16th October World Food Day

 

World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16th October to promote global awareness and action for those who suffer from hunger and to highlight the need to ensure healthy diets for all.

2022 finds us with an ongoing pandemic, conflict, a climate that won’t stop warming, rising prices and international tensions. This is affecting global food security. 

We need to build a sustainable world where everyone, everywhere has regular access to enough nutritious food.

The concept of hunger is not something that the children I teach have ever encountered. They are fussy eaters, used to eating only food they choose to eat, so choosing to read books about hunger and food are not high on their list of things to read. So what would I share with them?

I think I would start with a general discussion about food and if access to food is not a problem what it means to the students.

These two books are perfect for very young students to start a discussion about where their food comes from.

Then I might look at how food is similar, but different depending upon where you live. We all like different food, but everybody needs to eat! How are we alike and different? 

Should we be so fussy about what we eat? These two books encourage children to think differently about food.

And lastly, given the fact that the school recycles and sorts the garbage, has rubbish free Wednesdays and Crunch and Sip, this is appropriate.

SDG 2 Zero Hunger

 

Goal 2 - End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable farming.

A profound change of the global food and agriculture system is needed if we are to nourish the more than 690 million people who are hungry today – and the additional 2 billion people the world will have by 2050. Increasing agricultural productivity and sustainable food production are crucial to help alleviate the perils of hunger.

The list of picture books to choose from is here.

There are two picture books that highlight this goal very clearly. They are both based on real events. The first is shorter. The second is longer and suitable too for an older audience. There are teaching notes for The Good Garden 

http://www.citizenkidcentral.com/pdfs/GoodGardenThe_2105_teaching.pdf

Here is the blurb:

For a long time, the people of Hargigo, a village in the tiny African country of Eritrea, were living without enough food for themselves and their animals. The families were hungry, and their goats and sheep were hungry too. Then along came a scientist, Dr. Gordon Sato, who helped change their lives for the better. And it all started with some special trees.

These are the trees, 
Mangrove trees, 
That were planted by the sea.

With alternating verse and prose passages, The Mangrove Tree invites readers to discover how Dr. Sato's mangrove tree-planting project transformed an impoverished village into a self-sufficient community. 

Here is the blurb:

Based on the real story of farm transformation underway in Honduras and many other countries, this book offers children ways they can be part of the movement to grow "good gardens" and foster food security.
Eleven-year-old María Luz and her family live on a small farm. This year their crop is poor, and they may not have enough to eat or to sell for other essentials, such as health care, school uniforms and books. 
When María's father must leave home to find work, she is left in charge of their garden. Then a new teacher comes to María's school and introduces her to sustainable farming practices that yield good crops. As María begins to use the same methods at home, she too sees improvements.

In my booklet, there are just three things to do:

* Before reading: Ask: When was the last time you felt hungry? What did it feel like? How long did you have to wait for food?

* Write the title of the book you read.

* Complete this sentence: This story made me think about ...