For 10 fellows Wednesday morning began at 7.45 when we met at the building site somewhere in Winston-Salem. It was going to be hot and humid day as we would later learn. As soon as Joe- the coordinator from Habitat showed up the work started. With the help of a few other volunteers we were able to build our first scaffolding. As the constructions around the house were rising, I felt more and more proud of our work. After first few hours we started getting to know more about the volunteers. People came to help because they were members of a church that supported Habitat for Humanity, also because that was their way of doing community service as a apology for being caught DUI. Some of them came to gain extra credits for university application. We worked hard, met many interesting people and we managed to build a new front part of the roof. It seemed that we did so little during those 6 hours. Apparently it takes 2 years to finish a complete house! What I found really disappointing was the fact that no one was able to tell us who will live in the house once it’s finished. I really believe that people would work more effectively and would engage others if they knew that they are working for a person they know.

Aleksandra Syjud

 Is it time to evaluate the way in which society thinks in terms of culture and ethnicity? Or is there still a subtle sense of ingrained prejudice against ethnicity, culture and financial status?

  I only ask as to me, there still seems to be a stigma attached to those less fortunate, some say they don’t “work hard enough”  while others don’t regard them at all. Moreover, with less and less countries providing a social security net under oppressing governments, is the fall into poverty becoming more and more of a slippery terrain?  

-Priscilla Mensah

Probably that’s the reason for why most, or all of us, were disappointed after our visits to both Second Harvest and Crisis Control. We were very interested on getting to know both how the volunteers work and how getting to work with these homeless people is. We only got to deal with one of the many tasks involved in the chain of events that begins with the donation of the food at churches and other places and that ends with the final servings of meals for the homeless. That is, sorting cans. Though I believe we are all quite aware of the importance of this task as well as of the fact that someone needs to do it, and we’re not precisely qualified to carry out tasks such as working at a pharmacy or attending interviews to potential volunteers, it is also true that we feel that we didn’t really get the big picture of how all the machinery of the organization fits together. We just got a sip of it, working for three hours tediously sorting cans.

That’s why we’re now focusing on developing a business model for what could well be called “voluntourism” around our own hometowns. But that will be explained in other occasion.

Moving onto today, we had the opportunity to play with some kids from the Salvation Army who came today to Wake Forest University to visit us. We divided ourselves into groups based on the geographical localization of the countries that we represent and then we received different bunches of very excited children handing their own cardboard passports which we gladly signed as they came into our rooms. We had a real lot of fun playing supposedly “typical games” from our countries, and then we waved to them as they left Wake Forest in their buses.

In conclusion we’ve been exploring different fields of volunteering, and that’s exactly what we’re going to be doing in the next few days.

So stay tuned!

So, why so many? What other hunger related causes are included besides flat and simple starvation?  Hunger impacts every area of a child’s life. A child who is slightly malnourished, not even starving, just not receiving prefect nutrition is FOUR TIMES more likely to die from an infectious disease. Hungry children are less likely to stay in school, and even if they attend they don’t do well. The lack of education traps them in the vicious cycle of poverty for the rest of their lives. 1 in 4 children don’t get their necessary nutrition.

But all children, all people SHOULD be able to get enough food.  There is enough food in the world for all the people in it.  Wealthy countries have enough of a surplus to cover the deficit of the poorer countries. So, if all of the resources of the world were combined there is MORE than enough to feed everyone in the world.

The problem is distributing this food. Children are starving NOW. They are dying EVERY 7 SECONDS!!!  So why don’t they get the food? Why does our society not “care”?

It’s uncomfortable to hear the statistics. We manage to push these world problems to the back of our minds.  We live in our comfortable homes, eat more than enough food, and generally live pretty good lives and we forget that there are people who continually struggle with where they will sleep and where their next meal is coming from. While an average American child might worry about getting “the best” new video game, a child in a third world country worries about getting food and other necessary tools of survival.  The upper and middle class of our world prefer to live in comfortable oblivion instead of facing facts.

Maybe one person alone cannot end hunger.  But if 100 people, 1,000 people, 1 million people, 1 BILLOIN people, decide that it is important, vital, and urgent to end hunger, it would be easy. So no matter where you are or who you are, take action towards ending hunger and poverty. Even though you may only be one person, e a billion people cannot be reached, without one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one, and one.

I don’t know about you, but I am not okay with the fact that a child dies EVERY SEVEN SECONDS, of a completely correctable problem. So take action, and change the world!

-Madeline Allen

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Today a group of 30 fellows had the opportunity to see how a food bank looks from the inside. We visited the Second Harvest Bank in Winston-Salem to be specific. For me personally, it was a whole new experience, as I had never been to an organization of such kind before. I’m still amazed how popular civic engagement and voluntary services are in the US. Especially when compared to Europe, and Poland in particular. People feel almost obligated to do something in order to help others. As some of them seem to treat government’s work with a great deal of suspiciousness, they would rather take the burden of ensuring basic social needs on their shoulders, than leave the responsibility to politicians.

After a brief introduction by the staff we were ready to get our hands dirty. My team was responsible for sorting eggs and deciding whether or not they could be further distributed.

Sounds like a not very “enriching” experience, right? Well, but surprisingly it was. Having seen boxes full of perfectly normal eggs, without a crack on them, I couldn’t really understand why they were not good enough to be sold. Apparently, on today’s fiercely competitive market there’s no place for even the smallest imperfection. Torn wrapping, spotty package, dented side? It means it can’t be accepted, even if it could help feed the homeless.

Another thing that struck me was the diversity of the food donated by people. Shelves of the warehouse were bending under the pressure of pastry of all kind, cakes and canned goods. My previous idea of a food bank that collects rice, pastas and groats was totally wrong. The first thought that crossed my mind was that I would love to eat a meal made from all the ingredients laying around me. But then I realized that the food is meant to be given to people that are facing far worse problems than mine. They are homeless, have insufficient funds to feed their families or just found themselves in a difficult situation. I tried to picture myself stepping into their shoes. And then I began to understand why so many citizens are committed to the idea of working for free with the reward being merely satisfaction.

So today’s wrap-up:

-zillions of eggs sorted

-fellows known a little bit better (did I mention that sorting eggs draws people closer?;))

-idea of civic engagement clarified

Aleksandra Syjud

And today…we walk down our concrete streets, in our designer heels, with our styled hair…never thinking that the tik-tok of our heels against the cold street can wake up a small child, sleeping on his bed of dirt.

It was never his choice to be an outcast of the human shelters, he never chose to be on a permanent diet…he was born homeless, raised by poverty and lives with hunger.

I guess… when we throw out the Swiss chocolates our dad bought us just because they have nuts in them… we don’t think that: “Hello, you have a choice…you can somehow become the hero you’ve dreamt of as a child…don’t throw it out for no reason…there are plenty of people who roam trashed alleys wishing they were dorm rooms, who cafeteria in the garbage bins behind your favorite restaurant”

Think about it, think of the many times you’ve just thrown your food away and then you’ve seen a child begging for a bite…It hurts…it hurts bad not to know where or when your next meal is…it hurts to not have a shelter for those hot summer days… or not to have a blanket to cuddle up in when it’s too cold to move…

But, you my dear friends, have a choice everyday…you choose if you want to dress up and go out, or if you just want to stay warm at home…you choose if you want pasta or if you want to skip a meal…you choose…you have a choice…they don’t!

So before choosing, think of them and maybe somehow you’ll make a difference in this world.

Muslims, thousands of years ago wanted their people to share the understanding of poverty each year for a month. So that they would learn to not take their healthy lives for granted, so that they too could for a month share the pain of those in need.

So, I decided that today I shall fast. It’s heading towards lunch now and I’m writing with a hungry stomach, growling for food. And it’s hard I’m telling you…and then I think…I have food waiting for me whenever I feel like eating. I can just give up on fasting and go eat but there are millions who don’t. Who fall asleep asking when and wake up with dried lips crying out.

The mother calls the child to dinner,

The water is both milk and poison,

Cakes of mud soothe hungry bellies;

Though their flesh rots to skeletons,

Lucky they are for others die alone

As orphans must sweep scrap rice off floors;

Their starving cries spill out from the globe;

Matthew J.Geiger