Objective 1: To identify ways to get more information about hunger
Materials
Statements: About World Food Day Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger
Concept: Every person can be a hero in fighting hunger
Content
- Great heroes have existed throughout time. Legends
exist in every culture about great heroes who have fought against poverty and
hunger for poor people. Many of the legends are based on fact and many have to
do with the religious beliefs of the people. Although some legends are based
on conquest, the enduring heroes are those who helped to free people from poverty
and hunger.
- In addition to legends, real people have changed the
course of history and fought human suffering and hunger in all countries of
the world. Many of these people made tremendous personal sacrifices in their
efforts to help their fellow humans.
- The qualities of a real hero are moral strength,
courage and the willingness to help others.
- Organizational/governmental heroes: Many people are also working to make a
difference to hunger in organizations and governments. Organizations and governmental
agencies have resources to help us. Hundreds of organizations have been set up to work on
various aspects of the hunger problem. Organizations include private groups, governmental
agencies, international organizations and regional coalitions. The scope of their
missions includes relief, research and advocacy. Some groups concentrate on specific
countries; some groups concentrate on specific issues, such as education or
agriculture.
Activities
- Who are our heroes? Ask
the children to list three of their heroes, living or dead, real or mythical.
Discuss what personal qualities these heroes have in common. Discuss what
personal qualities we value as people.
- From this list, select several heroes and leaders who
have worked against poverty, hunger or injustice and briefly describe their
contributions. Ask the children if these heroes are so different from the rest of
us, or whether we can all find the qualities within ourselves to work for
change.
- Ask the children if they know people in their community
who are caring and have the courage to help others in emergency and day-to-day situations. Do they think that they are heroes? Why or why not? Have the children
describe the contributions of some of the local people who are helping others.
- Ask the children what they themselves would like to do to
help their families, their community, or their world. Ask them to write a
story about, or draw a picture of, what they would like to do to end hunger.
- Discuss how their class is a part of thousands of classes all over the world
participating in World Food Day lessons. World Food Day is an annual, global activity with
the objective of raising awareness of hunger and malnutrition in the world and encouraging
people worldwide to take action against hunger. Children around the world are learning
together about how they can work together to be a part of ending hunger. Read or paraphrase
the statement About World Food Day to students to let
them know about some of the worldwide efforts to fight hunger.
- The lessons that the classes have all been using are
Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger, and were developed to provide education to help end
hunger. Read or paraphrase the statement describing the project goals and
ideals. Discuss how the children could benefit from exchanging the information
they have gathered on hunger with other classes in their country or around the
world. Send these suggestions to the Partners in Feeding Minds, Fighting
Hunger listed in the Introduction.
- Contact, or have the children contact, the international
organizations that are Partners in Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger. Some of
these organizations have country representatives or local project officers who
could be contacted and invited to the school to talk about their work. Ask the
organizations to send information on their projects or on their activities to
end hunger that could be shared with the class.
- Have the class contact others involved in hunger
organizations and local, national, regional or international leaders and ask
what is being done about each of the pillars of support for food security
(discussed in previous lessons). In addition, have the children look up or
request information indicating how much hunger exists in their area.
- Contact local civil authorities and invite them into
the classroom to talk about what local actions are being taken to prevent
hunger and malnutrition. Have the children interview a variety of public officials about
local hunger projects or actions. Each child or group of children could then
write a small summary report and present it to the class.
- Invite the "local heroes" who the children identified
to come into the classroom and talk about what they do to help others within the
community.
- Discuss the importance of education in fighting
hunger. Much hunger is related to poverty resulting from a lack of education.
Children should be encouraged to stay in school and learn as much as they can
about agriculture and nutrition in addition to basic skills.
- Discuss the benefits of a career in social services and fighting hunger and how students
can learn to help in this area. Invite local health and extension agents into the
classroom to discuss how many people are needed in careers related to fighting hunger.
