Durban - Today is World Hunger Day.
Yesterday food rescue and hunger relief organisation SA Harvest visited an impoverished area in Reservoir Hills to hand out a ton of fresh produce, non-perishable food, blankets, mattresses and water to organisations that have been severely impacted by the floods and are in desperate need of these relief efforts.
Another four to eight tons are earmarked for distribution to beneficiaries on its database that includes non-profit organisations and individuals.
SA Harvest’s model of rescuing food to fight hunger addresses the immediate crisis, but it also addresses the root causes of hunger through systemic interventions, as part of its mission to end hunger.
According to the organisation, World Hunger Day highlights the fact that the current food system is failing to meet the needs of nearly 2.4 billion people ‒ almost a third of our planet. In South Africa, 20 million people go to sleep hungry every night, while 13 million tons of food are wasted every year.
SA Harvest founder and CEO Alan Browde said this year’s World Hunger Day highlights the role of youth in creating a future free from hunger, and calls on the world to let young voices be heard.
“Rightfully, they note that when young people have access to education and leadership opportunities, they develop the skills to achieve self-reliance for themselves and their communities.
“The tragedy, however, is that it is the youth who are the most prone to the harmful effects of malnutrition and hunger. These desperate and harsh circumstances render much of our youth incapable of being able to concentrate in school, or to access the type of education that would enable them to contribute meaningfully towards developing solutions to continuous, unabating hunger,” he said.
Browde said there were solutions to hunger, “and when those solutions are passed into law by socially conscious and forward-thinking governments, the systemic causes of food insecurity are addressed”.
The Independent on Saturday