World Hunger Day was started by The Hunger Project UK in a bid to highlight that one-ninth of the world’s population lives on less than £1 (about R18) a day. The figures are hard to swallow but beyond the facts, figures and dictionary definitions of what it means to be hungry, sometimes the best way to understand something is to practice it.
The journalists of Caxton Joburg North’s newsroom, therefore, took on the challenge to eat food that cost only R18 or less on the day.
It took a long day of rumbling tummies, hunger pangs and aches and pains for the journalists to understand their own definition of what it means to be hungry. And while it is a step in the right direction, understanding the problem is not enough to make an impact in our communities.
World Hunger Day also aims to inspire people to help others to end their hunger and poverty and to become self-reliant. As The Hunger Project UK states, chronic and persistent hunger occurs when people lack the opportunity to meet their basic needs through learning skills or earning enough money.
While it is not going to take one day a year to resolve the problem, awareness days such as World Hunger Day will hopefully spur individuals, communities, organisations and governments to take steps to resolve the problems and challenges on a regular basis.
An individual with an inspiring way of making a small difference in the community is Nerine Gardiner, who is known as the Girl With Cake. Every week, Gardiner bakes a cake and hands it out to someone who she believes is deserving of some love.
What we can learn from Gardiner’s acts of kindness, is that we do not need to wait for specific awareness days to take action, nor do we need lavish budgets or long-term time frames. All it takes for individuals to make an impact in the community is to lend a helping hand one day at a time with the resources available to us – but the important thing is that we take action.
View the acts of kindness of Girl With Cake at www.girlwithcake.co.za and read how Caxton Joburg North’s journalists spent their R18 on food at www.fourwaysreview.co.za
