Resources for Pastors

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Feeding your neighbor in a complex world “We live in a world that is capable o eeding every person that lives on the  planet.”  Abhijit Bannerjee, Massachusetts Institute of T echnology  Tey peer at us rom the pages o our newspapers and television screens – the haunting images o starving children in East Arica who are the innocent and silent victims o amine.  Tey are among the millions aected in this current crisis, which is testing the limits o people’s compassion as we worr y about systemic corruption, which, in addition to ongoing conicts, mak es us wonder i our donations o ood will reach those needing it most.  Why, we might also wonder, i we are born equal in the eyes o God, are so many let to die o starvation while we in the West tuck our expanding waistlines up to the table or our daily bread? In a recent special report on eeding the world, Te Economist posed Te 9 billion-people question, a comprehensive overview o the complex issue o ood security* and the various actors contributing to rising ears about providing ood or a burgeoning global population. For city dwellers increasingly isolated rom modern arming, it oers an eye- opening look beyond our daily headlines about rising ood prices in our local supermarkets and ood riots in developing countries. I the world cannot eed its current population, how can we possibly meet the nutritional needs o the nine billion expected by 2050? And how is MEDA’s  work contributing to global ood security?  At its simplest, the solution is to boost yields and reduce waste.  Trough our  work in A ghanistan, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Peru and other countries, MEDA is encouraging small armers to adopt modern arming practices that will help them move beyond merely subsistence toward a more prosperous uture. Feed my neighbor: Food security resources for pastors 1 Engage your fock! Spring planting season – Grow a row for local food programs and promote self-suf ciency • Challenge your congregants to eat a simple meal of beans and rice at least once a week and donate the money they save to food security causes. • Hold an international potluck dinner as a celebration of diversity and to share culinary traditions • Show Daniel Penner’s video, Milk: From cow to consumer , and share MEDA client stories to illustrate the complexity of the food system and create greater awareness of and connection to where we get our food Fast facts • 1 in 7 people are hungry Poverty – principal cause of hunger • 1,345M poor people in developing countries live on $1.25 a day or less • 925 million hungry people world-wide (13.6% of estimated world population) • Children are the m ost visible victims of hunger. • Children who are poorly nourished suffer 160 days of illness each year • Half of 10.9 million child deaths each year due to poor nutrition • Malnutrition stunts growth of 32.5% of  children in developing countries • 1 in 6 infants born with low birth weight by malnourished mothers in developing countries more ... * “Foo d security exists when all people at all times have access to sufcient, sae, nutritious ood to maintain a healthy and active lie.” - World F ood Summit o 1996

Transcript of Resources for Pastors

Page 1: Resources for Pastors

 

Feeding your neighbor in a complex world“We live in aworld that iscapable o eeding every personthat lives on the  planet.”  Abhijit

Bannerjee, Massachusetts

Institute of Technology

 Tey peer at us rom the pages o our newspapers and television screens – thehaunting images o starving children in East Arica who are the innocent andsilent victims o amine.

 Tey are among the millions aected in this current crisis, which is testing thelimits o people’s compassion as we worry about systemic corruption, which, inaddition to ongoing conicts, makes us wonder i our donations o ood willreach those needing it most.

 Why, we might also wonder, i we are born equal in theeyes o God, are so many let to die o starvation while wein the West tuck our expanding waistlines up to the tableor our daily bread?

In a recent special report on eeding the world, TeEconomist posed Te 9 billion-people question, acomprehensive overview o the complex issue o ood security* and the variousactors contributing to rising ears about providing ood or a burgeoningglobal population.

For city dwellers increasingly isolated rom modern arming, it oers an eye-opening look beyond our daily headlines about rising ood prices in our localsupermarkets and ood riots in developing countries.

I the world cannot eed its current population, how can we possibly meet thenutritional needs o the nine billion expected by 2050? And how is MEDA’s work contributing to global ood security?

 At its simplest, the solution is to boost yields and reduce waste. Trough our work in Aghanistan, Ethiopia, Ukraine, Peru and other countries, MEDA isencouraging small armers to adopt modern arming practices that will helpthem move beyond merely subsistence toward a more prosperous uture.

Feed my neighbor:Food security resources for pastors

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Engage your fock!

• Spring planting season – Grow a rowfor local food programs and promoteself-sufciency

• Challenge your congregants to eat asimple meal of beans and rice at leastonce a week and donate the moneythey save to food security causes.

• Hold an international potluck dinner as a celebration of diversity and toshare culinary traditions

• Show Daniel Penner’s video,Milk:

From cow to consumer , and

share MEDA client stories to illustratethe complexity of the food systemand create greater awareness of andconnection to where we get our food

Fast facts

• 1 in 7 people are hungry

• Poverty – principal cause of hunger 

• 1,345M poor people in developingcountries live on $1.25 a day or less

• 925 million hungry people world-wide(13.6% of estimated world population)

• Children are the most visible victimsof hunger.

• Children who are poorly nourishedsuffer 160 days of illness each year 

• Half of 10.9 million child deaths eachyear due to poor nutrition

• Malnutrition stunts growth of 32.5% of children in developing countries

• 1 in 6 infants born with low birthweight by malnourished mothers indeveloping countries

more ...

* “Food security exists when all people at all times have access to sufcient, sae, nutritious ood 

to maintain a healthy and active lie.” - World Food Summit o 1996

Page 2: Resources for Pastors

 

Small armers learn how to boost  yields through: use o better seedsthat produce more vigorous plants;sowing in rows vs. broadcasting,and through the judicious use o ertilizers and pesticides.

Tey are using their resources moreefciently through: more intensive useo their land, and adoption o simpletechnologies such as drip irrigationand treadle pumps to make best useo available water supplies.

Farmers in developing countriesare reducing waste by: improvingdistribution systems so ood getsto market beore it rots, and betterstorage to protect their produce romthe elements and rodents.

 Tey are also learning to work morecollaboratively with each other tocreate distribution systems to better

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MEDA Resources

• Feedmyneighbor.net – MEDA foodsecurity resources

• Ethiopia – The growing EDGE(T) - www.meda.org – in: The Marketplace magazine,Jan-Feb 2012

• Daniel Penner video, Milk: From cow toconsumer - www.meda.tv

• Farmer to Farmer: Linkages for FoodSecurity video - www.meda.tv

• MEDA’s work in Ethiopia - www.meda.org (under Our Work, click on map)

• Asrese a role model for other Ethiopianrice farmers (client story) - www.meda.org

Other Resources

• Bread for the World - www.bread.org

• World Hunger facts and statistics - www.worldhunger.org

• The complexities of famine - http://www.marketplace.org/topics/sustainability/food-9-billion/complexities-famine

• Food Sovereignty: A Right for All -Political Statement of the NGO/CSOForum for Food Sovereignty, 13 June2002, Rome - www.foodsovereignty.org

Beyond aid ... long-termsolutions to hunger 

link them to markets, respondto modern market demands andchanging consumer preerences.

Relie organizations provide oodaid that lls stomachs and saves lives.Food aid is a response to a crisis, but we also need to look to the uture.

MEDA is helping to providelonger-term solutions to thequestion o ood security by  working with small armers in theircommunities – to ensure that moreood, and more nutritious ood, isgrown to meet the needs o a rapidly expanding population.

 We also want to ensure that not only is more and better ood grown, butthat people in developing countrieshave the resources to access ood by  working to improve incomes.

Only through greater sel-sufciency and producing a surplus to armers’needs can we hope to achieve that.

Feeding your neighbor

Mennonite Economic Development Associates

  Waterloo, ON Ofce: Lancaster, PA Ofce: 

155 Frobisher Dr., Suite I-106, 32C East Roseville Road

  Waterloo, ON N2V 2E1 Canada Lancaster, PA 17601-3861

  : 519-725-1633 : 717-560-6546

1-800-665-7026www.meda.org

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