Child Voice Fall 2008

8/8/2019 Child Voice Fall 2008

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The cominghungerhunger HowCCFC ishelpingfarmers

helping


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EDITORS

Abigail Guevara

Ian Robertson

OUR VISION

Striving as a worldwide

are creating a future of

children. We are renown

our compassion for chil

faiths and cultural back

inspired by Christs exam

personal, caring love.

OUR MISSION

Christian Childrens Fun

Canada reaches out aro

world to children in nee

families and communiti

faiths, to demonstrate C

love. Working side by si

our colleagues in develo

countries, we emphasize

and community develop

starting with basic assis

and leading to programs

stressing self-help and e

independence.

OUR VALUES

Inspired by Christs love

compassion for all peop

embrace and practice th

values: Results, Respect

Teamwork, Excellence

Charitable Registratio# 10691 8543 RR000

As the price of oil, grain and other

commodities tick higher on the global

stock markets, what is too often forgotten

is that with every cent the price goes up, more

and more of the children and families we help

are put at additional risk of increased poverty.

For many years a food crisis like this has

been on the horizon. For the last 30 years, food

prices have been kept very low by economic

policies like farm subsidies and tariffs, hidingthe looming crisis from most, especially in the

Western world. However, it is this same issue,

which the world is now awakening to, that Christian

Childrens Fund of Canada has been helping the

poorest of the poor prepare for, for almost 50

years by helping them become self-sufficient.

Consider this: In Ethiopia both potato and

tomato prices have risen 300 percent since

January. In Sri Lanka the cost of rice has

doubled since January. In Latin America, food

prices have increased over 40 per cent since

2006. On a global level, The World Bank

estimates food prices have risen by 83 per cent

in three years and that the price of rice, one of

the world's most important food staples, has

increased a stunning 141 per cent this year alone.

In this issue, you will read about how we

have been able to help protect some of the

worlds extremely poorchildren, their families

and communitiesfrom the effects of food price

increases. We do this at the local level by introducing

ways to vary, increase and secure household

income for those living on a dollar a day or less;

increasing local calorie supplies; and improvingthe ability of the poor and sick to utilize the

minimal calories that are available to them.

There are no simple solutions. But there are

small, simple steps we will explore in this issue

that we can take to save young lives. Wide scale,

large economic shifts and change in government

policy are required to solve this problem, but we

can help those who are struggling to survive today

make it through the difficult days ahead.

Bruce G. Herzog

CEO and a Sponsor

cv

From the Chief Executive OfficerBruce Herzog, CCFC

2 F A L L 2 0 0 8 | ChildVo

ON THE COVER: Five-year-old Theophile lives in Burkina Faso with his mother and father. Even though his

father is a farmer, the yields have been poor and they are struggling in the food crisis. Theophile suffers from

chronic stomach pains and diarrhea.

Theophile is not yet a sponsored child. If you are interested in helping Theophile get the education andnutrition he needs please contact Sponsor Services at 1-800-263-5437 and ask for Program ID 54600.

It is with a somewhat heavy heart I write this introduction. After 17

years, and the past eight as CEO, at Christian Children's Fund of

Canada, I have decided to leave the organization. It has been a

privilege and an honour to work with you in serving the least around

the world. It is now time for me to assist people in a different way as

my wife and I embark on a new challenge in the service industry.

Serving the children you help and ensuring accountability for your

generous donations has been a humbling experience. Together we have

done a lot in the last two decades: more children have clean water and

nutritious food; new schools have been built; medical care is available

to those who need it the most; and more parents have the opportunities

they need to care for their own families. We have come a long way.

But even as I have the fortune of taking a new path in my life, there

remains much work to do for those less fortunate.

Especially now.


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7A

perfect storm occurs when a number of conditions take

place simultaneously, multiplying the effects and the

ensuing damage. Starting in early 2008, economists,

academics studying food and grassroots organizations like

CCFC, began to see signs that the world was beginning to

experience a perfect storm when it came to food. UN Secretary

General, Ban Ki-moon, described the current food situation as

the worst international crisis since the Second World War.

But, like a perfect storm, this global food crisis was not the

result of one simple factor. Instead, a number of seemingly

unrelated issues together led to problems for many people in

our world today.

What are the factors in this perfect storm?

1 Worldwide crop shortfalls& dwindling surpluses

Like Joseph in the Old Testament, many countries have

traditionally prepared for lean years by storing a surplus of

food. In recent years, however, due to the pace at which

food could be grown and the ease with which it could be

imported, less emphasis was placed on stockpiles. Over the

past decade almost every year the amount of cereals

consumed globally has exceeded the amount

produced by farmers. Together, this has gradually

reduced global food stocks from about five

months supply in 1998 to less than two

months of consumption in 2006. In early

2008, wheat stockpiles hit a 60-year low in

the United States. ...over

ChildVoice | F A L L 2 0 0 8

7 reasons why foodis out of reach for theworlds children


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7 reasons...

2 Runaway oil pricesSoaring oil prices around the world add to the prices of

cultivating crops as well as at every stage of the chain of food

production from the increased price of fertilizer and seeds to

the increasing cost of operating farm machinery, to the expense

of transporting food to grocery stores around the world.

3 Using millions of hectares ofpotential food crops for biofuels

While alternatives to fossil fuels are promoted as

environmentally responsible choices, the diversion of food

crops to biofuels has been targeted as a primary cause of the

food crisis. Increased demand for biofuels could mean an extra

600 million people going hungry by 2025. Up to 40% of the

huge U.S. corn crop now goes to make ethanol while

Canadian crops are being sent to Europe for the same purpose.

Canadian farmers have been offered massive loans to converttheir crops to corn to meet the demand for 5% biofuel by

2010. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) says that

ethanol represents 70% of the price inflation of corn.

4 Worldwide demand for meatGrains once used to feed people are now feeding animals.

Fifty years ago, most farm animals were pasture-fed, but with

increased demands for milk and meat worldwide, today 8 kg

of grain are required to produce 1 kg of beef. North American

demand for meat has risen slowly over the last half-century to

100 kilograms per person each year, but in China demand hasrisen from 6 kg of meat per person in 1965 to 50 kilograms

per year today. Eating a typical North American diet high in

meat is considered desirable, but this means an enormous

increase in the amount of grain needed to produce meat.

5 Export bans and hoardingWith fears of insufficient global supply of grains and food

riots in a number of developing countries, many nations are

banning or restricting exports. Russia and Pakistan introduced

food rationing for the first time in decades this year and Pakistani

troops were sent out to guard imported wheat. India and other

big rice-eating countries have banned the export of rice, except

for basmati. Notably the Philippines, is talking of a "rice

crisis" and promoting drastic measures to guarantee supply.

6 Large investment fundscontrol staples

With the downturn in the US economy and real estate market,

investors have looked for alternative sources of income.

Volatile markets like todays cereal prices where Canadian

wheat recently tripled in value offer the chance for

speculators to make huge short-term profits. Agflation is a

term coined by analysts for inflation caused by an increase in

agriculture prices. In developing countries as well, speculatio

has begun to play a role with traders hoarding stocks in hope

of making money as the prices continue to increase.

7 Climate changeCrops have also been affected by poor growing conditions

linked to climate change. For example, a 10-year drought in

Australia, which continues, has severely affected rice crops.

Droughts in Canada and the United States in recent years hav

also resulted in unusually large crop failures. In Africa, agricultu

has suffered from droughts and flooding linked to climate

change as well as a lack of government investment in agricultu

Regardless of the causes of the foodshortage, the reality is that for more andmore people food is becoming out of reach.

Rising cereal prices are putting millions of people around theworld at risk of starvation. And increases in food prices of

20% or more mean that an additional 100 million people wil

join the 850 million who go to bed hungry each night. Food

a basic necessity: hungry people become desperate and

desperation leads to panic, riots and violence. The World Ban

Group estimates that 33 countries face potential social unres

because of the acute hike in food and energy prices.

Sources: Oxfam, Toronto Star, Foodgrains

cv


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Canadians are often shocked to

learn that the emaciated children

they see in the news, devoid of

the normal signs of life, do not feel the

pangs of hunger. Those pangs have long

since passed. Their tiny bodies have

blanked them out, their nervous systems

too weak and fragile to send messages

of hunger to their brains.

Day after day of being hungrybecomes the new normal. Small, empty

stomachs swell from hunger, and thirst

is constant. As no more food enters a

childs mouth, the body begins to turn

on itself, cannibalizing whatever it can

for survival, first breaking down what

little fat might exist, then eating away

the muscles. When the muscle is gone,

catabolysis (the process in which the

body breaks down tissue to sustain vital

organs) becomes more rapid. The body

becomes weak and shrunken,

dehydrated muscles making it

excruciatingly painful to move.

It is not uncommon for parents to

pull back dirty bandages at a medical

centre to show the skin along their

childs calves and heels that has split

wide open from a lack of protein,

exposing the tissue and bone below. At

this point, even if children are given the

opportunity to eat, the fungi that has

grown under the esophagus makes it

unbearable to swallow. This is thecoming hunger in Chancho, Ethiopia.

The face of hungerWorke Weldemarim is the widowed

mother of five children who all live in a

single room, mud-walled shack: Thomas

10 (pictured), Rahel 13, Shimelis 14,

Addis 17, and Nushet who is 26. They

are the victims of this years food crisis,

caused by a sharp increase in global

food prices and compounded by a

nationwide drought. Chancho, their

small town, is at risk of falling into

the path of the growing government-declared emergency zone.

For this family, and millions more

like them, things are bad. Very bad.

Every day extreme hunger imposes its

as another small handful of the nation

dwindling grain supply is consumed.

Even when there is no drought and the

economy is good, one in 10 people in

Ethiopia depend on food aid to survive

When you consider relatively well-off

countries in Europe and North Americ

are starting to worry about their own foo

supply, you can understand that things ar

going to get a whole lot worse in Ethiop

The average annual income in

Ethiopia is $160 or just 44 cents a day

If a family is lucky enough to live on

two dollars a day, this current food cri

would mean having to only give up me

Because of the drought, we are seeing severe malnutrition.

Any food, anything, would help. Children may die if we hesitate,

says Berhanu Ambaw, CCFC Country Director in Ethiopia.

hunger

...continu

Perhaps the best way to provide

perspective on the coming hunger

is to jump ahead and answer the

question What happens when you

stop being hungry?

The

cominghunger


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hunger

and other protein sources, vegetables,

healthcare, and to pull children from

school to afford basic meals of grain.

If a family lives on $1 a day, the

measurement of absolute poverty, it

means also having to cut back to just

one meal a day, if they eat at all. For

those who struggle to survive on less

than 50 cents a day, disaster is imminent.

Worke is one of those for whom

disaster is imminent. It has been six

months since they were able to make

bread and the choices she has had to

make in order to eat have been growing

increasingly difficult. Often there is

only enough for one child to eat, and

Worke is forced to make a decision no

mother should have to make: which ofher crying children will be able to eat

today and who will go without? In this

situation, she says, the smallest is the

one who gets to eat.

But lately there hasnt even been

enough food even for the smallest. Worke

has had to send one of her children away

so the others have a chance to eat at all.

Her daughter, Rahel, has been sent some

140km away to the village of Goha

Thsion. She would have sent one of the

younger boys but they would not have

survived the journey.

Malnutrition is taking its toll on

Addis and young Thomas. Their immunesystems have grown weak from a lack of

food, and predatory diseases have begun

to attack their frail bodies. A lung infection

due to malnutrition makes it difficult to

breathe and to gather the energy it takes

to cough and clear their lungs. Even if

their illness was diagnosed which it

hasnt been because they cant afford t

cost of the trip to the hospital, let alon

the doctors bill it would be impossib

for them to afford the cost of medicine

with the skyrocketing cost of food

hanging over their heads. And any

treatment would be ineffective without

the proper nutrition to support it. Instea

Addis and Thomas sit, taking short

shallow breaths, growing weaker as

another day passes without food.

With Ethiopias national grainstock

pile some 400,000 tonnes behind wher

it should be, and just 65,000 tonnes lef

to support a population of 90 million,

The Economisthas reported that food

shortages are going in the direction o

high mortality. cv


The coming hunger...

To sponsor a child like Thomas or Martha please call 1-800-263-5437 or visit www.ccfcanada.ca .

The question then is how do we helpthe people of Ethiopia and the other1.1 billion absolute poor living around

the world survive? How do we help

them cope?

It is a daunting task. But there is hope.

Beyond emergency aid, we need to

dedicate ourselves to solutions that deal

with the root causes that have kept

Ethiopia in cycles of starvation for thelast 25 years. Christian Children's Fund

of Canada has been working to avoid the

need for ongoing relief aid by setting up

programs that help insulate poor

communities from critical food

shortages and cost increases by:

providing capital to cope with cost

increases, increasing regional food

supplies, giving the poor more control

over the distribution chain, and

improving calorie utilization.

Micro-Enterprise loans can be

provided to enable new income-

generating activities so people can cope

with increased expenses. A focus on

helping marginalized women becomeentrepreneurs has the potential to double

a households earning capacity.

Providing opportunities for farmers

and food producers to combine

resources increases purchasing power

and access to new technologies for

greater local crop yields, as well as

offsetting the transportation costs to an

from new markets ensuring that loca

surpluses are spread regionally.

Savings clubs can promote

entrepreneurship in commodity

brokering, and provide leverage for

small poor farmers against larger

competitors.

It is also important that steps aretaken to help the poor optimize limited

food supplies by ensuring the efficient

use of nutrients by providing medical

help, and introducing more nutritious

crops that increase the number of

calories available. cv

Stopping the cycle of starvation

10-year-old Thomas is suffering froma lung infection due to malnutrition.

10-year-old Thomas is suffering froma lung infection due to malnutrition.


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help


ON A GLOBAL SCALE, women produce more than half of all the food that is grown. In sub-Saharan Africa and theCaribbean, they produce up to 80 percent of basic foodstuffs. In Asia, they provide from 50 to 90 percent of the labour f

rice cultivation. And in Southeast Asia and the Pacific as well as Latin America, women's home gardens represent some

of the most complex agricultural systems known. (Food and Agriculture Organization) cv

Women farmers sustain life

$47and a plan Deborah Kabre lives in Kuobri, a rural district of Burkina Faso.As a single mother of four living in extreme poverty, Deborah made the best of an opportunity

provided to her by CCFC. Because one of her children was a CCFC-sponsored child, Deborah

was able to participate in a CCFC Micro-Enterprise development program.

Taking out a small loan of $ 47 (CAD) to buy seeds and fertilizers for her patch of land,

Deborah ensured access to food for her family all year round. During the rainy season she grew

corn, rice and sorghum. And in the dry season Deborah became a vegetable gardener.

My plan is to buy a donkey to help me transport the crops and install a water pump to

irrigate the land to increase production, she says. I need to expand my business to make ends

meet as my children are getting older. And CCFC is helping her move forward.

Using the same small patch of land, she also grew onions and sorrel, earning enough money

to repay her loan. Over time Deborah boosted production of her land and grew enough to sell

her crops in the local market and eventually to a buyer from the neighbouring town.

Deborah farming

If you are interested in making a donation to help families improve their livelihoods contact

Christian Childrens Fund of Canada at 1-800- 263-5437 and ask for a Sponsor Services Representative.

Small scale farmers are critical to providing a solid foundation of nutrition for

their communities in developing countries. Yet, in general, these farmers

receive no subsidized help nor do they have any health insurance in case

something goes wrong, leaving food supplies on a perilous perch.

CCFCs Micro-Enterprise loans and capacity-building classes not only act as a

safety net to these farmers, but also gives them a hand up that allows them to do

more than they otherwise could have.

Ive taken several training classes, provided through CCFC partners, to increase

the yield of my paddy [rice] field and vegetable cultivation, says Mr. Sochin Sanpui,

father of CCFC-sponsored child in Bagdipara, India.

With his familys small CCFC Micro-Enterprise investment loan of 1500 rupees

($36 CAD) Sanupi reaped a great profit from his sesame cultivation of 7,500 rupees

($181 CAD) and was able to repay his loan, provide for food as well as education for

his sons and daughter.These small loans and classes keep the small scale farmer afloat in difficult times

so that hardships, like a food crisis, dont totally destroy livelihoods and future

success. If they are able to get a little further ahead, they can save and prepare for

leaner years. cv

CCFC small loanshelp famersmeet needs in food crisis

Mr. Sanpui stands proudly inhis fertile vegetable crop.

Mr. Sanpui stands proudly in

his fertile vegetable crop.


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1200 Denison Street, Markham, Ontario L3R 8G6905-754-1001 1-800-263-5437 Fax: 905-754-1002www.ccfcanada.ca | Charitable Registration # 10691 8543 RR0001

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