November 11, 2011 · 4:29 am

Armistice Day, World Peace, and Feeding the Hungry

One of the guns of Battery D, 105th Field Artillery, showing American flag which was hoisted after the last shot had been fired when the armistice took effect. Etraye, France. 11/11/1918Credits: National Archives

It was just a piece of paper. Yet on the morning of November 11, 1918, it meant peace.

For on that paper was a message from United States General John Pershing, ordering ceasefire on all fronts at 11 a.m. Germany had accepted the armistice. The Great War, or World War I, was over.

While the battlefields were filled with the most devastating firepower ever assembled, it was a small piece of paper that was the most powerful instrument of that day.

The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the occasion for a monster celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Thousands massed on all sides of the replica of the Statue of Liberty on Broad Street, and cheered unceasingly. Philadelphia Public Ledger. (National Archives)

Celebrations sprang up across the world. The Cincinnati Enquirer wrote, “It was Victory Day, and all Cincinnati helped celebrate this most momentous event in the history of the world.”

Americans fought and died right up to the armistice. Many who survived lived with the effects of shellshock . A whole world was in fact left shellshocked by the Great War, and millions of people were threatened with starvation and poverty as a result.

“Hunger knows no armistice,” a poster for the Near East Relief Committee stated. To tell the full story of World War I and its aftermath is to tell of hunger and great humanitarians.

The article in the Cincinnati Enquirer made it a point to mention the city’s impressive record providing relief throughout the conflict. In fact, in 1917 the paper printed the appeal of Frederick Chatfield, a leader for Belgium relief, who said one dollar a month would save a Belgian child from starvation and give him the extra food needed to keep him from disease. The newspaper even printed the names of those who sent in donations.

Cincinnati adopted the town of Hastiere in Belgium in order to help it rebuild from wartime destruction. Among the buildings damaged was a little church, built in the eleventh century, that was bombarded by shells.

The men and women who suffered through World War I deserved a lasting peace. However, the world was at war once again just two decades later. The Second World War would bring even more destruction than the first.

But on this Armistice Day, 2011, let’s remember that dream of world peace that should have followed the First World War, and not give up on that dream. The pursuit of world peace is the best memorial we can leave to the generation that sacrificed so much in the horror of the first World War.

Lands struck by war can recover. Interestingly, I recently received two messages from Belgium, one confirming that the country is a donor to the UN World Food Programme to help this agency fight hunger in conflict and disaster zones around the globe. The second message is from Hastiere. All is well there, and the little church is rebuilt-the Great War long in the rearview mirror.

Article first published as Armistice Day, World Peace and Feeding the Hungry on Blogcritics.

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November 10, 2011 · 3:34 am

Cutting Food Aid Programs Dangerous to National Security

There is much debate in Congress on how much to cut military spending. But there is another vital area of our foreign policy at risk of budget cuts too: international food aid.

Fighting hunger is not often included in talks about national security. But it should be. Remember the famous World War II slogan, “Food will win the war and write the peace.” George Marshall said, “Hunger and insecurity are the worst enemies of peace.” Food formed the foundation of the famous Marshall Plan that spurred Europe’s recovery after the war.

While some members of Congress may think it prudent now to cut food aid programs to save a few dollars, think again. On the contrary, by investing now in nutrition and agriculture development, future humanitarian disasters can be averted, thereby reducing foreign assistance in the future. Nutrition for a generation of children means better educated societies, more stable societies and the chance for economic growth.

Investing in farmers allows them to build up the capacity to better resist drought. This is what can prevent famines from taking hold.

Reducing food aid will cost lives, increase the spread of disease, and weaken societies who are fighting poverty. Congress simply cannot cut food aid, in view of the famine striking East Africa, drought leveling Afghanistan, and malnutrition on the attack in Yemen. We have to remember that Haiti and other countries need food to remain on the road to recovery.

International food aid currently accounts for less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So in essence, you are looking at an already relatively low-funded program that is being selected for potential cuts. You could actually increase the funding for these programs past current levels and put very little strain on the budget.

International food aid programs include the Food for Peace initiative started by President Dwight Eisenhower and the McGovern-Dole program which provides school meals. These programs got their start by members of the Greatest Generation who understood that food forms the basis of all reconstruction, peace and progress.

This is a lesson Congress should not forget as it forges the budget and how to spend on an essential aspect of our national security: fighting global hunger.

Learn more about the potential budget cuts at the World Food Program USA.

Article first published as Cutting Food Aid Programs Dangerous to National Security on Blogcritics.

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November 8, 2011 · 4:39 am

Interview with Christine Grote, Author of Dancing in Heaven

When Christine Grote returned to school at the College of Mount St. Joseph in Ohio, she began the journey of an emerging writer. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English 2007 and even started up a literary magazine for the college.

Her writings began to get published by magazines and newspapers, including St. Anthony Messenger , RED Webzine , and the Cincinnati Enquirer . Her journey as a writer would also take her down another path: That of an author.

Christine just wrote and published a memoir about her sister Annie, who passed away in 2009. Dancing in Heaven takes you inside Christine’s family and their life with Annie, who was disabled from birth.

In the following interview, Christine talks about Dancing in Heaven and also the process of publishing this inspirational memoir.

Tell about when the inspiration came to you to write a book about your sister’s life.

I’ve always known I would eventually write a story about Annie. This particular story began as a short story in collage form about Annie’s life for a creative writing class I was taking at the College of Mount St. Joseph in 2005, several years before Annie died. Although my teacher encouraged me to pursue the story by polishing it and seeking publication, I put it away. When Annie died in August of 2009, I felt compelled to tell her story. So I combined my short story with notes, journal entries, and e-mails from Annie’s last days. I filled in with more stories and drafted Dancing in Heaven.

What challenges did you face in the journey from an inspired idea to a ready-to-publish manuscript?

The first challenge was determining what to include and what to cut. I do a lot of revising, and make a fairly big mess of it in the process by at times physically cutting printed pages and taping things back together in a different arrangement. I felt the most challenged by, or least secure in, the final editing as a self-publishing author. No one has your back, so you have all the responsibility of making sure the final product is clean and correct.

What led you to start your own publishing company as opposed to sending your book to a traditional publisher?

Originally I intended to seek traditional publication. I bought books about getting an agent, writing a book proposal, and getting published. I sent out a single query letter to a recommended agent. I never heard anything back. Not even a simple, “I got your query and I’m not interested.” Agents don’t even have time for that much.

Meanwhile I was reading about self-publishing online. I liked the fact that I would keep control of the final product, including the title. I liked the fact that I wouldn’t have to wait what could be four or more years to find an agent. I wanted Annie’s story out there so I could move on with my life. I am not a very patient person. I did not want to have to rely on my query letter in a stack of thousands, making it into the right individual’s hands at the right time. It’s a good story. I wanted to tell it. I took a self-publishing workshop from Writer’s Digest University online and saw that I could do it.

What advice would you give other people inspired to write a book? Would you ever teach a seminar on publishing a book?

I think anyone inspired to write a book, or pursue any other creative outlet, owes it to themselves, not to “try,” but to do it. I read somewhere there are no “aspiring” writers, only writers. We only get one chance at this life, and the years go quickly.

I don’t have any plans to teach a seminar, and don’t really feel qualified to do it. But I am more than happy to answer individuals’ questions or help others in any way I can.

Where can people get a copy or more information about Dancing In Heaven?

You can read a brief summary, a few excerpts, and what others are saying about the book at the Dancing in Heaven page on my blog. Dancing in Heaven is available in print and for the Kindle at Amazon.com and at Barnes and Noble online in print (they actually have it discounted 10%) and for the Nook . It is also available in other ebook formats from Smashwords .

I love to hear comments or answer questions from individuals who have read Dancing in Heaven. They can do that on the page at my blog.

View the original article on blogcritics.org

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November 7, 2011 · 3:35 am

Power of Film Brings Awareness of Rare Disease

Films can be entertaining. But they can also do much more. Films can educate. Film can also be a powerful medium for advancing social causes. If used right, film can change the world.

The power of film was unleashed last week at the Rome Film Festival, this time helping children with a rare disease. The documentary, The Dark Side of the Sun, raises awareness of the rare disease Xeroderma Pigmentosum (XP).

XP is a rare genetic condition. Persons with XP cannot be exposed to sunlight or they will quickly develop skin damage leading to cancer. XP sufferers cannot go outside during the daylight hours and must even avoid certain types of lights. A charity to support patients with XP was started by Caren and Dan Mahar in 1995.

Since 2005 I have done a number of articles on this outstanding organization. The XP Society runs Camp Sundown, where children with the disease can have a typical camp experience, taking place at night.

Camp Sundown in New York (photo courtesy of the XP Society)It is Camp Sundown that was the focus of The Dark Side of the Sun. A press release states, “Three years of professional filming, creativity and editing went into capturing the delight of children with a rare disease known as Xeroderma pigmentosum (XP) at the special light-protected world of Camp Sundown.”

Camp Sundown depends on donations to keep running. Tough times with the economy have made this an even bigger challenge. When Hurricane Irene struck a couple of months ago, Camp Sundown sustained damage. Donations are needed for patient support and for research into a cure, which could potentially lead to advances in finding a cure for all cancers.

The Dark Side of the Sun is produced by an Italian film company, Citrullo International. You can view the trailer here. Following this premiere, it is expected that the film will be distributed in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Article first published as Power of Film Brings Awareness of Rare Disease on Blogcritics Magazine.

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November 7, 2011 · 12:39 am

Budget Debates in Congress Loom Over Yemen Crisis

Budget decisions made by the U.S. Congress in the coming weeks will have their effect on Yemen. Proposals for reducing international food aid would limit the U.S. ability to respond to the humanitarian crisis escalating in Yemen, already the poorest country in the Middle East.

Congress has proposed reducing funding for the U.S. Food for Peace plan, which in 2011 supported the UN World Food Programme’s (WFP) relief operation in Sana’a City and Northern Yemen. In addition, Food for Peace funded Save the Children’s voucher initiative, also in the North. This program showed promising results and if enough funding were available could be continued and expanded.

Currently, the UN World Food Programme and UNICEF are facing funding shortages for their relief programs in Yemen. The prospect of the U.S. decreasing its food aid budget is a forerunner of disaster for an already distressed humanitarian operation.

Before this year’s political unrest and violence unfolded, Yemen was already suffering a humanitarian crisis with high rates of child malnutrition. The year’s events have made this situation worse with prices of food and other basic goods on the increase. Food is becoming out of reach.

UNICEF recently reported “food security & nutrition indicators continue to be alarmingly low. Protein intake continues to decline, with increasing numbers of households reporting no consumption of meat (74.2%), fish (65.0%), chicken (34.2%), and eggs (43.3%).”

UNICEF, which surveys households in the Sana’a, Amran, and Hodeida governorates, highlights the alarming child malnutrition crisis. UNICEF says, “More households reported decreased number of meals among children <5yrs (33.6%) compared with the previous round (22.6%), with children in rural households being the most vulnerable to meal reduction (40.4%) compared with urban households (28.6%).”

The World Food Program USA is rallying support for increasing U.S. international food aid so there can be a stronger response for the crisis in Yemen and other countries.

WFP USA states, “Despite the fact that cuts to these critically important international programs cannot possibly make a meaningful contribution to reducing the debt or balancing the budget, unfortunately they are under threat this week as the Senate debates International Affairs accounts.”

A take action page has been set up to help citizens contact their representatives in Congress to oppose the budget cuts to international food aid.

Article first published as Budget Debates in Congress Loom over Yemen Crisis at Blogcritics.

 

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November 4, 2011 · 2:24 pm

Petition Calls on Senate to Ratify Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty

Nuclear Weapons Test during the 1950s. (National Archives photo)

A new petition at CARE2 calls on the Senate to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). The treaty bans all nuclear weapons test explosions.

The Senate has to ratify the treaty for the U.S to join. Nine countries, including the United States, still need to ratify the treaty for it to enter into force. The other eight countries include China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iran, Israel, North Korea and Pakistan. Russia has already ratified the CTBT.

Ellen Tauscher, Undersecretary for Arms Control, says, “The CTBT is central to leading nuclear weapons states toward a world of diminished reliance on nuclear weapons and reduced nuclear competition.”

The petition reads:

We the undersigned ask you to ratify the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). A global ban of nuclear test explosions benefits U.S. national security.

The CTBT is a step toward nuclear disarmament. The treaty is a step away from a costly arms race which new nuclear test explosions would certainly invoke.

Nuclear weapons spending drains our society of resources better spent on domestic and international priorities. Ratification of the CTBT will be vital for moving forward on further agreements related to worldwide nuclear disarmament.

Our Stockpile Stewardship Program can maintain our current nuclear arsenal. The CTBT international monitoring system will ensure there is compliance with the treaty globally.

The threat of nuclear war, nuclear terrorism and the massive cost of nuclear arsenals make the CTBT very much in our interest. We ask that you support ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT).

Thank you for reading this petition.

You can sign the petition at CARE2

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November 4, 2011 · 2:55 am

A School Lunch Hero for Disabled Children

In 1944 World War II was still raging. Students though at a school for disabled children in Cincinnati were facing their own daily struggles. Even having enough money for a school lunch was no easy task.

The school had a fund set up to provide lunches for the students. Keeping this fund resourced was the problem; that is, until the school received some help from someone very generous. As a result, the school lunch fund got a big boost which meant many more meals for the students.

Who was this mystery helper? It was one of their own students, 10 year old Charles Graff Jr. However, Graff had to study at home because he had the disease hemophilia. This is a disease where any slight cut could cause severe and even deadly bleeding. As Charles was confined to his home, a teacher from the school visited him there to give lessons.

Charles also had a hobby, collecting sales tax stamps. These were stamps placed on various items sold in stores, and you could redeem these stamps for cash from the government. So Charles kept collecting and as the Cincinnati Enquirer reported, he would give them to his teacher who would drop them off at the school. The tax stamps would then be redeemed, providing the school with a fund to buy the student lunches or sometimes even clothes.

Charles’s father, who worked at the Red Top Brewing Co., got co-workers involved to provide Charles with more stamps. More stamps meant more meals for the children.

Charles was ahead of his time. In 1944 there was no National School Lunch program; there was a limited luncheon program under President Roosevelt.

In 1946 President Harry Truman signed into law the National School Lunch Act, which provided free or reduced-price lunches for needy children all around the country. Healthier children meant better educated and more productive citizens for the future. It was a program built to last.

Charles, whose nickname was Bubbles, remained confined to his home and sometimes a wheelchair, due to his condition. That did not stop him though from being the “official” for many games his friends played on the street. Charles would officiate the games from his window.

The hemophilia took his life in 1950 at the age of 15. His legacy carries on. What Graff did in helping his classmates receive lunches is an example for all to follow. Fighting child hunger is about problem solving. You need people to find solutions, not excuses for why children cannot access basic foods.

Groups like Feeding America work to make sure children do not go hungry. This means strengthening the national school lunch program when required, or filling in gaps with after-school meals and summer feeding. For this reason, Charles Graff would make a great honorary ambassador for Feeding America.

Article originally published as Cincinnati’s School Lunch Hero for Disabled Children on Cincinnati.com and A School Lunch Hero for Disabled Children on Blogcritics.

 

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October 31, 2011 · 4:18 am

On Halloween Remember the World’s Hungry

This Halloween please remember the world's hungry (photo courtesy USA.gov)

It’s Halloween 2011 and time for the Wolfman, Dracula, and other monsters and ghosts to have their one night of the year. And let’s not forget Egypt’s famous Halloween contribution, the Mummy, and a couple of creatures that have appeared in this column when they helped with fundraisers, the Mothman and the Yeti.

Halloween means lots of candy too! In fact billions of dollars are spent on Halloween festivities. But this year please take a silent guest with you when trick or treating, or at your Halloween party. You can help one of the world’s nearly one billion hungry who on Halloween, or any other day, will hope to get maybe one meal if they are lucky.

There are many ways that Halloween can be combined with fighting hunger. In fact, in 1947 students used Halloween not to collect treats but to collect canned goods for the Friendship Train that fed the hungry in war-torn Europe.

On Halloween night, maybe in place of one of the treats, you could ask for a dollar to buy a week’s worth of meals for a hungry child. You can send the dollar to food aid agencies like the World Food Programme, Save the Children, Feeding America, UNICEF, Catholic Relief Services and others.

Or perhaps take a few minutes after coming home from trick or treating to play a few rounds of the online game Free Rice. For every correct answer you get, rice is donated to the hungry in developing countries.

There are many ways you can combine Halloween and fighting hunger. For this night is one of imagination. So the best ideas are to come: from you.

Article first published as On Halloween Remember the World’s Hungry on Blogcritics.

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October 30, 2011 · 8:20 pm

Biden Optimistic Global Hunger Struggle Can Be Won

Vice President Joe Biden spoke last Monday at the World Food Program USA award ceremony. He praised this year’s winners, Bill Gates and Howard Buffett, who have dedicated their talents to fighting hunger around the globe.

But Biden also made an admission of guilt—-for being optimistic that we can win the struggle against global hunger. This battle is now ongoing in the famine zones of East Africa, drought-ravaged Afghanistan, Yemen, Pakistan and numerous other regions.

Biden said, “I am often accused of being an optimist. I plead guilty, because I believe strongly in the human capacity-and desire-to build a better world. But I am particularly confident in our ability to feed the future because we have done it before.”

Biden talked about our support of South Korea, once a war-torn country with millions starving. Today South Korea has strong economic development and is a donor to the UN World Food Programme’s hunger-fighting missions.

Biden said, “Beginning in the 1950’s, we provided agricultural support-research, training, and partnerships with American firms-to South Korea, which was one of the poorest countries on the planet. Today, it is the world’s 15th largest economy, and a major trading partner responsible for hundreds of thousands of American jobs. ”

This is a long way from the South Korea that U.S. Army major Charles Arnold saw in 1951 during the Korean War. Arnold, who led a UN Civil Assistance team, said children arrived at feeding stations and “greeted us by rubbing their stomach and saying hungry.” After regular meals from Arnold’s team, the children took on a new, healthy look. They began to smile.

South Korea was also a country that benefited from the famous CARE packages that fed so many hungry people in Europe after World War II. President Truman urged Americans to send these CARE packages to feed those hungry and displaced by the Korean conflict.

As time went on, South Korea gained from agricultural development projects, similar to those Biden praised in the current “Feed the Future” campaign. South Korea was also one of the beneficiaries of the U.S. Food for Peace program started under President Eisenhower and expanded during President Kennedy’s administration.

George McGovern was Food for Peace director under President Kennedy. He writes that about 2 million South Korean children were receiving school meals under this hunger-fighting initiative. These meals made children healthier and better educated. This is a contrast to Afghanistan today, where low funding for the UN World Food Programme has meant that many impoverished children have lost their school meal ration.

In addition, proposed budget cuts to international food aid, including Food for Peace, will mean school feeding, Feed the Future and other aid projects will face cutbacks. This is a severe threat to peace.

Biden also said, “We will continue to support your work, by urging our friends in Congress to resist the urge to slash foreign aid budgets, because long-term solutions now can reduce the cost of massive relief efforts and instability later.”

Hunger-fighting programs currently make up less than one tenth of one percent of the federal budget. So slashing them does virtually nothing to eliminate the debt. Funding cuts though would devastate U.S. foreign policy. It is virtually impossible for countries to develop and have peace when generation after generation of children grow up malnourished and stunted in mind and body.

Biden finished his speech on Monday citing Nobel Peace Prize winner Norman Borlaug, who saved millions from hunger through his agricultural innovations. Borlaug said: “If you desire peace, cultivate justice, but at the same time cultivate the fields to produce more bread; otherwise there will be no peace.”

This is a message Congress needs to hear again and again as it makes crucial decisions about our foreign policy. The Food for Peace tradition of the U.S. is very much at stake in the current debates on the federal budget. What they decide in the coming days will have major implications on whether the struggle against global hunger can be won.

View a video of Biden’s speech.

Article first published as Biden Optimistic Global Hunger Struggle Can Be Won on Blogcritics.

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October 29, 2011 · 2:17 am

WFP and Aschiana Provide Food for Street Children in Afghanistan

Since last year I have been writing about a promising take-home ration program for street children in Afghanistan. The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and the Aschiana Foundation are teaming up on this initiative which helps Afghan children caught in a severe poverty trap. Below are some photographs of the food distributions courtesy of WFP.

In the coming weeks the Congress will be deciding whether to cut international food aid. Programs like this one will be in jeopardy if the U.S. Food for Peace and other hunger fighting programs are scaled back. WFP depends on voluntary donations from the U.S. and other countries. See my interview with Nora O’Connell of Save the Children for more about the budget crisis.

Assadullah Azhari of the World Food Programme took these photos of the WFP-Aschiana program:

WFP’s Food for Training Program in Afghanistan provides rations for street children at Aschiana Foundation Centers. Funding is needed by WFP and Aschiana to ensure these programs can be maintained and expanded to reach impoverished children. (photo courtesy WFP/Assadullah Azhari)





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