Race Against Hunger Hunger Guide for Teachers Zimbabwe Action Against Hunger 247 West 37th Street, 10th Floor New York, NY 10018 (212) 967-7800 www.raceagainsthunger.org [email protected] Photo: ACF-South Sudan, T. Frank ACTION AGAINST HUNGER | ACF Educational Program Components INTERNATIONAL DESIGNED THE RACE AGAINST HUNGER INITIATIVE TO HELP EDUCATE STUDENTS ABOUT THE PROBLEMS OF GLOBAL HUNGER AND POVERTY, AND TO ENCOURAGE THEM Background Information for Teachers TO BE PART OF THE SOLUTION. Global Hunger WHY RACE AGAINST HUNGER? • Introduction to Hunger .................................... 2 • Hunger Abroad .................................................. 2 Enrich your curriculum The Race Against Hunger’s Hunger Guide • Hunger at Home ................................................ 3 by incorporating global Country Case Study: Zimbabwe ....................... 4 issues into classroom for Teachers provides an educational Classroom Program activities. Introduction to Subject-Based Learning Activities primer on domestic and global hunger. • English ................................................................ 7 Foster a sense of • Social Studies .................................................... 8 community and global Easily adapted to your classroom’s • Reading .............................................................. 9 citizenship among • Math ................................................................. 10 students. curriculum needs and teaching • Science ............................................................ 12 • Physical Education .......................................... 14 Join the fight • Electives .......................................................... 16 against hunger by requirements, the program will not only spreading awareness Additional Information in your school and Tips on Implementing community. interest your students, but also inspire the Race Against Hunger .................................. 18 them to be global citizens. Sponsorship Form ............................................ 19 Help children around About Action Against Hunger .......................... 20 the world who suffer from hunger and malnutrition. Photo: ACF- Sri Lanka, B. Marin ACTION agaINST HUNGER | 1 h BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS Conflict and War Civil conflict or war often destabilize and displace populations, uproot communities from their home, and result in high levels Key Terms Global Hunger of food insecurity. In conflict-ridden regions, hunger and malnutrition among the poor is both widespread and severe. Hunger: the result of the persistent intake of less than the daily amount of It is unacceptable that a significant number of the world’s population, particularly women and calories your body needs to be nourished children, suffers from hunger and malnutrition in a world capable of feeding all of its citizens. Environmental Disasters and active. Globally, millions of people die because they lack sufficient food and clean water, the basic Natural disasters, such as the recent drought in the Horn Famine: the absolute unavailability or inaccessibility of food in a given region, necessities for life. The first step to ending this crisis is to understand what hunger is, who is of Africa, have catastrophic effects on the food security of developing countries. Environmental disasters dislodge possibly causing death. affected by it, and why it exists in a world of plenty. poor populations much like conflicts and wars do. Until Malnutrition: a term that describes a their communities can be rebuilt and their livelihoods wide range of conditions that hinder good restored, these disaster-displaced communities suffer health, such as inadequate or unbalanced from food-insecurity. Although these types of disaster food intake. While we tend to associate QUICK FACTS CaUSES OF HUNGER effect whole populations, the challenges of food instability malnutrition with under-nutrition, or lack of food intake, malnutrition also includes Hunger and Malnutrition The Scarcity Myth are often worse for families who experienced poverty over-nutrition, or the consumption of following the crisis. • Approximately 925 million people around the It is a commonly held belief that there are insuficient too much food. Obesity is a form of world are malnourished. This amounts to nearly resources to feed the world’s population; however, malnutrition. 1/7 of the global population. this is a misconception. According to the United Food Security: a situation during which HUNGER IN THE UNITED STATES all people at all times have economical, • Every day, nearly 15,000 children die from Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the world produces enough wheat, rice, and other social, and physical access to a sufficient hunger-related causes. • 49 million Americans are food insecure grains to provide each person with approximately amount of safe and nutritious food that • Some 19 million children under the age of five 2,700 calories a day. This excludes other foods that • 1 in 5 Americans rely on at least one U.S. Department satisfies their nutritional needs and dietary preferences. suffer from severe acute malnutrition, a condition comprise a well-rounded diet, such as vegetables, of Agriculture assistance program each year that kills at least 3.5 million children every year. beans, fruits, meats, and fish. With these foods • In 2010, 16.2 million children lived in food insecure households. Poverty: the inability to achieve the standard of living that is usual for a Source: United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization (FAO), factored in, hunger should not be a problem in the Source: Feeding America: Food Research and Action Center (FRAC) 2011 particular society. The standard of living 2011 Action Against Hunger (2011) world. Nonetheless, about 925 million people are Share Our Strength (2010) malnourished today. varies between nations, but the effects of poverty remain the same: hunger, Water Insecurity and Hunger Source: United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Why is hunger in the U.S. different homelessness, and lack of education and than hunger in developing countries? resources to fulfill basic human needs. • An estimated 884 million people lack access to a Health: the state of physical, mental safe supply of drinking water – that’s three times WHY HUNGER IN A WORLD Hunger in the United States varies from hunger and social well-being – not merely the the U.S. population! OF PLENTY? elsewhere because of the plethora of resources absence of disease or sickness. accessible for Americans suffering from hunger. From • A staggering 2.5 billion people do not have access Poverty Refugee: a person who flees his/her to basic sanitation facilities. national programs to community-based centers, there In a world capable of feeding every man, woman and country for fear of persecution for are a wide range of available services. Some commonly reasons of race, religion, nationality, • Each day, 2 million tons of sewage and other child, poverty is the overarching explanation for why used resources are: membership of a particular social contaminants enter waters all over the world – hunger exists across the globe. Additional factors that Food Banks: non-profit organizations that distribute group, or political opinion. causing cholera, dysentery, and diarrhea. can leave individuals vulnerable to hunger include: donated food and grocery products to food pantries, • The average American individual uses 100 to 176 Expatriate: a person living outside his or emergency kitchens, and other human service agencies her native country. gallons of water each day. The average African Seasonal Hunger to directly help needy clients. family uses about 5 gallons of water each day. Civil War: a conflict between different Most of the world’s poor live in rural areas that are National School Lunch Program (NSLP): a federally groups belonging to the same country. Source: Water Partners International: World Health Organization (WHO), dependent on agriculture and livestock economies. assisted program that provides nutritionally balanced, 2011 United Nations World Water Day (2010) For these households, poverty, hunger, and illness Drought: a deficiency of precipitation reduced–price, or free lunches to children in public and over an extended period of time. change dramatically over the course of a year in non-profit schools. response to production, price, and climatic cycles. International Humanitarian Contrary to popular belief, acute hunger does not Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, Organization: an organization devoted to occur due to conflict or natural disasters, but rather formerly the Food Stamp Program): a federal program saving the lives and protecting the health as a result of the “hunger season” – the annual period that enables low-income families to buy eligible, nutritious of people affected by emergencies in various countries around the world. during which existing harvest stocks have dwindled, food from authorized retail food stores Source: United Nations Cyber School Bus: WHO: United little food is available on the market, and prices shoot Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR): upward. This results in cycles of hunger that can be National Drought Mitigation Center devastating. 2 | raCE AGAINST HUNGER // HUNGER GUIDE FOR TEACHERS www.actionagainsthunger.org ACTION agaINST HUNGER | 3 House of Assembly, but Tsvangirai himself withdrew ACTION AGAINST HUNGER’S BACKGROUND INFORMATION FOR TEACHERS from a presidential