The Day I Quit Saying I was "Starving"

My boss adopted a little boy from an orphanage in China earlier this year. Through his adoption process and since his son has arrived, he has been told many stories about orphanages and I have the opportunity to hear of them through him.

Monday night he shared this story:

One of his friends went to work at an orphanage in Turkey. It was in poor condition and could only afford to feed the children twice a day.Sometimes only once a day.

Every single meal was the exact same thing.

It was not what many of us would ever choose to eat: a bowl of bland, nasty oatmeal mush. My boss clarified it definitely wasn’t any apples and cinnamon kinda flavor from Quaker like we’re accustomed to.

But, these children were truly starving so they never complained or hesitated when the food was available. In fact, they would scarf it down to ensure it makes it into their own stomach before perhaps an older or larger kid could come and snag it. When these children are so hungry and eat the food so fast, it can upset their stomach and make them sick.

The next thing my boss said brought up a mental image that broke my heart and burdened my soul.

His friend witnessed a child who ate too quickly, got sick and threw up his food.As soon as that happened, without any hesitation, all of the children rushed over and began eating the child’s vomit filled with the food.

At that point my boss closed his story saying “And the day I heard that story is the last day I ever said I was ‘starving.’”

I echo his conviction.    
                                                                                        

From Monday night onward, I shall never say that I am “starving” again.

Think about how often we throw that word – “starving” – around when we’re late to eat something from our over-flowing pantries and fridges stocked full of food.

How offensive and insensitive that is.

For many of us in America and around the world, we have never come close to starving.

But, according to the World Food Program, 925 million people do not have enough to eat. They also say that 10.9 million children under five die in developing countries each year. Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60 percent of the deaths.

They are starving.

I am a word nerd as a former communication major. I believe that words and the ways we use them are powerful.

So are the ways we mis-use them. Like saying we're "starving" when we really aren't. If we are not going to donate money to fight hunger or hand deliver food to them, I think the very very least we can do is change our vocabulary to be a bit more sensitive.

I hope that after reading this, you'll join my boss and I to quit saying you're "starving." 

The Death of a Child - Media Coverage (or lack thereof)

I'm sure that, by now, you have all heard about the Casey Anthony case.

How could you not with all the media coverage devoted to it???

And with all due respect to the memory of sweet and innocent Caylee, I just wish the media would pay even HALF as much attention to other children who are dying too young.

Poverty.com has a tally of how many lives are lost each hour to poverty-related issues.

According to their website, hunger:

• kills about 25,000 people EVERY DAY
• this is one person every 3.5 seconds
• most of the victims are children

And as for AIDS: 

• it is second only to Black Death as the largest epidemic in ALL of history
• 1.5+ million people die from it each year
• this amounts to 1 death every 20 seconds 

Similarly, tuberculosis:

• is thought to have killed more people than any disease EVER
• one million people die from it each year

The website also details the deaths from other poverty-related diseases like malaria and measles. 

But we NEVER hear about them.


Each of those lives lost deserve as much attention as Caylee Anthony got.

Here is a way you can help out by writing a letter. While you're at it, send one to your local newspaper or television station to request their coverage on the issue.

Or support World Vision. Their tagline is "Poverty kills 24,000 children each day. Help one child."

I hope you'll do that - help (at least) one child.