Filling Up the Tables of the Hungry Everywhere : It’s famine more than feast in too many parts of the world

Most Americans will feast today on roast turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes and gravy, fresh vegetables, rolls and jelly, pumpkin pie and an abundance of other holiday treats. The traditional Thanksgiving feast will contrast sharply, however, with the enormous food shortages that plague regions of the world where hunger never takes a holiday.

Famine is as familiar as family in parts of Africa. Chronic food shortages--compounded by unpredictable weather, deteriorating economic conditions, civil war and political instability--have created logistic and long-term problems.

Massive food shipments and international assistance helped stave off famine five years ago in the Horn of Africa. But the number of undernourished people has increased since then. Conditions have worsened in particular in Ethiopia and Sudan, according to a U.N. report. Grave food shortages, fueled by civil strife and drought, have also spread to Somalia, Angola, Mozambique, Liberia, Niger, Malawi, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, the Oxfam America group reports.

CHILDREN’S PLIGHT: As many as 30 million Africans--primarily children under 5 years old--face starvation today. To survive, they need food immediately. They, and their desperate parents, also need long-term help to learn ways to feed themselves in the future.

Starvation is also no stranger in what was the Soviet Union. Economic restructuring and crop failures have created empty state grocery stores in the cities. Although these critical food shortages appear to be short-term and limited to this winter, the pressing needs of millions of hungry people in this part of the world are no less urgent than in other areas of food crisis.

Chronic hunger afflicts an estimated 10th of the world population, according to the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization. Poverty contributes to pervasive undernourishment in rural areas of Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean.

The chronically hungry must compete with victims of food emergencies. Among this year’s bumper crop of food-emergency victims are Bangladeshis who suffered horrendously in the wake of cyclones; Kurds who starved after the Iraq war; Haitians, already destitute, who suffered the consequences of a military coup and international trade sanctions. They all need help.

The competition for surplus food shipments, loan guarantees and other humanitarian assistance is keener than usual and shows no signs of abating. Massive help, coordinated by the United Nations, is available from the United States, Western European nations, Canada, Japan and Australia. The donations include millions of tons of grain and other foods.

CHARITIES’ ROLE: Major assistance is also forthcoming from philanthropies--the best known are Oxfam America, Catholic Relief Services, World Vision and CARE--that work to ease immediate hunger.

These organizations, along with more recent groups such as Bread for the World, also concentrate on self-help development programs that teach poor people how to overcome hunger permanently. Oxfam, for example, in 200 programs in 33 nations teaches poor men and women how to farm better, run cooperative stores, operate sewing projects, protect their environment and take other steps against hunger.

Most major philanthropies focus on world hunger. But Bread for the World, which lobbies Congress, plans to turn its attention next year to helping Americans work their way out of poverty. A growing number of Americans are finding themselves using food stamps and facing hardships. Many, including thousands of former members of the middle class, also are finding little escape from hunger.

Most Americans will give thanks today for full plates and loaded tables. It’s comforting to know that unsung heroes work daily in an effort to fill the tables of the hungry everywhere.

Famine Worsens 1. Sudan 2. Ethiopia 3. Angola 4. Mozambique 5. Liberia 6. Somalia 7. Niger 8. Malawi 9. Burkina Faso 10. Mauritania