Today is World Food Day.
I’m remembering how my cupboards are never empty…even when my bank account is.
I’m remembering how scarce food is for my friends in Africa.
Two stories come to mind…
ONE
On our first trip to Africa we were nervous about going through customs in Johannesburg. Pam had bought an orange in the Atlanta airport but hadn’t eaten it when we saw signs forbidding bringing fruit through customs. Not wanting to draw any attention to herself she quickly ducked into the women’s restroom and tossed the orange into the trash.
There was a cleaning attendant working in the restroom who immediately rushed to the trash and rescued the orange. She had a confused look on her face and asked in her best broken English, “Why do you throw away food?” There wasn’t an answer to be given, really. We’re Americans…we discard things that are perfectly good when we don’t want them any more…right?
School Lunch in Lesotho, Africa
TWO
We were traveling to some remote communities in Lesotho, Africa. The workers from the hosting office had packed a lunch of sandwiches and cold fried chicken, something we could easily eat out in the field. When we stopped for lunch, it was quickly apparent that only enough food had been purchased and brought along to feed the Americans. The local team was to go without.
This struck me as unconscionable. How could we, the overfed Americans, eat this lunch while African volunteers and community workers were to entertain us and go hungry. It proved to be very difficult to share our lunch with them because we were their guests and…this part killed me…they said they were used to going without food. Eventually we convinced them to share lunch with us, but only after many objections.
Today is World Food Day.
Let’s remember that we have more in America than we possibly need.
Let’s remember to help our friends around the world who are hungry today.
Here’s one way you can help a hungry child today…CLICK HERE.
Have you seen first hand the effects of a food crisis around the world?
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