Sometimes it’s easy to forget.
In the past few weeks, thousands of people across the United States tuned in to the Casey Anthony trial. The media has been all over this story. If you’re not passionately enraged about the not-guilty verdict (or passionately arguing that our nation’s justice system has been upheld), you undoubtedly know at least a handful of people who are.
As a mother of a 2-year-old, I am acutely aware of the value of Caylee’s lost life and the tragedy of that loss. I cannot even fathom what my daughter’s death would do to me. The fact remains, however, that all of the passion and negative energy that is going into people’s reactions to the Anthony case will do absolutely nothing to bring Caylee back. In this case, the general public–no matter how mad it gets–is powerless.
This year, nearly 9 million children under five around the world will die; more than one third of those deaths will be related to hunger. It’s July, which means that roughly 4.5 million kids have already died. Where is their media coverage? Who is on trial for their deaths? Why aren’t people angrier about this?
Children in rural areas of developing nations–areas where Heifer does most of our work–are nearly two times as likely to be underweight than their urban counterparts.
Through the Millenium Development Goals, the United Nations has set goals to dramatically change the world. Since 2000, the UN has tracked what’s working and where gaps persist. While global poverty rates have substantially declined, hunger and child death rates are not declining quickly enough.
Depending on how quickly you read, about 15 kids under five died since you started reading this post.
Sadly, there’s nothing we can do for Caylee now. But for the millions of preventable deaths of children around the world, there are many things we can do. Let’s put some energy into thinking of what those things are. List your suggestions here, and I’ll do a follow-up post with your ideas and some of my own.
Where can I read more written by Brooke Edwards, please?
Great perspective. I was at an event in late September, 2001, at which Share Our Strength founder, Billy Shore was speaking. He said (and I paraphrase, as I can remember), "Just days ago, our nation endured a horrible tragedy in which 3,000 of our fellow Americans died. We're all reeling in shock of that event, which still dominates the news coverage. But let's not forget that between the time we went to bed last night and now, more than 3,000 children around the world have died from the effects of malnutrition. It happens every day, and it's not reported. It's a tragedy that deserves our attention."
Globally speaking I’m not sure what to say. Education would be a nice start. If we could offer classes to children as young as elementary school age on how others live in places like Cambodia, Ethiopia, Guatemala, and Ecuador they might begin to see how very good we have it here in the U.S. When I was growing up we had the, “starving kids in China” mantra that was driven into our heads to encourage us to clean our plates at the dinner table. I hardly ever hear that sort of thing anymore, but even with those words and phrases a certain disconnection was still very real. Humans need to see and experience things first hand to get a real feel for what it’s like. I am not suggesting we expose children to hunger or cold, but if a Skype class room exchange with kids their age in another country could be done that would be so cool! They could speak to each other with the help of an interpreter and teach each other how similar they are and how differently they live. If that type of class was mandated right up through high school a whole new generation of Americans would have a better idea of the work that needs to be done on the behalf of humanity, our brothers and sisters in faraway lands that are not so different from you and me, but for whatever reason (drought, war, famine, natural disaster) need our help. That could work both ways, for any nation that is in a position to help, or in a position of need.
Locally it would be nice if grocery stores and restaurants would donate their edible, and yet for some reason wasted, food to homeless shelters and food banks instead of throwing it in the garbage, that would help tremendously.
Anonymous 1: Thanks for the compliment.
Ed: You hit the nail on the head. The burden of remembering the thousands who die every day can be overwhelming. But if we don't remind ourselves and each other, and get worked up about it, progress will continue to be slow.
Anonymous 2: I love your ideas. We've actually been talking here at Heifer about using Skype as a way to connect people here at home with participants in the field. I work at Heifer as a result of my childhood exposure to global hunger by participating in the Global Village at Heifer Ranch. There actually are some groups around the country working to connect grocery stores and restaurants and homeless shelters. Replicating and expanding programs that work is doable.
Thanks Brooke for reminding us all of the context in which we do our work.
Pierre
You're welcome, Pierre.
I am dismayed that Brooke Edwards used a controversial and sensational media story (Cayley Anthony) in the Heifer blog as a way to approach the serious issue of hunger and poverty in our world. I would be interested in other’s reactions. Rosalee Sinn
I still think you shot yourself in the foot with this one. Emotions are still very raw around Caylee's death and the trial. I would have at least waited until the sensationalism died down. Brooke, you really wrote a great post, but your timing is less then stellar.
Don't be surprised if donors get upset. THINK next time you want to blog, because that controversial posting jut might hurt Heifer's PR.
Rosalee, I believe the death of every child is serious. I also believe that the 22,000+ children who die each day from hunger and poverty deserve all the media attention we can give them. Unfortunately, in a culture that thrives on sensational stories, it sometimes takes yelling from your own little mountain to be a voice for these kids and to have your voice heard. If you're interested in others' reactions, please visit our Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/heiferinternational/posts/163034943764899
Anonymous 3, I can't imagine having written this post at any other time. I began this post after having tried to sleep with the unfairness of it all running through my head.
What I would love to see is people putting their efforts toward reducing the number of children who will die in the coming weeks, months and years. I’d like to see more people becoming activists for the causes that touch their hearts (as I wrote about recently in this post: http://blog.heifer.org/2011/07/five-steps-to-becoming-activist.html). Every day we wait to take action, to make noise, for people to feel more comfortable about the situation, we waste precious time. We must have, as Pierre Ferrari has been known to put it, passionate urgency.
One often sees organizations, Heifer included, shying away from taking the strong stance or pointing out the uncomfortable truth for the fear that it will hurt their image or funding. But there are issues and people behind them that are more important than images — choosing to be their spokesperson, however controversial, will always be the right thing. Choosing to point out the injustices in the world again and again in as many ways as we know how, is our tool, our drum, our light to move people forward to awareness and action. The world demands our voice. Thank you Brooke for speaking.
You're welcome, Eliza. Thanks for commenting and participating in the discussion.