The following is a portion of an unsolicited letter received recently by
the World Hunger Committee from a resident of the African country of Sierra
Leone.
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the
Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God every time I remember you because of your
continued sup- port to the poor. I am ... a Sierra Leone refugee in Conakry
now back to Sierra Leone. Indeed, Sierra Leone has been in the grips of
rebel war since 1991. This war brought untold hard- ship on the people
through indiscriminate burning of houses and wanton destruction of innocent
lives and property… The civilian government, which was restored on March
1998, is presently grappling with the problem of reconstruction,
resettlement, and rehabilitation.
Meanwhile the economy has collapsed and inflation has
skyrocketed. Consequently the majority of us who cannot afford to eat have
no alternative than to resort to humanitarian aids to continue life
struggle. Right now there is widespread hunger and starvation, as a
newspaper-the Independent Observer Daily Mail dated August 26, 1998--wrote
about the food situation in the country.
Sir, It is on this note that I decided to unite to you, believing that
you will help me. Please I need your assistance financially to any amount of
your choice. No amount will be small.
While it is extremely unlikely that an appeal such as
this would be acted upon directly without further verification, the letter
vividly illustrates the plight of the poor, the displaced, and the hungry in
many places in the world. Indeed, it was in response to many similar
situations that the World Conference of 1978 passed a resolution calling for
the formation of a World Hunger Committee.
Responding to Hunger
The original language called on the First Presidency, in consultation
with other World Church officers, to develop ministries based on the "
'repression of unnecessary wants' in the spirit of fasting." The
resolution simply asked that the church accumulate the funds resulting from
the discipline of fasting and distribute them "through the selection of
church related and/or other agencies to best accomplish a saintly response
to the concern for world hunger." It was determined that the most
appropriate way to administer the funds collected would be to establish a
World Hunger Fund as a special section of the Oblation Fund.
A further resolve also called on the First Presidency to
develop a program that would "facilitate opportunities for those
interested and motivated to participate in additional ways beyond the
fasting discipline and add these moneys to the support of ministries
directed toward the problems of world hunger…”
Thus it was that the First Presidency, in 1979, appointed
the first World Hunger Committee. Its purpose as set forth in the charge to
the committee was threefold: to provide funds to alleviate hunger, to
educate the church membership about hunger is- sues, and to advocate on
behalf of the hungry.
It was evident from the first that the World Hunger
Committee itself had neither the resources nor the staff to identify and
evaluate directly the myriad programs and projects established globally to
assist the hungry. Fortunately, several organizations with ties to the RLDS
Church, especially Outreach International and World Accord, were already
engaged in programs of participatory human development in many parts of the
world. These organizations have been the major recipients of World Hunger
Committee funding wherever it was felt projects could be identified that
were directly, or sometimes indirectly, related to the alleviation of
hunger.
Education of the membership regarding hunger issues is
accomplished through articles in the Saints Herald, information distributed
to stewardship commissioners and other financial officers, a World Hunger
booth at World Conference, and distribution of World Hunger brochures to
congregations.
To carry out the portion of its charge related to
advocacy, the World Hunger Committee has for a number of years supported the
activities of the Christian advocacy group Bread for the World. This
organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., focuses its efforts on
seeking to educate legislators and influence legislation to benefit the
hungry, not only in the United States but throughout the world. Bread for
the World Institute also published an annual report on various aspects of
world hunger, the 1998 publication being Hunger in a Global Economy. The
World Hunger Committee of the RLDS Church is listed annually as one of the
sponsors of this report.
Varied Approaches
Learning about the World Hunger Committee and its activities is
instructional and important. More important-even essential-is to achieve an
understanding of what kinds of projects and proposals the World Hunger
Committee supports. For it is only by becoming aware of the needs
represented and seeing the amount of the funding provided that one can gain
an appreciation of the scope of the committee's work, the potential for the
alleviation of human suffering that exists, and the need for funds that is
ever present.
At its latest meeting in October 1998, for instance, the
World Hunger Committee met to consider thirteen requests for funding. Four
were requests from Outreach International, as follows:
1. Gumiguda School, Orissa, East India. The mission
school and non- formal education centers in the Gajapati District serve
400-500 students, World Hunger is supporting the feeding program of the
resident students. Approved: $10,000 (amounts listed are U.S. dollars)
2. Brazil Day Care and Nutrition Program. Zion's Hope Day
Care Center is the main outreach activity of the RLDS Church in Brazil.
These funds will provide meals for the children during the day while they
are at the center. Approved: $10,000
3. Dominican Republic Schools Food and Water Program.
This proposal is to provide adequate, safe water to all students and a
nutritious breakfast to fifty of the poorest students at the LaRomana
School. Just recently, Hurricane George devastated the island of Hispaniola,
leaving hundreds dead and adding to the woes of the people there. The safe
water and breakfast program is intended to sustain life and contribute to an
environment in which learning can take place. Approved: $16,467
4. Bolivia Participatory Human Development Program. This
program is ' aimed at assisting farmers to develop alternative crops to the
coca plant so they may feed their families without resorting to the
production of cocaine precursors. Approved: $15,000
In the same meeting five projects were considered from
World Accord:
1. Rural Reconstruction Program (La Buena Fe, Honduras).
This is a multiyear project to provide sustainable agricultural techniques
to increase food security for the rural poor. Approved: $16,500
2. Sri Lanka Fisheries and Food Stocks Program. This
three-year project will improve food security and increase fisheries
production. This is the project's third year. Approved: $6,536
3. Strengthening Civil Society- Nepal. Involves training
for sustainable agricultural methods in high altitudes with short growing
seasons, among other human development programs. Approved: $4,400
4. Bakery in Haiti. Designed by and for native Haitians,
this project is intended to restore and enclose a bakery to provide both
employment and a local food source for the community. Approved: $9,150
5. Women in Action-Guatemala. One of the project's goals
is to increase food production in the Chimaltenango area through providing
agricultural credit to women. Approved: $5,000
Four additional proposals were considered by the
committee. The first was assisting approximately seventy church members in
Liberia who had been displaced by the civil war to return to their homes.
Funds were requested to provide food for the journey and some seed to begin
a crop when they arrived home. Approved: $10,000
A second request was for start-up funds for a food pantry
in the church in Los Fresnos, Texas. Approved: $1,730. A third proposal
dealt with funding for a tooth sealant program for children in a rural
section of Honduras. The committee has funded similar dental projects in the
past, believing that good dental health will lead to better nutrition.
Approved: $3,412
Last was an emergency request for funds for food and seed
to replace crops lost in Haiti during Hurricane George. This was to be a
matching grant with disaster funds from the Oblation Fund. Approved: $25,000
A total of $133,195 was allocated for distribution by the
World Hunger Committee at its recent meeting, the first in Fiscal Year 1999.
In Fiscal Year 1998, a total of $274,000 was distributed. Unfortunately,
contributions to the World Hunger Fund have been gradually declining over
the last five years, despite ever-increasing needs.
In response to this long-term decline the First
Presidency, in consultation with the Presiding Bishopric, authorized the
designation of the first Sundays in March and September each year as
Oblation/World Hunger Sundays. Individuals giving the Oblation statement on
these designated days are being asked to give special emphasis to the issue
of World Hunger. Pastors and stewardship commissioners are requested to
remind their congregations of this emphasis ahead of the day so that people
may plan in advance to remember the special needs of the hungry throughout
the world.
This might even be a time for families to begin to
implement the "two cents a meal" program in their households if
they have not already done so. This involves each family member putting two
cents into a jar each meal for World Hunger and then contributing the amount
collected during the month to the World Hunger Fund on Oblation Sunday. It
is not exactly "fasting," but perhaps designating some token
amount at mealtime to the needs of the hungry is a way of observing the
spirit of the World Conference resolution calling on the Saints to develop a
"saintly response to the concern for world hunger."
There are a number of ways that congregations can become
more involved in issues related to world hunger. CROP, the community hunger
appeal of Church World Service, sponsors an annual CROP Walk in which
participants are asked to raise money for a designated local food-related
charity. Church school classes, youth groups, or an entire congregation can
support such a project.
Bread for the World encourages congregations who have a
special interest to become one of their covenant congregations. They receive
periodic updates on legislation being considered affecting the poor and
hungry, not only in the United States but in many countries where assistance
programs are being proposed. Covenant congregations are also encouraged to
participate in an annual "Offering of Letters" to encourage
congressional support for such legislation. In addition, Bread for the World
publishes a quarterly newsletter that contains much information on the
causes and results of hunger and malnutrition.
Some congregations have found a great deal of
satisfaction in operating a food pantry for the benefit of the hungry in
their community. Information about this worthwhile project can be obtained
from Second Harvesters National Food Bank Network. The World Hunger Fund has
provided start-up funds for such a program.
Many opportunities exist to assist in the continuing
struggle to feed a hungry world. However, if the World Hunger Committee is
going to be able to fulfill its mission of providing a Saintly response to
the concerns for world hunger, members of the church will need to continue
to support generously the World Hunger portion of the Oblation Fund.
When Jesus told the story of separating the sheep and the
goats as recorded in Matthew 25, the question was asked, "Lord, when
did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink?" Jesus answered, "Whatever you did for one of the least of
these brothers (or sisters, or children) of mine, you did for me."
Giving to the World Hunger Fund is a splendid way for the Saints to live the
example taught by Jesus.
