WORLD VISION
The past acts of people do not define a nation, but it is rather the values, the attitudes and the current people that define a nation.
Fighting world hunger isn’t an act of charity. It’s giving people their well-deserved basic right of food.
By simply being citizens of Australia, we are in the top richest 1% of the world’s population. This top 1% is also the most influential. It gives us power; the power to make change.
It was a day that literally brought a whole new perspective to the over-used terms ‘world hunger’ and ‘poverty’. So often we are told that this is what some half-way across the world are going through. But to be able to hear about it from people who had seen it first hand, to be able to watch stories of children who have these experiences day-to-day and to be able to be educated about the change that we can make from someone who does it as a living, is something entirely different altogether. The World Vision Global Youth Convention 2014 was an eye-opener, mind-blower and incredibly inspiring event, to put into just a few words. The three messages, listed above, were just some key ideas and inspirations that really struck me.
The 1994 Rwandan Genocide was a horrific event in which 800,000 people were killed in just 100 days. The people lost everything; homes, food, and irreplaceably: their families. Neighbour against neighbour, it was an act of dehumanisation. But, that is not what Rwanda is today. The people of Rwanda rose above their past mistakes and came together, spreading FORGIVENESS and hence creating HOPE. That is what defines them today; forgiveness and hope. These are the people of Rwanda, and these are the people World Vision focuses on this year in the 40 Hour Famine.
As a small girl I had the usual dream to be a perfect princess; you know the one you imagine with the tiara, pink gown and her Prince Charming?! Now take away the picture of the tiara, the gown, the Prince, take away all luxuries and lastly, take away the food and water too. Think that’s unjust? We as young teenagers wake up every day with new dreams for our futures. People, KIDS, halfway across the world, wake up with nothing but empty stomachs and their singular dream: food. Helping those in need, trying to eradicate world hunger isn’t a form of charity; it’s restoring the basic human right to food, it’s restoring the basic child’s right to be a child- play, laugh and have dreams a child should- not worry about whether they will be fed that day or not. It’s not a form of charity that ends world hunger- it’s restoring the human right to access food.
We are the youth of tomorrow. We are the shapers of our own futures. We are the future. Being born into a life of all luxuries, by being in the top 1% of the world’s population who owns majority of land and economy, the flaws in the world, this world hunger, is often pushed into the shadows. We must act as global citizens to bring these into the spotlight. We must, using our voices and resources, such as social media, discuss and spread the story of global hunger. We must, using our power, eradicate world hunger, one step at a time. And your first step can be simply talking about the messages you have read about. Your first step can be standing up for basic human rights of these disadvantaged and telling your community. Your first step can be doing the 40 Hour Famine.
Through the day of intense leadership training from World Vision, I truly have hope in overcoming world hunger. It will not end in a year, it will not happen overnight, but if we join together as one and commit as one, it will happen. We, as a school community, will partake in the 40 Hour Famine 2014.
We will end world hunger.
We will restore human rights to those who have been stripped of it.
We will be the change.
