[UN Photo - Sudanese Women Carry Bag Of Rations]

When I feed the hungry they call me a saint
When I ask why so many people are poor they call me a communist
- Dom Helder Camara

World Hunger is a scandal. The earth produces enough food to feed all its inhabitants, yet hunger has reached chronic proportions across the world especially in Asia and Africa. Women are the primary producers of the food the world consume. Moreover, in Africa alone 80% of the food produced is produced by women.

The irony?  The Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO) statistics show that more than 60% of the world’s chronically hungry people are women.

Poor Women Chronically Hungry
Its one thing to be chronically tired. The rapid-paced world we’ve created guarantees that we get little or no rest. Chronic fatigue seems to be a normal way of life for most of us. But how many of us know what it feels like to be chronically hungry? The world’s poorest women do. According to the latest World Food Programme report:

There are 1.02 billion undernourished people in the world today. That means one in nearly six people do not get enough food to be healthy and lead an active life. Hunger and malnutrition are in fact the number one risk to the health worldwide — greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

To be chronically anything, is to be in that condition for an ongoing or lengthy period of time. Hunger having reached chronic proportions globally, has become like a disease on the face of the earth. Chronic hunger describes the state of ongoing daily, weekly, and more often than not months of undernourishment. These women consume far less than the required daily caloric intake necessary to keep them healthy and active.

In addition, hungry mothers give birth to hungry children. Malnourished children face great challenges including learning disabilities which in turn perpetuates socio-economic underdevelopment and the inability to free themselves from poverty. It is a vicious cycle…

[UN Photo/Martine Perret]
Women and Children Search Garbage Dump for Cans to Sell

Main Factors That Cause Hunger
The World Food Programme highlights the following factors as the main causes of hunger.

• Natural Disasters
  
• War
• Poor Environmental Practices
• Agricultural Infrastructure
• Poverty
  

All these factors are interconnected, one impact on the others. To address the causes of hunger, all the contributing factors must be tackled together. October 16, is observed worldwide as the World Food Day, and October 17 as the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. This entire month of October is dedicated to bringing the world’s attention to the ravages of hunger and poverty across the world, but especially in Africa and Asia.

Sometimes, the situation seems hopeless when we look at the extent of the challenges we face. I for one, tend not to think of it as though I’m alone but remember that no single person or nation can solve all the world’s problems. However, we can build on the efforts of others and together we can make a great difference. So what can we do?

[ UN Photo/Milton Grant]
Somali Women and Children Walk To A UN-supported Center For Food

Take Action:

Significant progress can be made if the heads of all nations, and us as people commit to implementing the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Discuss them with your congregations to learn ways we can make a difference.

Get resources to educate your congregations about world hunger and poverty from organizations such as  Bread For The World and the Baptist World Alliance which observes Hunger Month annually in October.

If you have a Blog, then become a Blogger Against Hunger advocate and use your voice to promote awareness of the hunger and the global food crisis. Sign up by just clicking the banner below it will take you to the site.

This is just a start on the many things you can do. Do something. Feel free to share your resources with us as well.

Peace and Love,
Marvia

Photo Credits: FAO/Giulio Napolitano

Hunger and Food Crisis In Whose World?

So Jesus said, I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink ..(Matthew 25:42)

And they objected, answering, Lord when was it we saw you hungry or thirsty?

I mean come on. How could we forget if we encountered the Lord? Surely, we’d remember that. And if the Lord would ever return now and invited himself to our house for a meal we’d never turn down such a request. In fact, no matter how busy we are we’d seek him out and badger him until he grew weary and agree to come sup with us.

We’d break out all the china we have been saving for just this occasion. We’d serve the finest most scrumptuous meal ever and we’d start preparing early so that we don’t keep Jesus waiting. After all, this is royalty coming!

Oh yes, back to the question. Lord how could I have missed you. Hungry? Thirsty? Never! I would never do such a thing. Without any anger, only sadness on his face Jesus replied, You did. You overlooked me completely. Many times. For I am ever before you in the hungry around the world, especially in Asia, the Pacific, and Africa

According to Feeding Minds,Fighting Hunger

The overwhelming majority of the undernourished are in developing countries, which account for 95% (798 million) of the undernourished; 34 million people in countries in transition and 10 million in industrialized countries are estimated to be undernourished. At the regional level, Asia and the Pacific account for three-fifths (505 million) of the world’s undernourished; India alone has 214 million undernourished people. Almost one-quarter (198 million) of the undernourished are in Sub-Saharan Africa, which is also the region with the highest proportion of its population undernourished.

Jesus’ answer is a reminder of the Mission to which we have been called. But, but, but Lord they argued, surely you aren’t blaming me for ALL the millions of hungry people in the world? And what can I do anyway? I’m only one person! We are just one church!

Many of us are so comfortable with the kind of theologizing that teaches us that Jesus is dead, resurrected and is coming again and that’s it. We get ‘saved’ and we go to church. We worship and we wait for his coming again. We are ok. So there is no need to be concerned about the needy in the world.

On the other hand, some are seized with ‘evangelistic fervor’ and a passion to ‘save souls’. It is all about preaching repentance to the lost  “Third World natives”. [You know, it never fails to irritate me to hear 'missionaries' in this day an age calling people 'Third World natives'. For those who do not know, it is demeaning!!]. There is concern about ‘souls’ not a whole human being.

Photo Credits: FAO/Giulio Napolitano

So issues of global poverty, hunger, diseases and inequities in the spread and use of the world’s resources and wealth do not register on their evangelistic radar. Social justice as an essential part of the church’s mission mandate, is still taking sometime to catch on especially among very conservative Christians.

To that I’d say, start by becoming ‘conscientized’. Allow your social consciousness to be opened to the harsh realities of people outside of your neighborhood and your country. Even better, start paying attention to the hungry and homeless in your neighborhood and then you’d be better able to consider what is happening in the rest of the world.

If you haven’t been doing so, now is the time to develop a keener social consciousness of the conditions of your sisters and brothers across the world. They are not just ‘them’ out there. They are the ones in whom Christ dwells – as the hungry, the destitute, the oppressed and powerless. They are the ones to whom we have been sent to announce the Kingdom of God as breaking into their real, lived, depressing conditions.

So World Food Day ends, but our mission to the needy continues. An organization called World Hunger suggests the following ways to take action:

* Influence public policy to support poor people – For me it is not enough to send off tons of Food Aid to starving people, when chances are your country is engaging in unfair economic and trade policies that guarantee that the hungry will stay hungry and become more and more dependent on hand outs!

* Contribute financially to reducing hunger and poverty -  While it is, in general, not possible to support individual poor families, it is possible to contribute to organizations that do support poor people.

* Work directly with poor people - ‘Adopt’ as in provide assistance to a poor family, or their family members such as children in need of food, health care and better educational opportunities; look out for needy persons in your neighborhood and stop thinking that poor people are all lazy people who do not want to work!

So What are you doing now, and what more can you do from your little corner of the world?

Do share your thoughts with us.

Peace,
Marvia

Summer is almost here and Mission trip plans are in high gear in many places. I am already preparing to receive 2 groups this Summer. This is the third time we are receiving mission groups from this particular body. So far, each trip has been of great benefit to the missioners and to us.

As far as I am concerned, the success of our arrangement results from the fact that we approach mission opportunities as partnerships. I cannot say the same for some of the mission arrangements I see around us. Based on what I see still taking place in some neighbouring congregations, I have to ask if all mission outreach trips are mission trips or simply Summer vacations? And who really benefits from these trips?

I couldn’t agree more with Tony Woodlief over at World On The Web. I have often wondered myself and even raised that concern in my earlier article Christian Mission: The Age Of Mission Partnerships.

In Mission Trip or Summer Vacation Woodlief asked the following crucial questions,

So I’m wondering, what should our response be to the onslaught of youth missions this summer? What questions ought we to ask? Should we simply be thankful that young people are showing any interest in missions at all? Should we politely suggest that they can have experiences that are just as meaningful in our own inner cities, children’s hospitals, and poverty-racked rural areas? Should we pony up and keep our mouths shut? Am I a bad Christian for asking?

I encourage planners of Summer mission trips this year to become more conscious of the need to answer these and other tough questions. It is not enough to ‘get youth to do something’ or to provide travel options for retirees. The whole experience should be more than just a ‘cool trip’.

Unfortunately, some Christian youth arrive in a location and leave just as ignorant as they came. Some cannot truly engage the culture since back in their church it is vilified anyway. They come passionate about ‘saving the natives’ with little knowledge (gleaned from the CIA World Factbook) and very often end up offending their hosts with their ignorance.

Receiving countries of missioners are growing more and more disenchanted with the whole notion of mission trips. And congregations have grown very skeptical and tight-fisted about sponsoring mission-trips that to their mind are either (a) funded vacations (b) neo-imperialism in Christian disguise (c) a waste of their money when they have so many bills to pay (d) who cares about other people in other countries anyway?

Take care as you plan this year.

Peace,
Marvia

Christian Mission And Social Justice
Christian mission as primarily Evangelism in its traditional understanding as solely winning souls is becoming a thing of the past. Today’s church is becoming more and more aware that Christian mission and evangelistic outreach cannot ignore social justice issues.

The understanding of Christian mission in relation to social justice varies within the Christian community. This is going to be the subject of our discussions as time goes by.

Christian Missions From The Other Side
We will also be looking at missions from generally under-represented positions. We will share ideas from the perspective of the contexts that missionaries generally go to. We usually read or hear stories about them. You know the people of the Caribbean, Latin America, Africa, Asia and the Middle East. We need to hear them tell their stories too.

We will also be presenting ideas from the perspective of women missionaries who are largely unmentioned, except for those stories that could not be ignored. Stories of women like Lottie Moon from USA are mostly told by women among women groups. We will be sharing more on this as well.

Christian Mission As Partnership
Patronage as still being practiced by some mission agencies where they fund all aspects of the mission is on its last legs. It has led to a kind of dependency and underdevelopment of Christian stewardship in too many parts of the world to be ignored much longer.

It is a controversial issue and we will return to it repeatedly, as it is a recurring theme in many other issues we will discuss.

This is the age of mission partnerships. As the word partnership suggests, there is the understanding of mutuality in the mission arrangement. The missionary or missioner is not just the bearer of gifts. (S)he also receives something from the context (s)he serves.

Sometimes, the aspect of receiving is overshadowed by the giving. That is slowly but surely being corrected. Unfortunately though, the push for its correction is coming from the receiving context and not from the sending one.

Mission Trips or Holiday Tours
As the excitement and demand for Christian mission trips increase, the real purpose becomes blurred. I have met some hardworking committed Christians who are passionate about service. I have also met some individuals who take short-term mission trips as opportunities to visit an ‘exotic’ location.

They arrive in the tropics to save the natives. Those are the ones who want to stay somewhere around here:

You wouldn’t catch them setting foot here…….

Culture Shock or Attack
How missioners engage or dismiss culture is another area fraught with controversies. Of course we will be diving right in. We will explore how Christian missioners either engage or attack local culture and how this impedes or advance mission.

Join us and share your thoughts on these hot topics. I am sure you will not want to miss any of these upcoming discussions.

Marvia