Day 289 -- UN Days for food and ending poverty

October 16 -- World Food Day.  The theme this year is Family Farming -- Feeding the World, Caring for the Earth. The focus is on smaller family run operations around the world that strive to produce food in a sustainable way. I find it difficult to read the statistics that come out around this time of year -- difficult because while they are changing slowly for the better, we only seem to hear about them on this day each year. The World Food Program strives to bring the message to the world throughout the year, but it isn't always the 'sexy' story that media outlets are hunting for use in the daily news. Perhaps it should be.  Tomorrow - October 17 -- is International Day for the Eradication of Poverty. Poverty is one reason why almost a billion people in the world are malnourished -- both here at home and in developing parts of the world. These two UN days occur each October on the 16th and 17th. Their proximity reinforces the relationship between poverty and food insecurity.

Some of the health issues of industrialized nations have found their way to developing nations. Chronic diseases and obesity have become challenges for countries transitioning from poverty to middle-income -- there are still many low income people along with the beginnings of people with improving incomes. Here at home, we find obesity more prevalent among lower income populations -- it does not mean they have too much to eat, but that they only have access to foods that fill stomachs but do not provide a balanced nutritional diet. Many community programs exist across the globe to address poverty and hunger through projects such as increasing diet diversity, micro-loans for cottage industry development and education of women and girls.

So -- today I'd like to share with you memories of a time that the world came together to help during a catastrophic famine. The outpouring of caring and the social and political will to 'do something' was never again matched until the Indian Ocean tsunami. I understand why we choose to help during times of crisis, but a sustained interest in alleviating ongoing suffering tends to fall off the radar. This missive can serve as a reminder of the situations around us all and even within some of our families.  I've chosen two videos to share today. The first is part of a song  I love with appropriate video for the topic today. It introduces another of my pet topics -- the power of one. The second video is grainy as it is from a much older video tape format used in the 1980s. In it you can see many amazing Canadian musical artists -- they were much younger then <smile>. Enjoy!

If Everyone Cared -- Nickelback


Tears are not Enough -- Northern Lights