DOCUMENT RESUME ED 429 884 SO 029 688 AUTHOR Kempf, Stephanie Difference. A TITLE Finding Solutions to Hunger: Kids Can Make a Sourcebook for Middle and Upper School Teachers. INSTITUTION World Hunger Year, New York, NY. - ISBN ISBN-0-9660038-0-2 PUB DATE 1997-00-00 NOTE 242p. AVAILABLE FROM NECA, P.O. Box 73038, Washington, DC 20056($22). PUB TYPE Guides Classroom Teacher (052) EDRS PRICE MF01/PC10 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS Colonialism; Foreign Countries; *Global Approach;*Hunger; Learning Activities; Middle Schools; *Poverty;Secondary Education; Social Action; Social Studies; Unitsof Study; World Problems IDENTIFIERS *Community Service; Food Production ABSTRACT This manual engages young people in the taskof helping save their less fortunate peers from hunger andstarvation. The activities give students the knowledge to take action on the causesof hunger and their capacity to change the world. Global hunger,caused by the economic and social forces that result in a billion peoplegoing to bed hungry on a planet that produces more than enough food is a mysteryto most adults. Explanations of global hunger are usually too simple andoften wrong. The manual is based on the belief that children canbe helped to understand the real causes of hunger and learn to change them. Eachlesson leads the student through exercises that teach such things as the pain ofhunger, the importance of food, the inequitability of its distribution,the curious lack of relationship between hunger and population density,and the links between poverty, hunger, joblessness, and homelessnessin the U.S. and elsewhere. Throughout the lessons, students are asked toread and write, calculate and analyze, role play, and figure out solutions tothe problems of global hunger. The manual contains 25 lessons andis divided into three units: (1) "What Can We Do to "What Is Hunger?"; (2) "Why Are People Hungry?"; and (3) Help End Hunger?" (HT) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that canbe made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** A sourcebook for middle and upper school teachers A. 00 00 c;\ r21 44 1V9 arz, <> CC 111. U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION Office of Educational Research and Improvement EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Vr-hisdocument has been reproduced as received from the person or organization originating it. 0 Minor changes have been made to 00 improve reproduction quality. Points of view or opinions stated in this s ons document do not necessarily represent finding 00 official OERI position or policy. C3 by Stephanie Kempf C1 PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY S-1-eplActnie_EmpC Ci) TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) 1 BEST COPY AVAILABLE FINDING SOLUTIONS TO HUNGER FINDING SOLUTIONS TO HUNGER KIDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE A Sourcebook For Middle and Upper School Teachers bY Stephanie Kempf WORLD HUNGER YEAR New York 1997 4 Library of Congress Catalogue CardNumber: 97 90926 Kempf, Stephanie (date) Finding Solutions to Hunger Kids Can Make A Difference 1. Hunger - Study and Teaching 2. Poverty - Studyand Teaching 3. Community Service - Youth I. Kempf, Stephanie II. Title 199797-90926 ISBN: 0-9660038-0-2 Copyright©1997 by Stephanie Kempf All rights reserved. Cover design and illustration by: Lisa Rivard 965 Bend in the Trail Monument, Colorado 80132 WORLD HUNGER YEAR 505 Eighth Avenue New York, NY 10018-6582 Tel: (212) 629-8850 (800) 5-HUNGRY Fax: (212) 465-9274 email: [email protected] http://www.iglou.corn/why World Hunger Year (WHY) is a non-profit organization whose mission is towork for just policies creating sustainable livelihoods for all. WHY promotesself-reliance, food security and economic justice through research and educationfor policymakers, the media and the general public and through collaboration with and supportfor grassroots organizations. PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES Acknowledgments vi HUNGER FACTS viii CHOICES: A Letter to Students From the Director of World Hunger Year ix World Hunger Year The Kids Can Make A Difference® Program INTRODUCTION 1 NOTES TO TEACHERS 3 UNIT I: WHAT IS HUNGER', 7 Lesson 1: Food Keeps Us Alive! A Nutrition Workshop 9 Lesson 2: Eating The Way The World Eats 17 Lesson 3: How Big Is The Hunger Problem9 23 Lesson 4: Hunger Destroys 27 Lesson 5: Two Kinds of Hunger: Famine & Chronic Hunger 33 Lesson 6: The Power of One 51 UNIT II: WHY ARE PEOPLE HUNGRY9 57 Lesson 7: If There Is Enough Food, Why Are People Hungry9 59 Lesson 8: Is Overpopulation A Root Cause of Hunger? 65 Lesson 9: One Planet, Two Worlds 71 Lesson 10:The Legacy of Colonialism 77 Lesson 11:Development Who Benefits9 91 Lesson 12:Is U.S. Foreign Aid Working To End Hunger9 105 Lesson 13:The Importance of Female Education 111 Lesson 14:Hunger Hurts Us All 121 Lesson 15: Hunger, USA: Children, The Elderly, 125 The Working Poor, Racial & Ethnic Minorities, Single Mothers Lesson 16:Working & Eating 141 Lesson 17:The Homeless 153 Lesson 18:The Media 177 Lesson 19:The Grapes of Wrath 189 Lesson 20:ANCIENT FUTURES: Learning From Ladakh 195 UNIT III: WHAT CAN WE DO TO HELP END HUNGER° 205 Lesson 21:Find Out What People Think 207 Lesson 22: Shine A Light On Hunger 209 Lesson 23: Combine Our Talents 213 Lesson 24:Write Letters 215 Lesson 25: Give Testimony 219 RESOURCE GUIDE 221 vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Many hands, hearts and minds have nurtured the evolution of this guide. The seed was planted in 1994 by Jane and Lany Levine,two enthusiastic board members of World Hunger Year. I was teaching literature classes in a public high school in New York City when Jane and Lany began telling me about the hunger-awareness workshops they were presenting to sixth-graders around the northeast.I was struck by Larry's descriptions of young people who were surprised to hear that hunger actually exists in the U.S. Teachers, Jane and Lany explained, were expressing frustration over the lack of time and resources available for teaching extended courses on the causes of poverty. I attended some of the Levines' workshops and saw that they were indeed filling a crucial need within the students, teachers, schools and communities.Beforelong,informedstudents began takingboldand imaginative steps to alert their peers and communities to the forces behind hunger. Students were teaching workshops, creating hunger videos, making public service announcements on radio and holding fund-raisers to support food pantries and shelters. Jane and Larry's program had a new dimension: KIDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE® was born. Jane and Larry educated me about the silent hunger crisis enveloping all of us and suggested I visit World Hunger Year and think about helping create a teacher's guide that would extend the themes of their workshops as well as provide teachers with information and resources related to hunger and poverty. From that conversation on, nothing seemed more urgent. I am deeply grateful to Jane and Lany for their belief in me and their gentle but persistent prodding. I must also express my appreciation to those young people their idealism and moral energy continue to be an endless source of inspiration and motivation. Bill Ayres and the staff at World Hunger Year (WHY) welcomed me warmly and allowed me to roam freely through their extensive research library. They were always eager to answer my questions, recommend books and videos and introduce me to local hunger activists. My thanks to all of them at WHY: Sue Leventhal, Jonathan Greengrass, Vivian Wong, Noreen Springstead, Yolanda Brooks, Amalia Guerra, Erin Callahan, Mary Painter, Lucy Anderson, C. Carlson and Peggy Hupcy. Bill, Peter Mann, Jennifer Urff and Robin Garr deepened my understanding of the root causes of hunger. Our roundtable discussions of model programs working successfully to end hunger infused me with hope and underscored the fact that ending hunger is possible. As lesson plans began to sprout, Jane and Larry helped guide their development, then distributed copies of an early draft to teachers who tested the lesson plans in their classrooms and provided valuable feedback. Thanks to Ronnie Bowen, Carolyn Carey, Jennifer Castle, Jane Donohue, Nancy Fortier, Marilyn Fraser Lisa Howlett, Jane Darby and Kelly Keene. Thanks also to teachers and community organizers Harry Moore, Kate Rose, Karen Swann andRitaKirchgassner-Grathwohl,who teachand workinhungry communities. Their rebellious spirits and commitment to ending hunger reinforced my belief in the transforming power of education. vii I am very grateful to Joan Dye Gussow for reviewing the manuscript so carefully at a crucial point in its development and offering critical insight and encouragement. I am especially indebted to Bill Bigelow. His pedagogical writing on issues of social justice reshaped my understanding of how to teach. His comments on an early draft and his gentle provocation pushed key lessons to deeper levels. Jane, Larry and Iare very grateful for the interest and generous support from UNITED WAY OF NEW YORK CITY and from all the friends of KIDS CAN MAKE A DIFFERENCE®. Special acknowledgments to fellow board member, Alan C. Handell, for his valuable assistance with printing. Many warm thanks to my parents for their unwavering support and excitement about the project and for distributing early drafts to schools and community leaders. Finally, to James Toback, my love and appreciation, for introducing me to the power of words, and providing the intellectual nourishment and material and emotional support that kept me moving forward. viii HUNGER FACTS U.N. studies show that the world already produces more than enough food to feed everyone on the planet and has the capacity to produce even more, and yet... World hunger organizations estimate that nearly 1 BILLION people around the world are chronically hungry. 40,000 children die every single day of hunger or diseases resulting from hunger.