The international food day is celebrated today worldwide with great excitement to commemorate the food and agriculture organization day which was launched in 1945 by the United Nations.
Nobody deserves to live a life of hunger. Hunger affects the growth and development of children mentally and physically.
Food is a factor for production, and there is no sector that doesn’t need food to exist and operate.
However, it worries a lot that food is each day getting fewer in the world.
Looking back on the previous months of May, June, and July, many people starved and some even died due to lack of food. The pandemic has taught us that we need food before us all and all the time. Food is an essential need that controls everything. Without food even the pilot may fail to fly the airplane, without food even the soldiers may fail to fire bullets, without food even the doctor may fail to operate on a patient.
4 in 10 children aged below 10 years from the families locked under the vicious cycle of poverty are malnourished. These children are extremely unhealthy and have little hope in their lives. Everyone deserves at least 2 meals a day but in most cases, children from poor family backgrounds depend on one meal and sometimes go to bed without a meal.
In the world there is a lot of fertile soils, good for agriculture but, sadly, there isn’t enough food to feed her population.
Here at youth with a vision through our feeding program, We are making efforts to motivate youth into food production enterprises as a way to make food available in emergency and normal situations.
We are working with the community and schools by Enabling them access lunch meals at school and in their homes and teaching them the dangers of hunger and engaging them in the production of food to ensure food security in their respective communities by training them to make food forests starting with a small piece of land.
We hope that this will decrease the rate of malnourished children and creating a hunger-free community.
Meet Nanyondo Beatrice;
‘’I attended Youth With A Vision’s financial literacy, business management skills, an internship, and then got a loan of UGX: 1,500,000 and mentor and started NANYONDO INVESTMENTS. I used the loan money and knowledge I got from the workshops to hire 2 acres of land and bought seedlings. I grow seasonal crops including maize flour, beans, and Irish Potatoes. Each season I have enough food for my children to feed, and sell the surplus for my other needs. It is only during this COVID-19 era that I haven’t earned income from my small farm because there were no customers’’.
Even though Beatrice had no customers for her produce, she at least had food for her family to feed on through the pandemic.
Young people make up the highest percentage of the world’s population. In Uganda alone, young people make up 77 percent of the country’s population. However, these young people are unemployed and greatly need an enabling environment if they are to become productive citizens. They need food, education, security, apprenticeship, and mentorship to thrive and have hope for a better future.
In commemoration of this year’s World Food Day, it’s apparent that we harness the potential young people have to produce enough food for the whole world. Join our Youth Finance Scheme so that we together empower more young people to engage in meaningful agriculture for both food security and sustainability. Support us to create a hunger-free world.
We must promise ourselves never to waste food as an initiative and contribute to saving food for those who are hungry.
Together we can fight against hunger in our communities and we can provide a better tomorrow to children and youth by feeding them.
So let’s promote agriculture in order to keep our homes, stores, pantry, and banks full of food available every time it is needed.
Blessed are those who enjoy three meals every day. Let us make a big difference with our small actions
We wish you a very happy world food day.