We’re all guilty of it, letting perfectly good veg rot in the fridge, endorsing a fad diet that equates to a rumbling stomach with a bikini body, or the classic case of your eyes being too big for your belly, all in all wasting food. Western society perpetuates an idea that food is readily accessible. But, 1 in 8 people around the world go to bed hungry every night, and 2 million people die from hunger related causes each year. Whist it may seem that the issue of poverty has reached a point where it seems both overwhelming and beyond repair, there are small steps we can make to rectify the situation.
February 22nd marks one of these small steps in the form of the event FORK. Run locally by Exeter students, the project works by skipping a meal on the 22nd and donating the money you would have spent on this meal to the charity. This could be anything from skipping your morning slice of toast to your full on roast dinner, it’s up to you.
Charities notoriously have a question mark of legitimacy hanging over their heads in terms of where the money ends up. However, the proceedings generated by FORK go to an extremely worthy cause. All money raised by this incentive goes to a project called “Umoja” run by Tearfund, who endorse FORK. Tearfund empowers people around the world to work and provide for themselves by training communities to identify and use the resources they already have to work their own way out of poverty. This approach equips a person with the knowledge to better provide for themselves with food for the rest of their lives. Tearfund has had monumental success in some of the world’s most deprived countries. For example in Uganda, hunger has been halved in fifty villages that Tearfund are involved with. This is only a tiny proportion of what Tearfund has achieved. If you’re interested in getting involved with Tearfund, or just want to find out more, visit their website http://www.tearfund.org/en/ .
There is enough food in the world for everyone but, sadly, not everyone in the world has enough food – if you take part you can help change this. For those of you who are keen to get involved, it couldn’t be simpler. Skip a single meal on the 22nd : receive an envelope and a wristband every day this week from the Forum! Those involved are encouraged to wear their wristbands in order to promote awareness for the charity, and therefore draw attention to the starvation that blights so many people globally, and to also remind themselves of the great thing they are partaking in and why. Then, simply fill your envelope with the money your missed meal would have cost you, and return it to the FORK table in the forum on the 25th, 26th, 28th of Feb or 1st of March between 11am and 4pm.
This is an extremely worthwhile cause, one that not only helps to ease the hunger of those in dire situations, but also helps to put their lives back in to their own hands and to sustain their better circumstances. Yes, skipping one small meal really can help make all this happen. So get involved and help to ensure the world’s food is equally available to all!
Make sure you check our the Facebook page here!
Photo credits: http://vimeo.com/tearfundfilms, http://www.catshillbaptist.org