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TechnoratiSince 2005, food prices have risen a whopping 80 percent due to fluctuating fuel costs, rising food demand from populous nations like India and China, natural disasters destroying crop yields all over the world, including the United States, and a turbulent global economy. In just that last year alone, food prices for popular menu items like rice, wheat and beans have doubled in the last year.
These higher prices are forcing people who live on one dollar per day to spend as much as 80 percent of their budgets on food. Currently, 19% of the world's population, or more than 1.27 billion people, live on one dollar a day or less. If something isn't done soon to curb the effects of this crisis, an additional 100 million people could be forced into extreme poverty.
Many of you know that Compassion's core mission is not just to sustain children through poverty, but to release them from it. We do this by breaking the generational cycle that says, "I'm destined to be poor because my parents and grandparents were poor." We teach children how to break the cycles of poverty, and then with their newfound knowledge and motivation, we encourage them to break the poverty cycle in their homes and communities.
In response to the brutal effects of this economic crisis, we are looking ahead to enact programs in all our countries to mitigate problems stemming from any similar situation that may present itself in the future. We are providing classes on hydroponics, a system of farming in which plants are grown in mineral-rich solutions rather than soil, and guinea pig rearing. We are also developing meat processing plants in our projects and providing tools and resources needed for community gardens and farms. Programs like these all over the world are enabling more and more people to move from a food crisis to food security.
Please mark March 11th on your calendars and tune in to your favorite local Christian radio station to help impoverished communities throughout the world triumph over this devastating international crisis. Pray for God's leading for how you can best impact a world in crisis. You can do something to change the life of a child, a family, a community, a country - and in effect, your own.
Compassion International, one of the world's largest holistic child-development organizations, serves more than 1 million children in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, and the Caribbean by working with more than 4,800 indigenous church partners. Founded in 1952, Compassion tackles global poverty one child at a time by meeting physical, social, economic and spiritual needs. Compassion has earned seven consecutive, four-star ratings from America's largest charity evaluator, Charity Navigator.
Mark Hanlon is Sr. Vice President for Compassion International’s USA Group. Compassion is a global holistic child development ministry that is Christ centered, child focused, church based and committed to integrity. Since 1952, Compassion has touched the lives of more than one million children. For information on Compassion International, visit http://www.compassion.com
