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52 of the world's poorest countries (of which 37 are in Africa) owe a total of $376 billion in debt. The repayments for this huge amount of money take up a very large portion of each country's income to, leaving them with little left to help themselves and solve their hunger problems.

The areas where chronic persistent hunger occurs need capital and resources to develop and implement schemes to help solve their problems. Cancelling world debt would provide these countries with the ability to help themselves, such as being able to develop their economy in order to safeguard against future hunger problems, develop and import technologies to begin and increase the amount of output from their arable land or help fund imports of food from abroad, helping to solve the redistribution problem

The G7 (Group of seven), the seven countries with the largest economies in the world, pledged to cancel $100 billion of this debt in June 1999. An impressive figure, but actually, lending governments already know they are not going to receive most of this $100 billion back and have made provisions to cover their losses. So although this is a good start, in many countries it will have no significant impact on their payments - it is cost-free, and also benefit-free. If the debt being cancelled is debt that could never have been paid anyway, this will have little impact on the repayments for poor countries.

Many countries are pledging to cancel 100% of the debt owed to them if certain conditions are meet. For example, an extract from a speech Bill Clinton made on October 12th 1999, archived on the US State Department's website says:

"Last month, I went even further, announcing that the United States will forgive 100 percent of the debt owed us by the world's least developed countries if they will use the savings to address basic human needs. And I committed the United States to a new effort to accelerate the development of vaccines for diseases that devastate the developing world." - Bill Clinton

You can help these poorer countries by supporting and helping those groups and individuals who are trying to convince their governments to cancel world debt. Your support could give a debt free start to 1 billion people, and help to solve the world's hunger problem. Alternatively you can support online by clicking a button at http://www.thehungersite.com/clickToGive/home.faces?siteId=1 where advertisers will donate 1 1/2 cups of staple food to a hungry person.

Food not Bombs de 1 mai

Pentru cei care nu stiu, food not bombs este o miscare cu caracter social care critica cheltuirea de resurse materiale uriase pe arme in toate colturile lumii, in conditiile in care la fiecare 3.6 secunde cineva moare de foame undeva in lume. In mare, se imparte mancare vegetariana gratuit pentru persoane defavorizate sau pentru oricine doreste.



ONU estimeaza ca in fiecare an 15 milioane de copii mor de foame. De asemenea, cu pretul unei singure rachete balistice, o scoala plina de copii flamanzi pot manca pranzul timp de 5 ani. 1.3 miliarde de oameni din intreaga lume traiesc cu mai putin de 1 dolar pe zi, in timp ce 3 miliarde traiesc cu doar 2 dolari pe zi. Numai in 1997, peste 300.000 de copii au fost salvati prin administrarea unui supliment de vitamina A, in urma unui program al ONU in tarile sub-dezvoltate. Si statisticile continua.



Azi a fost prima editie de anul asta la care am participat si eu, a 2a in total. Desi au lipsit cativa oameni care de obicei erau prezenti, ne-am descurcat si in numar mai mic fata de alte dati. Mancarurile au fost felurite, paste, fasole, mazare, salate si orez cu legume, mere, portocale, napolitane si ceaiuri. S-au mai adus si cativa saci cu haine si papuci, care s-au impartit prin parcul respectiv.



Ce a fost fain editia asta e ca, pe langa parcul in care servim mancarea de obicei, ne-am mutat la un moment dat si la gara, intr-un gang, unde a venit si mai multa lume decat in parc, fapt pentru care am reusit sa impartim toata mancarea si fructele, ba chiar am ramas in pana spre sfarsit.



O buna bucata de timp am stat multi sa impartim fluturasi cu FnB si 1 mai, cred ca au fost 3-400 in total, nu mai stiu exact, erau multi oricum. Pentru prima data au fost 3 sau 4 echipe la impartit, fiecare cu zona ei. Per total a iesit grozav si, desi a inceput sa ploua, nu ne-a gasit in parc, ci la adapost in gang, unde am avut ocazia sa mai vorbim cu niste oameni prinsi acolo ca si noi. Dupa fiecare editie pleci acasa cu un sentiment "mixed" pentru ca, pe de o parte, te simti bine ca ai putut ajuta niste oameni, dar pe de alta parte, aflii multe povesti de viata care, mie cel putin, mi se par deseori ireale.



Si azi si in alte dati, ne-au intrebat reporteri de la diverse ziare/televiziuni cine suntem sau cum se numeste grupul nostru. Nu exista un nume sau un ONG in spatele FnB, pentru ca FnB poate fi facut de oricine, un grup de prieteni sau de cunostiinte. Pur si simplu va adunati, puneti niste bani, gatiti o noapte niste mancare si a doua zi o impartiti intr-un loc in care stiti ca se aduna multe persoane fara adapost sau foarte sarace, abandonate de sistem. Ar fi grozav sa apara miscarea asta si in alte orase, de fapt in toate orasele din tara si cu o frecventa ridicata. Noi de obicei reusim sa ne organizam cam odata la o luna, dar pot fi perioade mai lungi sau mai scurte. Asa ca nu stati pe locuri, organizati-va un pic si dati-i inainte!