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TOPIC 3-4．The food problem of the refugees

1.Starvation

There are 28 people (including 21 children) dying each minute, 40,000 each day, 15,000,000 each year, due to starvation.
Poverty may not be the direct cause, but the gap between the rich and the poor is wide, and the inequality in wealth can cause distrust and deep antagonism. There are 8 billion empty stomachs. It is said that if there were even only 150 grams of rice per person per day, the hungry could be saved.
Then, is it true that there is not enough food for the population of the world?
Actually, one-fourth of the world's population (the developed nations) consumes half of all of the grain in the world. Although we have enough food, we create a tragedy where millions of people are starving.
Thus, generally we think that the reason for starvation is lack of food, population growth and natural disasters such as a drought, however, this thinking leads us to maintain a pessimism that makes it impossible to solve the starvation problem.
Allowedly, humankind has been fighting drought and starvation since ancient times. We shouldn't say that is our fate. As we mentioned above, starvation is the tragedy we made. The resolution is dependent on our effort.

2.What Should we do?

The FHI offers a vision aiming to stop starvation from spreading in the world.
They started relief activities in 1981. Since then, in close alliance with the United Nations (UN), they have been dispatching volunteers to help people suffering from starvation and poverty.
Non-profit groups such as FHI, FAO, WFP, UNDP, UNICEF, and UNHCR promote worldwide activities such as national self-reliance aid, education aid, and emergency assistance. Through these activities, they show us that the resolution for starvation is an achievable goal.

Flows of refugees are not predictable. However, it is a fact that there are seldom refugees from governments with stable economies and politics.
We can see that they can solve the refugee problem by an upturn of the situation in Latin America and Asia.
To solve the problem of starvation, we need to solve the problem of poverty.
The poor do not need universities, but elementary schools, they do not need big hospitals with high-tech equipment, but clinics in the villages, they do not need freeways but rather sewage treatment equipment. They need the aid that will influence their daily life directly.
In other words, it is an aspiration that we live in a world made better through efforts by politicians, not in a world that politicians make.
If we can unite the voices of citizens into a cry of " Let's make the world free of poverty", that would be a big step for democracy.

3.Emergency Provisions

Lots of relief supplies (such as clothes) have been sent to Africa from Japan. One example is the "Council of the Advanced Project for Sending Blankets to Africa" which collects and sends blankets to Africa.
In Africa, there are many people who have lost their family and possessions because of prolonged civil wars and droughts.
The blankets from Japan serve as "Carpets" that they can sit upon, and as "Roofs" that project them from the strong sunlight. The blankets become real supporters.
Tucked into these blankets are little messages such as "from your friend" and "living together". It is thought that those little messages will send a little "courage for living" to the person who recieves that blanket.