N TH E R O A D toward ful-filling the Bono-endorsedslogan, “Make Poverty

History,” the world has hit an unexpected speed bump:

prosperity. India’s expanding auto industry puts4,300 new cars a day on already-crowded streets.Oil-wealthy Russia has doubled its meat consumption since 2000. Brazil’s sizzling econo-my is growing its use of steel at a faster rate (over20 percent this year alone) than nearly any othernation. China has increased its consumption ofeggs by a factor of ten in recent years.

Globalizing markets and economies have created new winners: Russia, China, Brazil, andIndia. The 2.9 billion people in these fournations are driving demand for consumer goodsto levels the global economy has never seenbefore. In 2001, the financial press began usingthe acronym BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China)to denote the emerging$13.8 trillion power-house. The prosperity ofthese economically booming nations has pulledhundreds of millions of people out of poverty.

But there are also new losers—nation-statesliving on the dark side of the new prosperity. It isworse than just grinding poverty. One expertwhom CHRISTIANITY TODAY spoke with esti-mates that worldwide, 25,000 people die eachday of hunger-related illnesses. Most of thesepreventable deaths occur in regions with no oil,insufficient food, and unending conflict.

CHRONIC HUNGER

This new reality comes after 45 years of steadyprogress in global food production. Last year, forexample, there was a record production of 2.3billion tons of grain. But production has beenunable to keep pace with demand. Grain stock-piles are at 30-year lows. Globally, 850 millionpeople are chronically hungry. Experts cite thefollowing reasons:

• Failed harvests. Since 2006, multi-yeardrought, cyclones, and othernatural disasters have dra-matically cut harvests insome food-exporting nations.A six-year drought in Aus-tralia’s rice-growing region,

Wasting Time: In Southern Sudan,muscle wastingand stunting arecommon among the severely malnourished.

Cover StoryCover Story

Hunger IThe world produces

more food than ever. So why do nearly a billion people still

not have enough to eat?C

HR

IS

ST

EE

LE

-P

ER

KI

NS

/M

AG

NU

M

26 C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y | N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

O

T©

C

HR

IS

S

TE

EL

E-

PE

RK

IN

S

/

MA

GN

UM

P

HO

TO

S

N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 | C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y 27

r Isn’t HistoryBy Timothy C. Morgan and Isaac Phiri

for example, has caused its harvest to plummet.• Rising fuel prices. Demand for new oil and gas sources has

triggered price spikes, thus increasing the cost of food production.Despite a recent decline from the $147-per-barrel peak this July,oil prices are still 60 percent higher than they were in 2005.

• Increased demand for grain. About 100 million tons of grainsand oilseeds are being diverted to produce biofuels every year.China and other developing nations are annually using millions oftons more of imported corn, wheat, and soybeans to feed cattle,pigs, and chickens.

In the words of Tony Hall, Christian hunger activist, formercongressman, and former U.S. ambassador to the UN World FoodProgram, these factors have combined to create a “perfect storm”for global hunger. “We have never had all these things cometogether at one time,” he said. In the past 18 months, the price ofbasic foods has skyrocketed. Experts estimate nearly 100 millionpoor people have moved from a subsistence lifestyle on $2 a day to$1 a day to cope. In Afghanistan, this $1 gap is the differencebetween living on a diet of bread and tea, and living on tea alone.

The past 12 months have been a roller coaster of gyratingprices, droughts, flooding, and food scarcity. In 2008, food riotsand protests—in Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, and

Haiti—made global headlines.In Haiti, 78 percent of the population

lives on $2 a day or less. The Caribbeannation imports more than 50 percent of itsfood, while many Haitians use 75 percentof their already-meager incomes to purchase food. After rice pricesdoubled this spring, riots erupted, killing five people. The govern-ment reduced prices by offering a 15 percent subsidy. But this fall,four tropical storms, including hurricanes Gustav, Hanna, and Ike,claimed the lives of another 330 people. Storm damage made foodaid even more difficult to deliver, placing millions of Haitians atgreater risk of malnutrition and starvation.

David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World, an advoca-cy organization to stem hunger, told CT, “Christian people need toknow that the world has been making progress against hunger,poverty, and disease. I see this as God moving in our time. Peopleneed to understand that we are going through a very serious set-back in that progress. We’re seeing a sharp increase in hunger inour own country and in developing countries. If we are going toget back on track, we need to be activist citizens and get our gov-ernment to do its part.”

“This situation is calling out for action, political and spiritual,”Hall told CT. “This thing is becoming so big that we need to bringGod into this and we’re not. We are attacking it piecemeal. Weneed to ask God’s wisdom and his help. We need a major fast andprayer across this nation. That’s job one.”

CRISIS ON THE HORIZON

Twenty-one of the 35 nations hit most severely by food scarcityand high prices are in Africa, according to the UN. Of those 21African nations, Ethiopia represents the worst of the worst. War,drought, famine, and starvation have been familiar to Ethiopiansfor generations. Right now, 14 million don’t have enough food.Stunted by chronic malnutrition, 12-year-old boys have the heightand weight of American seven-year-olds.

In southern Ethiopia, a vast, Texas-sized rural area of subsis-tence farmers, grain prices have tripled in the past two years,while prices for coffee beans, their main export crop, have stalled.One of the biggest cash crops is khat. The poor and hungry chewits mildly addictive leaves as a stimulant and appetite suppressant.

Food aid is often distributed with armed escorts to preventrobbers or mobs from overwhelming relief workers. Religioustensions also run high between Christians and Muslims. From thevillage of Wondo Genet, Pastor Philip, who helps distribute food

H U N G E R I S N ’ T H I S T O R Y

©

20

07

A

ND

RA

D

EA

RB

OR

N

/

WO

RL

D

VI

SI

ON

28 C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y | N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

The following is a selection of programs nationwide that Christiansuse to raise hunger awareness in their congregations and schools:

THE BROKEN BREAD POVERTY MEAL: A national event is scheduled for World Food Day, October 16. During this meal, a blend of corn-soy porridge is served to participants, who have fasted for onemeal before the event. They view evocative story cards that detail thelives of poor children. This helps participants see the connectionsbetween AIDS, poverty, and hunger. See worldvision.org/aoa.nsf/aids/events_brokenbread08

BREAD FOR THE WORLD SUNDAY: This event is held in the fallevery year (October 19 this year), with a worship service centered onhunger-related themes. A special offering may be taken. Membersmay be asked to write letters to lawmakers to encourage legislation tofight global hunger. See bread.org

CROP HUNGER WALK: Sponsored by Church World Service, CropWalk is the grandfather of hunger awareness programs. Many ofthese walks are in October across the nation. The program marked its60th anniversary in August. Over the years, sponsors have paid fivemillion people to walk against hunger, raising tens of millions. A portionof the donations is used locally. See churchworldservice.org/crop

FORTY HOUR FAST: Sponsored by the Presbyterian Hunger Program,this church-based fasting and prayer event typically starts on aThursday evening and concludes Sunday. Its current focus is on theglobal food crisis. See pcusa.org/foodcrisis

THIRTY HOUR FAMINE: Designed for use in youth ministries, thenext national event is in late February 2009. Teens engage in specialevents and community service projects to raise funds to fight globalhunger. See 30hourfamine.org

Raising Hunger Awareness

Programs and Projects:Above, Haitian momslearn basic nutrition;right, Zambian villagerswalk to work on an irrigation project.

aid locally and asked not to be named for security reasons, told CT,“We do not give priority according to religion. We give priorityaccording to need. Maybe they are Muslim or Coptic or whateverthey are. We give to the most affected.”

When the food aid trucks arrive, local leaders use informationgleaned from household surveys to decide who gets fortified grainand other foodstuffs. CT interviewed Pastor Philip during his U.S.visit to raise additional aid funds. “We are focusing on the ruralarea. The women and children are most affected. The mothers givepriority to children. Everything is finished before mothers getsomething. That is the saddest part.”

Eastern Africa’s 19 nations have atotal population of 300 million. Onaverage, 80 percent live on no morethan $2 per day, and most farmers livefrom harvest to harvest. In urban areas,millions of Africans cannot find food;when it is available, they cannot affordit. In Nairobi, Kenya, more than one million routinely go hungry.In Zimbabwe, it is projected that over five million of the country’s12 million will be starving next year.

For Bishop Paul Mususu, head of the Evangelical Fellowshipof Zambia, which is active in helping drought and flood victims inrural southern and western Zambia, the region’s crisis has“almost become a norm.”

One of the biggest, most haunting questions for church lead-ers, field researchers, and policymakers is this: How much of thecurrent crisis is manmade? The UK-based charity Christian Aidsupports food aid programs across Africa, and it disputes sugges-tions that the food crisis is primarily due to natural factors such as

droughts, flooding, or cyclones. “This is a crisis of man’s making—not nature,” reads its food crisis report from July. There are manyfactors in play:

• Sharp reductions in government subsidies, paired with anend to many price controls

• Little investment in modernizing traditional agriculture• Food aid distribution tainted by partisan politics• Cash crops such as cut flowers, tobacco, or biofuel grains

displacing domestic food production• Food insecurity due to violent conflicts.At the grassroots, food insecurity is a fact of life for millions of

people. Frail and malnourished, EuniceEmanure lives in Gangura village, acluster of huts along the SouthernSudan border with the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC). She goeswithout food because the little she hadwas looted when a rowdy band of

Lord’s Resistance Army militia swept through her village.“They came into my house and took everything,” she told CT. In lush northeastern DRC, the residents of Nyabondo go with-

out food because there is not enough stability to grow crops or rearlivestock. Villagers told CT how they survived in the jungle on any-thing and everything after a hostile rebel group raided their village.

In Mogadishu, the war-ravaged capital of Somalia, aid workerscannot deliver food for fear of being caught in the crossfirebetween feuding factions. Aid workers die in these skirmishes,but even more Somalis die from lack of food. In Sudan’s warringDarfur region, 100 UN trucks delivering food have been attackedthis year.

©

20

07

J

ON

W

AR

RE

N

/

WO

RL

D

VI

SI

ON

‘When hunger becomesanger, people will fight.’

KENYAN CHURCH LEADER

TOKUNBOH ADEYEMO

N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 | C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y 29

In Nairobi, Evangelical Fellowship of Kenya program coordi-nator Sophie Nyokabi is still shocked by her August grocery bill.“I spent twice as much as I spent in January,” she told CT. But onthe other side of Nairobi in Kibera, one of the world’s largestslum communities, thousandsstarve annually because they can-not afford the food on display inthe unlicensed kiosks along thedust-choked streets.

Worse may yet come for Nyokabi,Kibera residents, and all Kenyans.Christian Aid says, “Food prices [inKenya] are expected to remain highinto 2009 as a result of reduced cul-tivation [due to the displacement of500,000 people in the food-grow-ing Rift Valley], low stocks, andhigh fuel prices.”

In Zambia, villagers in thesouthern province live on so-called famine foods (wild fruits,nuts, and roots). Their crop was swept away by floods. In Lusaka,the capital, one family of eight lives on the edge as food priceshave increased by 50 percent since January. They alternate eat-ing meals.

Tokunboh Adeyemo, retired general secretaryof the Association of Evangelicals in Africa, hastraveled to nearly every African country and hasrarely been so alarmed. Adeyemo believes that ifthe food situation is not addressed effectively, itmay trigger new conflict. “We are sitting on a timebomb,” he told CT from a book-crammed study inhis Nairobi apartment. “When hunger becomesanger,” he says, “people will fight.”

FOOD AID MYTHS

Starting with an act of Congress in 1954, theUnited States has given more money and food tofight global hunger than any other nation. Ittranslates into $1.2 billion a year in aid.

But three years ago, Christopher Barrett, aCornell University professor and developmentexpert, coauthored the heavily researched FoodAid After Fifty Years: Recasting Its Role, whichgave a devastating critique of food aid. It showedhow attempts, especially by the United Statesand charitable groups, go awry all too frequently.“Food aid is a deeply flawed instrument,” hewrites. In Barrett’s opinion, the following are thecore problems with food aid:

• Conflicts of interest. American food aid pri-marily benefits agribusiness, American shippers,and politicians—not hungry people.

• Few reforms are ever implemented. Non-governmental organizations (NGOs), includingfaith-based groups, are “reluctant to rock theboat” because they fear an overall decrease in

resources for aid programs if they take on politically entrenchedinterests. (Even the Bush administration had a rough time pressingCongress for food aid reform in the recently approved Farm Bill.)

• The food aid system is inefficient, untrustworthy, and costly.The aid does not reliably get tohungry people. It may arrive toolate to do much good. It’s extremelyexpensive, for example, to ship twomillion metric tons of grain fromthe American Midwest thousandsof miles to hungry people in remoteplaces. Only 35 cents per $1 of foodaid goes for actual food. The restgoes to pay for transport.

The most controversial practicein American food aid is called“monetization,” the practice ofAmerican-flagged vessels shippinggrain to foreign markets. With care-

ful controls in place, this non-emergency food is sold. The moneyis then used to provide local assistance, which, in some cases,includes valuable programs to modernize local food production.

Critics believe this practice drives down the price of local food,thus undermining local farmers. Last year, the U.S. charity CARE

30 C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y | N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

H U N G E R I S N ’ T H I S T O R Y

‘This thing is becoming sobig that we need to bringGod into this and we’renot. We are attacking it

piecemeal. We need to askGod’s wisdom and his help.We need a major fast andprayer across this nation.

That’s job one.’ TONY HALL

Where to Find World Hunger 35 nations face malnutrition, food shortfalls, and huge price spikes.

HAITI: Severe storms

in September kill300; millions at risk

of severe hunger.In April, food

riots kill 5. BOLIVIA:

Violent conflictsover food and

energy productioncause 30 people

to die.

CHAD: Malnutritionworsens for

240,000 Sudaneserefugees on

eastern border.

Food shortagesare felt worldwideand expected tolast into 2009.

Moderate

Severe

Famine

rocked the development world when it decided to turn down $45million in food aid for monetization. CARE said monetization wasworking against its goals of reducing poverty and chronic hunger.Forgoing monetization, the UN World Food Program and manyother nations typically purchase grain in regional markets and usethat for aid efforts in nearby countries.

Unlike years past, the U.S. government does not maintainwarehouses stuffed with surplus food. Today, the governmentbuys food in American markets. Barrett told CT, “We lose a greatdeal of value in taking cash to buy food to ship food to turn it backinto cash. It’s very wasteful of taxpayer dollars.” (Barrett said thatin short-term emergencies, it makes sense for food to be shippedin to save the starving.)

Several large aid agencies continue to participate in monetiza-tion, including Catholic Relief Services and World Vision. RobertZachritz, World Vision’s director of advocacy and governmentrelations, told CT, “We have supported monetization. Is it a perfecttool? No. It can be an effective tool that saves lives.

“About 75 percent of the longer-term development programsare through monetization. World Vision’s position is more practi-cal. If you remove that resource, it won’t be replaced.” He saidmonetization programs are subject to careful controls to preventdamage to local markets and they limit excessive profits for ship-pers. He said Europe transitioned from in-kind food donation to

all-cash. But afterward, total aid declined 50percent.

Zachritz is keen on emphasizing that noone institution has “the total answer” to glob-al hunger. “We need good governments. We need businesses. Weneed the church, the faith-based community. We need big NGOs.We need smaller NGOs. If you look at Bill Gates, he cannot solvethis by himself. The church cannot solve this by itself. We need towork together. Where you get synergy, that’s where you developthe answers.”

In some parts of East Africa at least, that kind of synergy is

N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8 | C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y 31

35 nations face malnutrition, food shortfalls, and huge price spikes.

ZIMBABWE:Ongoing political

crisis triggers food price spikes

and cholera outbreak.

AFGHANISTAN:Wheat harvest

expected to declineby 1 million tonsdue to extended

drought.

MOLDOVA:Worst drought in60 years devas-

tates local farmers;135,000 people

receive aid.

ETHIOPIA:UN delivers

197,000 metrictons of food to stop

starvation due towidespread

drought.BANGLADESH:

Heavy monsoonstrigger extensiveflooding, leaving

400,000 homeless.

SRI LANKA:160,000 need

emergency foodaid due to new con-

flict with Tamilrebels in the

north.

NORTHKOREA: $500

million in food aidneeded due to

drought and poorharvests.

MYANMAR:Cyclone in Mayleaves 130,000dead or missing.Agencies fly in4,000 tons of

cargo.

Dead Zone: Afarmer in Zimbabwesurveys a drought-stricken corn crop.

AL

EX

AN

DE

R

JO

/

A

FP

possible. There is a growing desire forpolitical and church leaders to addresschronic hunger using every resource theycan throw into the fight. “All of our globalresources have been mobilized to respond,”says Stuart Katwikirize, emergency affairsadviser for Africa with World Vision, basedin Nairobi.

But coordination has proven difficult.Over the years, Katwikirize has observedthis pattern: A drought hits and people lose

all of their crops; then a flood follows andmore losses are incurred. This is clearlythe case in the Horn of Africa, wheredroughts are followed by floods, which arethen followed by severe droughts. “Thesame people affected by the flood are nowaffected by the drought. I know—I havebeen there,” says Katwikirize, who travelsextensively in these areas.

He cites Kenya as an example. “North-ern Kenya is not a poor place. Local pas-toralists know when there will be adrought.” Instead of losing their animals,they destock by selling some of their herdsso that they remain with fewer animalsduring the drought and also have cash tobuy food and restock after the drought.

“They are willing to sell at least halftheir stock,” says Katwikirize. There is onebig snag: The government has never invest-ed in the development of infrastructure inthe region. “Who will go to buy their ani-mals if there is no road?”

The end result: Thousands of cattle dieand large clusters of human populationsfind themselves desperate for food aid.

Many church leaders agree that govern-ments must bear a large portion of theresponsibility. Adeyemo posits that while

H U N G E R I S N ’ T H I S T O R Y

32 C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y | N o v e m b e r 2 0 0 8

n the acronym-choked language of aid agencies, they are labeled “OVCs”—orphans andvulnerable children. Globally, there are 143 million OVCs. Wasting, stunting, malnutri-tion, and diseases rob them of their childhood and nearly all hope.

In Zambia, there are 900,000 of these children, who have lost at least one parent orhave been abandoned. They live on no more than $1 a day and migrate to urban areas

to live off the streets.“It is by the grace of God that we manage to sustain the children,” says Joy Chisompola,

program manager of the Lazarus Project, a rehabilitation program that cares for 41 urbanorphans. Mothers at a Lusaka megachurch started the project in 1999. Situated on a 40-acrefarm about seven miles south of Lusaka, Lazarus has been hit hard by rising food prices. Thereis no famine right now, but basic foods are in short supply for 450,000 people. Last year,flooding triggered a 50 percent drop in some grain harvests. “It’s a big challenge and it is noteasy because meal, sugar, and cooking oil prices are going up,” says Chisompola.

Lazarus also runs vocational programs and a community school with a student populationof 250, whose average age is nine. In addition to reading, writing, and math, older kids learnhow to grow cash crops and vegetables and how to tend chickens. Children at Lazarus arepicked off the streets, and some have not been easy to integrate into Lazarus’s programs.“Obviously meals are not enough for them,” says Chisompola. “They come from the streetwhere they sniff glue, which makes them have bigger appetites than a normal child’s.”

Some 90 percent of the Lazarus Project’s monthly budget comes from local individualdonors. “There are few people who occasionally help us,” she says. “We don’t have any perma-nent well wishers [who] fund us every month.” Chisompola repeatedly adds, “I can say we liveby the grace of God.”

The orphans need clothing as well as food. Strolling around the premises of Lazarus’s campus,

it is nearly impossible to find a child not dressed in clammy, raggedclothes. “The children will just be in the same clothes,” she says,“until somebody is led by the Spirit of God to donate clothes.”

Chisompola told CT the project’s chaplain makes sure the orphans understand that they cannotlive on food alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God: “We show them love andcare. They are taught the Word of God. This ministry helps them change their lives.” Three yearsago, a very young boy was abandoned at a Zambian train station. Lazarus staff took him in andnamed him “Lazarus.” Today, he is living at the orphanage and learning farming and carpentry.

At Lazarus, the list of prayer requests is long. But food comes first. Chisompola says that inthe prayers of orphans, food comes before new buildings, new clothing, and better schooling.“Food is a need,” says Chisompola. Lazarus-grown gardens and chickens are helping, butmany still go to bed hungry. —Isaac Phiri

‘The church cannotsolve this by itself.We need to worktogether. Whereyou get synergy,that’s where you

develop theanswers.’

WORLD VISION’S

ROBERT ZACHRITZ

Flour Power: East Africanorphans each hold one-poundbags of fortified flour.

YA

SU

YO

SH

I

CH

IB

A

/

AF

P

/

GE

TT

Y

IM

AG

ES

Urban Orphans Learn to Farm

I

droughts are inevitable, starvation is not. Africans must find waysto harvest extra water when it rains heavily and to harness solarenergy in drought-prone but sunbathed areas.

Adeyemo believes one main cause of thefood crisis in Africa is poor management.Africans must learn to manage their resourceseffectively. He cites the biblical creationaccount. Humans were created after allresources for their survival were put in place.Africans have to maximize productive use oftheir God-given resources.

But the problem that frustrates Adeyemoeven more is “leadership ineptitude”—the fail-ure of African leaders to bring about enduringsolutions to African crises such as food avail-ability and accessibility. “They keep blamingcolonialism 50 years later,” says Adeyemo.Instead of pointing fingers, he says, Africanleaders must devise and implement ways ofcombating the food crisis.

Adeyemo has three ideas:• African governments must put more

money into agriculture than into buying guns.“Right now most money goes into defense.”

• Leaders must decentralize developmentprograms to reach rural areas where food is pro-duced. “Our city facilities are overstretched.”

• New ways must be developed to make

farming financially sustainable. “Our farmers are languishing. Wehave to scale up the status of food producers.”

Adeyemo’s call for Western Christians is to not grow“weary” in developing new ways to respond,since food aid alone will never solve theseproblems. Adeyemo told CT there is a betterway. “Give me the recipe. Do not just give mehandouts.” He believes that with the rightkind of help, Africa can feed itself.

Adeyemo moves aside the papers on his deskand leans forward to drive home a passionateplea: “Give us the right type of missionary toempower our people to produce their ownfood.”

Beyond his call for prayer and fasting,activist Tony Hall, author of Changing theFace of Hunger, has one small idea to fight thebig problem of global hunger. He learned itfrom Mother Teresa during a visit to India.

“When you are with the poor and helpingthem, God is there. That is a beautiful place tobe. Mother Teresa taught me my first lesson.She said, ‘Do the thing in front of you.’

“What’s going on in your church? Pay atten-tion to what’s in front.”

Timothy C. Morgan is CT’s deputy managing editor.

Isaac Phiri is a journalist based in Lusaka, Zambia.

FAITH-BASED HUNGEROUTREACH RESOURCESBREAD FOR THE WORLD bread.org800-82-BREAD

FEED THE CHILDREN feedthechildren.org800-627-4556

FOOD FOR THE HUNGRYfh.org800-2-HUNGERS

FOOD FOR THE POORfoodforthepoor.org954-427-2222

SALVATION ARMYsalvationarmyusa.org800-SAL-ARMY

WORLD RELIEFwr.org800-535-5433

WORLD VISIONworldvision.org888-511-6548

ct

Watching for Water: In desert-like northeastKenya, a mother waitsalongside a road beggingfor water donations.

CH

RI

S

JA

CK

SO

N

/

GE

TT

Y

IM

AG

ES

C H R I S T I A N I T Y T O D A Y 33