While the United States is reeling from the stock market’s plunge and the credit crisis, there are severe worldwide consequences to America’s economic woes that have been almost entirely ignored. Most people have not given any thought to the millions of victims of our economic situation: the children in the poorest areas of the world now supported by U.S. donors. While financial struggles may reduce the number of donors to organizations such as mine who are working to release children from poverty, the still-greater impact is being felt as the result of rising food and fuel prices. People ”” and children in particular ”” are going hungry around the world as the global food crisis continues to silently plunge millions of people deeper into the depths of poverty.
At its onset, the global food crisis was about food distribution and dwindling supply. It was about import and export policies, natural disasters that ruined crops, land use and new economies which encourage industry but undercut resources needed to grow food. It was even about the new prominence of biofuels. Now it’s about rising inflation in food production and transportation, which have triggered substantial increases in the cost of food at the market.
According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), people in 50 developing countries around the globe remain at risk through 2009 because of deteriorating foreign exchange reserves, rising inflation and slowing world economic growth. People in these nations are losing their ability to purchase food ”” meaning parents are deciding not what their children should eat but whether their children will eat.
My wife and I have been compassion sponsors since 1990. I’ve met Wess who is a constant advocate for the poor children around the globe. I encourage readers to consider sponsoring one or more children through Compassion (www.ci.org). You see your donations make a difference in a child’s life now and well into the future.