Hunger has reached catastrophic levels in the Horn of Africa. According to the United Nations, more than 12 million people in Kenya, Somalia, and Ethiopia are faced with food shortages, mass livestock losses, and drought-like conditions - the worst in 60 years. While students in the U.S. head back to the classroom this fall, I can’t help but think about the millions of children who lack food and water in East Africa. I’m often left with haunting images of children suffering from malnutrition after watching the evening news. Reports indicate that up to 400,000 Somali children could die of starvation unless urgent action is taken. This is devastating.
Even more shocking is that there is enough food to feed the world, but yet over 925 million people are malnourished.
The recent events in the Horn of Africa can lead to a myriad of learning opportunities and service projects to help raise awareness and take action. Immediate relief efforts, such donations for emergency distributions of food, water, and vaccinations, are needed and make for a feasible service project in your classroom. See a list of organizations providing immediate relief here: Famine in East Africa: How You Can Help.
Let’s utilize service-learning to further impact global hunger. Learn about the underlying causes of hunger within the context of your curriculum. Consider linking global hunger to ideas of sustainable farming, refugees, life expectancy rates, natural disasters, or conflict. Investigate long-term, sustainable solutions and challenge your students to take action. From my experience, the more kids learn about the problem, the more they want to help. Service-learning fosters empathy and motivates your students to make an impact.
Interested in getting your students involved in fighting global hunger? Below are some ways to address the global hunger in your classroom while linking it to your curriculum.
Social Studies: Discuss how specific political events and wars contributed to hunger and internally displaced people throughout history. Write your Representatives in Congress and express your views on the role of the U.S. government in providing foreign aid during a crisis and reducing global hunger.
Economics: Analyze how international food prices and government trade policies effect poverty and inequality around the world. Check out this interactive map from Oxfam America on the impact of price spikes on various countries. Or, use Country Case Studies from Feeding Minds, Fighting Hunger to examine food insecurity. Consider starting a classroom micro-lending program with KIVA.
English/Language Arts: Read first-hand stories, letters, and folktales from peace-corps volunteers about global hunger and poverty from Coverdell World Wise Schools website. You might also consider reading “They Poured Fire on Us from the Sky: The True Story of Three Lost Boys of Sudan” or “Of Beetles and Angels: A Boy’s Remarkable Journey from a Refugee Camp to Harvard.” Generate awareness by creating a digital storyboard or video on the faces of hunger around the world.
Science: Research sustainable farming and determine where your food comes from and how it reaches your local supermarket. Team up with a local farmer’s market or fair-trade coffee shop to raise further awareness of sustainable farming. You can also give a “living loan” of livestock with Heifer International.
Music/Art: Hold an Empty Bowls fund-raising event in your community to raise donations for and awareness of hunger. Allow students to write their own songs expressing the impact of hunger. Create a CD of student music and sell copies to raise money for an organization fighting global hunger.
Math: Analyze life expectancy rates around the world and graph data on various countries.
Need more ideas? There are numerous websites with useful lesson plans that can get you started on examining global hunger in your classroom and get your students motivated to make a difference. Here are a few of my favorites:
