English composition fundamentals and writing skills

¶ … Hunger has invaded our universe with the tyranny of a thousand Napoleon armies. This agent of destruction exists all around the world and affects millions of people. It is my determination that world hunger is eradicated in every corner of the world. The removal of this dreadful quandary is of the utmost importance if we are to ensure a hunger free environment for generations to come.

World hunger is one of the most critical problems facing our world today. It is estimated that 24,000 human beings die each day of starvation and hunger related diseases; 74% of these people are children. These statistics are staggering because it means that one person dies of starvation every 3.6 seconds. (Daily Results)

Within the developing world, 17% of the population was malnourished during 1997-1999, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. This means that 777.2 million people did not have enough food to meet their daily energy needs. (Trends and Current Status of Malnutrition in the World) The FAO also found that in March of 2001 thirty-five countries faced food emergencies. Among these nations were 18 countries in Africa, 11 nations in Asia and Near East regions, four nations in Latin America and two in Eastern Europe. (Trends and Current Status of Malnutrition in the World)

There is a myriad of reasons why world hunger exists. Among these reasons the most prevalent are the weather conditions in these nations. Drought and other adverse weather conditions have caused a shortage in food supplies, this is particularly true in African countries, which have the greatest need for emergency food. In addition civil strife also plays a role in contributing to starvation around the world. Civil strife makes it difficult for relief organizations to supply food to the people in these countries that need it the most; because of the difficulty in supplying these areas many of the people who die of starvation live in very rural areas where help is not readily available. ( Trends and Current Status of Malnutrition in the World)

The problem of hunger even exists here in America particularly amongst the working poor. America's Second Harvest reports that 23 million low-income households receive emergency food assistance. According to a study conducted in 2000 thirteen-million children resided in households that did not have an adequate food supply. Of the thirteen million children three million of them lived in households that have experienced or are experiencing hunger. In the year 2001 one out of every 10 children in America experienced hunger. (Hunger Facts)

The causes of hunger in America are very different from the causes in other parts of the world, because America is not experiencing a shortage of food but instead a lack of caring. Many of the people who are hungry in America are hungry because they lack the financial resources to purchase food on a regular basis. Most often these are people who do not make a living wage but do not qualify for welfare and do not have enough education to make a higher wage. This segment of the population is forced to depend on non-profit organizations to supply them with food. Donations to such organizations have decreased dramatically because of the events of September 11. Adversely the amount of people seeking help from these organizations has increased.

While the problem in America isn't nearly as dire as the hunger problem in other parts of the world the fact that the problem exists in the wealthiest country on the planet displays how difficult it must be for very poor countries to get food for citizens. If hunger is such an issue here can, you imagine the plight of the rest of the world.

Now that we have an understanding of the scope of the problem I offer to you some solutions. The most obvious and simple thing that we can do is give to those that are in need, which does not require much money. For only $8 per month a child in a third world country can receive the food and nutrition needed to survive. In addition to donating our resources we can also give our time. Existing food distribution organizations all over the world depend on volunteers to distribute food to those that are in need. Without the help of volunteers many organizations cannot properly distribute the food that they have available. If we can do these two things, it would help greatly toward the fight to eradicate world hunger.

Even though some of the solutions to this problem are simple there are also very difficult issues at play here. The first of these issues are civil Strife and political upheaval in countries where people are in need of food. In places such as Rwanda and Burundi it is very difficult for relief organizations to distribute food. In these instances I would propose airdrops into rural areas. In doing this people will receive food and the organization doesn't have to be concerned with relief workers being placed in any danger.