then on Christmas, tell me what you did. That will be my gift.” The more people I told, the more I meant it and looked forward to seeing what I “got.”

This is what I “received” – $50 donated to Habitat for Humanity, $20 given to a homeless woman looking in a dumpster for food, towing service paid for a stranger whose car had left them stranded, Christmas gifts provided for a Salvation Army Angel Tree, and a yearly gift made in the form of a monthly pledge to the ASPCA, a group dedicated to ending cruelty to animals.

Not everyone heeded my wishes; I still received some “real” gifts. But the funny thing is, I was more excited with what I didn’t get. I can truly say I was filled with joy, knowing that others have been blessed. I guess I had a small glimpse of what Jesus must feel when we do the thing He wants us to do.

I know that even as adults we can get caught up in the excitement of getting gifts at Christmas. I’ll admit it’s fun to get a present. But really, do any of those things bring lasting happiness and joy? If the truth be known, I bet most of us can’t even remember what gifts we received for Christmas last year. So what do you have to lose? Just give it a try. I bet you’ll find a whole new meaning in the season.

This year, I am praying earnestly that I receive nothing. After all, my Heavenly Father has already given me everything I need.

Today is the first day of fall. Technically yesterday was still summer, though the temperatures have been significantly cooler and the days noticably shorter for a few weeks now.

But inside certain windowless stores, there’s no telling what time of year it is. Well, maybe you can tell we’re in the back half. The clothing section included both short and long things, but darker shades indicate fall. September? A “Back-to-School” section implied August, but across the aisle were Christmas ornaments. November? December? A bit farther down were the Halloween costumes and lawn decorations. Ah, October! But wait – Thanksgiving-themed dishes. Back to November. I could safely narrow the time of year down to a 5 month range.

All of which had me thinking about how much stuff is available, how much we buy, and how we are tempted to do so by such appealing and long-lasting displays. You weren’t thinking about Thanksgiving here at the tail end of summer and beginning of fall? Well, let us remind you and offer you a lovely selections of things you might need in a couple of months…

I’ve written before about consumerism, and I’ve previously linked to The Story of Stuff, which provides an exellent explanation of some of the effects of consumption. It’s a topic that matters to ELCA World Hunger because our consumption patterns disproportionately affect those living in poverty. From the Global Policy Forum:

According to the World Bank, the 2.3 billion residents of low-income countries
accounted for less than 3% of public and private consumption in 2004, while the
1 billion residents of high-income countries consumed more than 80% of the
global total (See Figure 1.) In this same year the United States accounted for
4.6 percent of the world’s population and 33 percent of global consumption.

This matters because as we rich nations happily shop away, we are using a huge share of the world’s resources. As we exceed the ability of our own country to provide goods at a price we’re willing to pay, we look elsewhere. We buy minerals, fuel, crops and consumer goods from countries anxious for the income and willing to lower prices and regulations to get the business. Poor countries grow tobacco for Western markets instead of food for themselves. They offer cheap clothing at the expense of their employees. They accept shipments of garbage and even toxic waste into their countries because it’s a source of income. The result is often degradation of land and people, making it that much harder for them to succeed. We, in the meantime, wear the clothes for a season and then discard them for something new. In the process, we use even more resources, create more trash, and demand more from the world.

There is a capitalist argument that this is the global market. Whoever can produce an item most efficiently should. Not everyone should grow corn or tobacco or sew clothes. Countries should produce what they’re best at and trade for the things they can’t do as well. It’s good and right that some countries produce coffee beans and many more don’t. And this argument has merit – to a degree. But it requires that governments are functional and acting in the interests of their citizens, not just themselves. It requires that regulations exist and are enforced. It requires educational systems that adequately prepare people to participate in those economies. It requires equity in access to those educational systems. And it requires thoughtful management of resources – both natural and human – to ensure their sustainability. Until those conditions exist, people living in proverty will continue to work in deplorable conditions and exploit their environment because it’s how they can survive. And many of them will continue to live in poverty and to be hungry.

We in the wealthy nations can help by living more sustainably ourselves. We have to consume. Everyone does. But we don’t have to consume thoughtlessly. We can pay more for Fair Trade coffee and finance it by skipping the extra sweater. We can demand products made from sustainable practices (like certified wood) that are easier on the environment. Organizations like the Worldwatch Institute can help you figure out what those products are.

Consumption in and of itself isn’t the problem. It’s how – and how often – we go about it.

We all know that poverty is inextricably linked to hunger. Amoung other things, people living in poverty have less access to health care and education, both of which affect a person’s ability to get and keep a job. And as we all know, different states – and regions within a state – fare differently on the poverty scale. But did you ever wonder exactly how your state or area fare? Or even you as an individual?

Check out www.measureofamerica.org. Interactive maps let you look at different areas of the United States, and the “Well-O-Meter” will let you plot your own place on the American Human Development Index.

And if you find you aren’t satisfied with the results, consider ways to tell your elected politicians about the changes you’d like to see. One place to start is www.elca.org/advocacy.

Here is a snapshot of the most recent ELCA News Service Postings as of 9/17/2008:
ELCA Synod Bishop Calls on Public Officials to Take Action on Poverty
Lutherans Help Support the Needs of Flood-Affected Families in India
Online Registration for ELCA Youth Gathering Passes 22,000 in 36 Hours
Lutherans Mark September as ‘National Preparedness Month’
ELCA Synod Office Temporarily Relocates in Wake of Hurricane Ike

As you can see, ELCA News Service Postings are often on topics of interest to Hunger Rumblings readers. You can subscribe and receive ELCA News releases and/or ELCA News Service blog postings in your e-mail inbox.

Blessings, Sue