LERATO LELIA
1 in 5 South Africans do not have access to food when they need it; this is according to FoodBank South Africa’s Fund Development Manager, Kate Hamilton. FoodBank SA launched the 12-hour fast campaign which will take place on World Hunger Day, 28th May 2014, in order to raise awareness around food insecurity both locally and internationally.
“We think it’s important for people to try and fast for the 12 hours because we are trying to get people to connect with the impact of food on a person and their performance and ability to go through the day in a productive way. It’s also for people to realise that while they are going to be able to break their fast at the end of the day for a lot of South Africans the reality is they do not know when their next meal will be,” said Hamilton.
The University of the Free State (UFS) recognised the problem of hunger on campus with their students and launched the Walk to Cape Town. On the 1 May volunteers started their walk to Cape Town to raise funds for students who go hungry. “Part of the whole initiative was to draw attention of the public towards the crisis of students hunger, not only on the UFS campus but across campuses in South Africa,” said one of the founders of the No Student Hungry Campaign, Grace Jansen.
The No Student Hungry Campaign conducted a study last year on campus and discovered that 59 percent of their students were food insecure. “They don’t all go hungry every day but they don’t necessarily know where their next plate of food is coming from,” added Jansen.
The campaign also aims to celebrate World Hunger Day with the walk to Cape Town that is going to be happening throughout the month of May. “Instead of focusing on just one day we want to highlight the problem of hunger the whole month,” explained Jansen.
South Africa produces enough food to feed the population but not enough of it gets to the hungry. FoodBank SA collects approximately 300 tons of food that would have otherwise been wasted and redistributes it to feed the hungry. “People are very unconscious of the amounts of food that they waste and it’s a huge amount which also has a negative impact on the environment with the methane gas that it produces,” explained Hamilton.
In order to tackle the problem of hunger Hamilton suggests that people put pressure on the retailers that they support to try and rescue all of their food and distribute it to the hungry. She also suggests that communities start vegetable gardens and individuals must be more aware of the amount of food they waste.
