Tag Archives: history

December 25, 2013 · 5:20 am

A Christmas miracle and a gift for the world’s children

In late 1944 two journalists traveled to war-devastated Finnmark in the northern part of Norway. What they saw was shocking. The Nazi Germans had scorched the earth while retreating from the area, destroying homes and buildings and leaving tens of thousands of Finnmark’s residents out in the cold to suffer.

Amid so much destruction there was a humanitarian nightmare. The Allies, commanded by General Eisenhower, shipped in aid. The two journalists continued their tour of the war-torn province, surveying the destruction. But even in the darkest of times, there was room for a little miracle. In one town they came across a magical sight: a Christmas party for children.

The News of Norway printed, “The kids drank milk and consumed cookies to their hearts’ content, danced around the Christmas tree and played games almost like in peacetime.” The journalists wrote that the arrival of relief supplies had brought hope to Finnmark.

Children need to be spared the ravages of war and other disasters. This holiday season please remember the children and think of ways to help them for the coming new year.

You can support the petition to provide school meals for all the world’s children through the U.S. McGovern-Dole program. Or help out the charity Save the Children whose grand history includes relief work in Finnmark. Or assist the relief effort for Haiti and Pakistan by contacting the World Food Programme.

Today, there are millions of children caught in war or disaster zones seeking their own miracle for the holidays and the new year.

For amid all the harshness and cruelty in this world, one thing remains the same. The most powerful force is goodwill and generosity, particularly for children. This should not be forgotten. And amid all the political debate on what to do about this country or that country, feeding and educating all children across the globe is what can make a difference.

On this holiday we can start a plan to give children this gift.

Back to Finnmark for a moment: A collection of clothing had taken place all across America and the clothes were shipped in to Finnmark as part of the relief effort.

One of the Norwegian journalists, Jorgen Juve, recounted a story of a child in the area of the Tana River in Finnmark. The clothing supplies had reached their targets and the girl, named Liv, was smoothing out her new blue coat. The little girl reached in her coat and pulled out a note that read “R. Minneapolis.” She looked at the reporter and said, “Now, I am dressed for the winter.”

 

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December 13, 2013 · 12:44 am

The Christmas Carol that Fed the Hungry

450px-Chapel2Many winters ago in a tiny village in Austria, the Christmas Carol “Silent Night” was born. In a small church in Oberndorf, the song of peace and heavenly love was first played.

Peace would not last though in the land of music. The World Wars came. The destruction was massive. Even after World War II ended there was still suffering among the people. They were without food.

Austrian children could not even grow because it was hard finding one meal a day. Without enough nutrition the next generation cannot develop or learn. They cannot make music.

The U.S. Army, Catholic Relief Services, UNICEF and others brought food to Austria for war recovery. Meals were distributed at schools. They tried to bring life back to normal. No easy task. Times would be tough with a major drought in 1947, limiting food supplies.

Then “Silent Night” came to the rescue. It was the holidays of 1948 when a woman in New Jersey suggested that every time someone heard “Silent Night” on the radio they donate a meal.

This idea was adopted as part of a holiday program, started the year before, where people bought CARE packages for those in need. These parcels of food were sent to Austria and other nations.

National ArchivesLike the Christmas Carol that spread worldwide, so too did this plan of feeding the hungry. The holidays could truly be about sharing.

This food made a world of difference for the countries who had lost just about everything during the war.

With food, a people and a nation can bounce back. Only when hunger is beaten, can there be peace. That is the message of “Silent Night.”

Today, Obendorf and its peaceful church lit up at night is a symbol of the peace of Christmas, the “Silent Night.” The war and its starvation are long past. Yet, a world away, at another place of worship, there is a different tale.

In the Central African Republic people flock to the church to stay alive and find food. Violence has erupted there among rebel groups. People are constantly on the run for their lives. Their possessions are lost. Farmers can no longer plant. So hunger and poverty now increase.

They depend on security from UN peacekeepers and the World Food Program to bring them life-saving rations. But that is only if there is enough funds from the international community to feed them.

When you think of Christmas, the holidays, and “Silent Night” think of the Central African Republic. Think of the food and peace they need to overcome conflict and build their society.

Think also of the flood of Syrian refugees into Lebanon. They have escaped the civil war in their country only to find a new enemy: winter. They just want a roof over their head and warm meals.

What more noble act could be done this holiday then to feed the hungry war victims? Or to bring food and shelter to those in the storm hit areas of the Philippines and other countries. The World Food Program, Catholic Relief Services, Save the Children, UNICEF and many others struggling to bring relief to so many areas in need.

Originally published at the Huffington Post.

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November 9, 2013 · 1:28 am

Veterans Day and Fighting World Hunger

This Memorial Day we can remember the World War One Legacy of Humanitarianism (National World War I Memorial)

This Memorial Day we can remember the World War One Legacy of Humanitarianism (National World War I Memorial)

They were 150 Navy officers on a mission. Yet, their task fell after the Armistice of November 11, 1918, which ended the fighting of World War One. Their objective was to help defeat the enemy “that knows no Armistice:” hunger.

War destroys food production. Farmlands, factories and roads, all the things you need to produce and move food can be leveled by just one battle. These cannot be fixed overnight. Even if all guns go silent, hunger can continue to attack a population. The consequences of malnutrition, particularly for children, can be deadly.

This was certainly the case in Northern France, which had suffered through years of German occupation and fighting during World War One. When the Armistice came civilians, who had been forced to flee, now wanted to return to their homes.

What would be left of them? As Herbert Hoover described in his memoirs there was tragically little remaining of these homes and villages. There was very little food supply as well.

Then came the Navy to save the day for the refugees. These were 150 volunteers under Admiral Thomas Craven. They came ready to work. Hoover and newspaper accounts describe how almost overnight these men put up barracks near the French villages that had been destroyed. Next they put beds and kitchens inside these structures.

Imagine a family trekking along a road toward their home, tired and hungry. Thanks to the Navy they could find food and a place to rest. This aid would be needed in the weeks and months ahead as they tried to rebuild their lives and towns.

The Commission for Relief in Belgium (CRB) had provided aid to Northern France during the war. A lot of the American staff though had joined the U.S. Army. Once the armistice came, these officers returned to their duties with the CRB to fight hunger. In the coming years CRB and American Relief Administration officers, with support from people back home, fed millions of people.

These are lesser known tales of heroism from those who have served in our military, but for the greatest of causes. This humanitarian tradition continued into the Second World War. So many tales of heroics from the 1945 airlift to the starving Dutch in Nazi-occupied Holland to U.S. Army led school lunch programs for Austrian and German children.

All these stories, great or small, are noble. Last month I told a UN Development Goals class at the College of Mount St. Joseph about an Army major who once lived not too far from the school. Major Charles Arnold headed a UN Civil Assistance Team that fed refugee children during the Korean War. The Cincinnati Enquirer reported, “After only a few weeks of this milk-and-rice diet you could actually see the children’s cheeks fill out and a healthy sparkle come to their eyes.”

The U.S. Air Force also evacuated Korean war orphans who were trapped by the fighting. They flew them to safety on an island away from the approaching enemy. The Air Force made a return visit later to the orphans bringing food and gifts from the American people.

These meals can save and change a life forever.

In President Woodrow Wilson’s proclamation of Veterans Day he said America has the great opportunity “to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations…” That is our best hope to for spreading peace across the globe.

We know that hundreds of millions of hungry and sick people around the world is not peace. It is certainly not the peaceful world that veterans of World War One hoped to see come about. Yet as we speak people are starving and displaced from wars in Syria, Central African Republic, South Sudan, Sudan, Afghanistan and many other parts of the globe.

On this Veterans Day we can remember the many who have served in the armed forces and built a great humanitarian tradition. A tradition that carries on.

Originally published at The Huffington Post.

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September 30, 2013 · 5:05 am

Writing, History and Global Hunger

 

In 1947 Americans fed a "silent guest" during the holidays and this led to a CARE package going overseas to feed the hungry. Credits: CARE

In 1947 Americans fed a “silent guest” during the holidays and this led to a CARE package going overseas to feed the hungry.
Credits:
CARE

Writing is like a bridge to other worlds. It can take you to a land far away. Or it can even take you back in time. All you need is a pen and your imagination.

This combination of writing and history is the best tool I have for taking on one of mankind’s greatest threats: global hunger.

Why study history? Because “I like to” to quote former Harvard Professor Frederick Merk. There are great stories as we uncover the past. It’s inspiring. How well known is it that millions of lives have been saved over the years because both citizens and leaders were committed to fighting hunger. Shouldn’t that be remembered and celebrated?

History can help guide us through the sometimes treacherous waters before us. The famous Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe after World War II showed how critical food is for rebuilding a society. Once, a young lieutenant after World War I was told that getting food to the hungry trapped in a valley would be impossible. His response was “yes, we can” and his team got it done. That is the spirit that must remain timeless.

My writing adventure against world hunger started when I was finishing a graduate course at the College of Mount St. Joseph. You know a class is going well when the ideas start coming. Sometimes those ideas divert you from the curriculum, but when it comes to education it’s good to deviate. School is about creative thinking and writing.

I was ready to take on a new topic with my writing. However, I did not know much about global hunger at that time. I knew hunger was a crisis both globally and even locally. Today, there are 870 million people worldwide who suffer from hunger. In America there are just over 50 million people who struggle to get food. But quite often it’s not something we see right in front of us and it’s not often covered in the media. These great distances can mean less action.

Hunger can be a silent crisis too. The effects of malnutrition are very damaging, and even deadly, to a society. The impact can takes months or years to unfold, or to be realized. Hunger though has the potential to claim more lives than a war itself.

To get started, I bought a book about Food for Peace by George McGovern written back in the early 1960’s. From that historical starting block I moved into the present day struggle. I made a great contact with Jennifer Parmelee of the UN World Food Programme (WFP). The WFP is the largest food aid organization in the world. Then I got some ideas.

My first article on hunger was published in my hometown newspaper, the Cincinnati Enquirer, on my birthday. I have written hundreds of articles and books about hunger since that time. I even compiled these articles and interviews into several books.

With each story I try to take that trip to a distant land or time. Sometimes I do both. Just within the last year I have written about school meal programs (which Charity Miles supports) and have received comments from people who benefited from U.S. led school feeding in Germany after World War II.

Sometimes I do my writing in between a Charity Miles workout. I will bring a little notebook and stop somewhere and jot a few things down. Last week I took a break at the College of Mount St. Joseph library and found a historical book about the International Red Cross. I read about how they provided school meals to children in Hungary during the 1956 Revolution.

When it comes to fighting hunger you are looking at a crisis so massive, that it takes involvement from so many corners to mount any kind of offensive. This month I reminded a UN Development goals class at Mount St. Joseph of Helen Keller’s quote, “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much.”

A good idea would be if someone could write a paragraph or two about their interests and talents. Afterwards, you would write down how those same parts of your life could be used to help end global hunger. If you use Charity Miles you already have one such idea to write down and develop. The great thing about Charity Miles is that you can fight hunger both at home, by supporting Feeding America, and abroad by helping WFP. On some days I have run or walked for both. You can probably think of many other ways to help these organizations fight hunger. Think of as many as you can. Then you can start turning those ideas into action.

Those words and ideas can lead to many things. I remember a message from an organization called Edesia saying that a newspaper article I wrote led to donations to buy Plumpy’Nut, a life saving food for infants, during the East Africa famine of 2011. You never know what surprises wait around the corner just by writing or diving a bit into the past.

Originally published at Charity Miles.

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November 13, 2012 · 3:57 pm

Take Lead in Fighting Hunger at Home and Abroad

With the election behind us, it’s time to focus on a major hunger crisis here at home and abroad. There are 50 million people hungry in the U.S. and worldwide there are 870 million starving people, a major cause of instability.

We don’t need to wait for the President and the Congress to act. I was reminded by Elizabeth Paff, a leadership student at the College of Mount St. Joseph on the Ohio River, that in America action starts from the grassroots. She wrote, “it has to start with someone out there so why not me?”

In 1947, along the Ohio River, that same leadership spirit was in action when a train rolled by as part of nationwide tour collecting food for war-torn Europe. The Friendship Train, as it was called, was powered by the initiative and generosity of everyday Americans. Wheat flour, milk, beans, macaroni, spaghetti, eggs, dried peas, and other foods were collected. These donations came when Europe’s recovery was still very much at risk. Winter was fast setting in with food supplies running low.

George Marshall, then Secretary of State, said, “from this time on…every man, woman and child in this country will exert a direct personal influence on the course of international affairs.” And they most certainly did in helping feed Europe’s hungry. The Friendship Train preceded one of our most successful foreign policy initiatives, the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe from the ashes of World War II.

Every American today can have a similar influence, whether feeding war refugees and flood victims in South Sudan or a hungry person in Syria or Afghanistan displaced by conflict. If everyone became a leader, had their own type of “Friendship Train,” this would be the biggest contribution to peace that can be made.

It does not take much to make a difference. Even one dollar buys a week’s worth of meals for a child. A church I visited had a collection jar for such a purpose called Change for a Change. Anyone with a computer can play the online game FreeRice and raise funds for the World Food Programme. Organizing a fundraising road race or walk in your community can also send a powerful message that world hunger is a top priority.

We cannot expect there to be peace with millions of people malnourished and children stunted in growth. The instability we see in the world will never cease unless there is food, hope, and opportunity for all.

At home leadership is needed too, with many Americans struggling to get enough food for their families. Unemployment, health issues, or natural disasters like Hurricane Sandy place people in need of emergency food banks. We have to make sure that these foodbanks have enough supplies.

That is where citizens can take the lead in organizing canned good collections or online fundraisers. Athletes can use a cell phone app called Charity Miles to raise money for Feeding America as well as the World Food Programme.

Combining your charitable acts with messages to the President and the Congress can make leadership contagious. You can encourage Congress, for instance, to pass legislation helping the hungry such as the upcoming Farm Bill.

Today, there is enough food worldwide to feed all the hungry at home and abroad. It’s not a question of resources as much as leadership. That is where you can come in to take charge in confronting the food crisis facing our planet.

Article first published as Take Lead in Fighting Hunger at Home and Abroad 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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October 7, 2011 · 2:41 am

Afghanistan 10 years later- Starvation Threatens War-Torn Country

October 7th marks the 10 year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan. And as if war has not been enough, famine is descending upon Afghans.

Drought has struck 14 provinces in Afghanistan. Crops have been ruined and food supplies are almost gone. The charity Oxfam says, “Nearly three quarters of the people living in the affected areas say that they will run out of food in less than two months.”

As famine conditions have strengthened, funding for UN World Food Programme (WFP) has diminished. The UN food agency relies entirely on voluntary donations.

WFP was forced to cut school meals for hundreds of thousands of Afghan children earlier this year. In a country deeply mired in poverty, school meals are a lifeline the children desperately need.

Afghanistan has one of the highest rates of hunger and malnutrition in the entire world. If this crisis, which is often ignored by policymakers, were given more attention many of Afghanistan’s ills could be remedied. For food is the foundation of peace, education and literacy, and maybe most of all hope. Hope and Afghanistan are two words not often associated.

There is talk of donor fatigue when it comes to Afghanistan and hunger relief in general, but this is nonsense. Food aid programs make up less than one tenth of one percent of the entire federal budget.

Congress has proposed reducing funding for the Food for Peace and other hunger fighting  programs. This is such a mistake when peace in Afghanistan and other parts of the world depend on fighting hunger.

After World War II, when a CARE package center was opened in downtown Cincinnati, Ohio people flocked there to buy food for hungry people overseas. The first one to do so was a former World War I infantryman.

The first World War saw immense human suffering from both warfare and the resulting famine, and this donor had compassion and first-hand understanding of their plight. Americans from that generation did not suffer from donor fatigue, and continued feeding the hungry during the war and afterwards. Following the Second World War millions more were saved, and Europe was rebuilt from the important foundation of food.

Today, we cannot forget about Afghanistan nor let the people suffer. On this 10 year anniversary of the war in Afghanistan, let’s work to win the peace. It can start with fighting hunger.

Article first published as Afghanistan 10 years later- Starvation Threatens War-Torn Country at Blogcritics.

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