On World Food Day this year, ten Red Cross Societies in Central
Europe are pooling their efforts to bring world attention to
the plight of millions of poor and malnourished Europeans, from
the Baltic to the Adriatic. Red Cross Societies in Albania,
Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia,
Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro are voicing grave concern for
those who are not protected by existing social welfare networks.
The grim reality of severe poverty and its consequences is present,
behind the growing economic indices in these countries, warns
the Red Cross.
In 1999, Polish Red Cross started the Hunger Day Campaign, based
on the original Finnish idea, using 16 October, the International
Nourish and Fighting against Famine Day. In order to address
the issue of poverty and hunger, Polish Red Cross undertook
several actions - on one side activating local community and
raising awareness about famine and on the other one, gaining
funds to support vulnerable people.
Through the youth network established in the region, Polish
Red Cross with the support of International Federation's Regional
Youth Development Programme, based in Budapest, spread the idea
of the campaign outside of its geographical borders. Therefore
to date, ten countries within the region, implemented the Hunger
Day campaign.
The Red Cross in Central Europe hopes to raise funds through
this public awareness campaign, in order to buy food, which
will be then supplied to schools, social institutions, hospitals
and soup kitchens. With media support, each Red Cross Society
is delivering its message about the seriousness of the situation
in its home country.
"The Red Cross is more than a distributor of international humanitarian
aid", said Djura Bugarski, Red Cross Branch Secretary from Serbia
and Montenegro. It provides services and mobilizes communities
in hard times. These days, in October, Red Cross young volunteers
are in the streets trying to attract people's attention and
involve them in solutions for the urgent humanitarian issues
the problem of hungry people is one of the most acute".
This year's World Food Day focuses on grave food shortages in
the developing world under the theme International Alliance
against Hunger. In Albania, Bulgaria, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia,
Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Serbia and Montenegro,
the Red Cross Societies are reminding people that poverty and
hunger still exist in Central Europe and that, in the coming
years, these vulnerabilities might worsen. A United Nations
report published in October says that 31.6 % of the world's
urban population lives in slums and 6.2% of them live in Europe.
In the European Union (EU) the average gross domestic product
(GDP) per capita of the acceding states is just 40 per cent
of current EU levels.
The Polish Ministry of the Economy reports that, in July 2003,
the level of unemployment reached 17,6% of the population, inflicting
more hardship on the 28% of people who are poor. "We cannot
talk about proper nutrition without mentioning economic issues"
says Dr. Jadwiga Hamuka from the Polish Association for Nutritional
Science. "The rising poverty rate means that the child hunger
problem is becoming particularly acute".
Poland is not alone. Red Cross Societies are warning that undernourishment
among Central Europe's poor and socially vulnerable is symptomatic
of a widening gap between rich and poor in all the post-Communist
countries. "What unites 15 million South Africans, 2 million
Polish children, 530,000 Latvian pensioners and a thousand schoolchildren
from the Lithuanian district of Kazlu Ruda?" asks the Lithuanian
Red Cross in their Hunger Day Appeal? The answer: hunger and
poverty. According to the World Development indicators, one
Lithuanian out of six lives in poverty. The Lithuanian Red Cross
indicates that among the country's 3.5 million population there
are some 2,000 homeless people.
Stunting and malnutrition have been found among 39 per cent
of children in city suburbs in Albania. Some 21 per cent of
Bulgaria's 1.4 million children live in poverty, and the State
estimates that 52 per cent of its Roma children are undernourished.
National Societies have developped their own ideas on how to
implement this campaign.
In Bulgaria, they organised "A Sandwich for a friend" activity,
providing sandwiches to 60 children, bought or made by their
classmates, and consequently raising the solidarity among in
children, and also assuring free lunches for 3 poor children
for the period of 1 year, finding donors to repond to this challenge.
In Latvia, there was an "Action in Supermarkets" to fundraise
for soup kitchen, decrease stigmatization of the soup kitchen
beneficiaries, establish new contacts with more (new) donors
and raise funds to enlarge Red Cross soup kitchen in Riga and
to establish a field kitchen.
In Lithuania, through the "Bread queen performance", the Red
Cross aimed to raise awareness of elementary school children
about hunger, as well as among school actors (director, teachers,
parents) about hunger problem and activate them in this field.
Other objectives were to improve the health status of vulnerable
children by giving them vitamins, raise funds from children
through performance fee, promote the image, activities and values
of the Red Cross inside schools community.
This campaign is growing more and more every year, thanks to
the believe that fighting hunger is possible through similar
concrete actions and creating awareness!
Related links: International Federation's Regional Youth Development
Programme IFRC Regional delegation for Central Europe:www.ifrccee.org
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