(Report) SUDAN: The clock is ticking

George Clooney speaking at the Council on Foreign Relations in Washington, DC about his recent trip to Sudan (photo HUMNews) (HN, October 20, 2010) --- Actor George Clooney and author and human rights activist John Prendergast recently told the Washington political leadership - including President Obama, that the United States needs to stay involved in Sudan to avoid an “inferno.”

They also urged the US to put pressure on leaders in advance of southern Sudan’s independence referendum scheduled for 9 January 2011.

“We have an opportunity to prevent war from happening instead of mopping up a mess later on,” Clooney said.

Clooney is a co-founder of ‘Not On Our Watch’, an organization whose mission it is to focus global attention and resources to stop and prevent atrocities in Darfur;  Prendergast is co-founder of the Enough Project.  The two were in Washington reporting on their recent fact finding trip to Sudan.

The Comprehensive Peace Agreement 

The referendum was promised by the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which was signed in 2005, ending decades of the north-south civil war. Under the agreement, the south formed its own government, which has limited autonomy and in which the north has a small representation. South Sudan is represented in the government of national unity, which is led by the Khartoum-based National Congress Party (NCP).

According to Clooney and Prendergast there have been 5 years to implement the CPA. However, Prendergast said: “The ball got dropped the day the peace agreement was signed...as we do so often we go off to the next thing and left the Sudanese to their own devices.  If we don’t urgently attend to Sudan the south will be an inferno again.”

Sudan this week and the question of Abyei

This week President Omar al-Bashir has said he is still committed to hold the referendum on the south’s independence, but insisted both sides first had to settle differences over their borders. Other oustanding issues include the sharing of oil, debt and Nile river water.

Southern Sudan president Salva Kiir vowed that the country would not return to civil war. "We do not want Abyei to become a potential trigger for a conflict again between the south and the north," Kiir said.

Much of the attention focuses on Abyei - a historical bridge between north and south which sits in the oil-rich Muglad Region.

Sudan (photo: CIA World Factbook) In July 2009, an international tribunal redefined the borders of the disputed oil region by splitting the contested zone between the two sides. In its ruling the tribunal, seated at the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, overruled a decision by an international commission that Sudan's government rejected four years earlier. The ruling gives the north uncontested rights to rich oil deposits like the Heglig oil field, which had previously been placed within the Abyei region, which sits on the border between north and south. But the decision leaves at least one oil field in Abyei and gives a symbolic victory to the Ngok Dinka, an ethnic group loyal to southern Sudan that has pushed to join it in a referendum.

Last Thursday, October 14, Dirdiri Mohammad Ahmad, of the National Congress Party (NCP), said the January 9 vote on whether it should be part of the north or the south of the country could be delayed for months or the territorial row would be settled without a poll.

"It is very clear that right now it is not possible to have the Abyei referendum on 9 January, 2011. We all agree that this is no longer practical," he told reporters in Khartoum

 Ahmad said Khartoum and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement (SPLM) could reach "a conclusion on the final status of the Abyei area" without having to decide the matter through a referendum.

Abyei's administrator and a member of the SPLM, Deng Arop Kuol, said the region's residents would not accept a delay and may hold their own vote without the central government's approval.

"A delayed vote is unacceptable," he said. "The people of Abyei are still holding out for the referendum to be held on January 9. If the government does not give them that option, we can have a self-run referendum."

Another real concern in Sudan is that, two years after the peace treaty, much of the south is heavily militarized. The reason has been that the north has grown dependent on the oil from the south and if the south secedes, the north stands to lose billions of dollars yearly.

Both the north and south claim the oil-producing region and fought over it during the two-decades long war, in which around two million people died.  

A delay of either the Abyei or secession referendum threatens to revive a new conflict between the two sides.

 - HUMNews Staff

(PEACEMEAL) Baking Bread to Break Bread, Building Communities from the Inside Out

--- Commentary by Cynthia Thomet

Nothing says “comfort” quite like freshly baked bread. Everything about it feels good. Making it, there’s the sifting of flour, carefully adding water to knead the combination into smooth dough.  Baking it, the leavening has a fragrance that can draw crowds. Significantly, making bread is a process that takes time. 

The positive impact is even greater for relief efforts. Today, I came across a little story published on the World Food Programme website entitled, “Pakistan: Food Aid Means Fresh Bread for Homeless Families,” the article underlines the basic human need to eat food for survival, but more importantly, it’s about people surviving the devastating impact of broken families, ruptured communities. 

The recent floods washed through Pakistan as I was coincidentally wrapping up a book called “Three Cups of Tea,” by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin. It is a non-fiction account of Greg Mortenson’s commitment and travels to build schools for girls and youth in the most rural areas of Northern Pakistan following a troublesome K2 climb. Throughout the book are scenes of poor families and struggling villages preparing feasts from what little they have to create a lifelong bond with Greg, and to secure a commitment from him to build another school for their children.

People who break bread together can develop a deeper understanding for meeting basic needs to build better communities.

There’s one scene in this book where Greg was frustrated to learn that the money he raised in the United States was re-appropriated by village elders in Korphe, Pakistan to build a bridge across a treacherous ravine—one that for decades was bridged by a zip-line of sorts. Greg was immediately aware that bridge project would eat all the funds he raised for a school and would put off building the school for at least another year.

Greg worried what his backers would think. He had approached the village with the vision of building a school. As he fretted and micro-managed construction of the bridge, he was taken aside by Haji Ali, a village elder, who taught him one of the most important lessons for helping communities: “We’re the country of thirty-minute power lunches. Haji Ali taught me to share three cups of tea, to slow down and make building relationships as important as building projects.”

After that meeting with Ali, Greg let go. The bridge was the best solution for this village, as it was the only reasonable way to transport tons of construction materials across the canyon through which some of Central Asia’s coldest glacial waters flowed. The following year, the school was built and led to a domino effect over the next several years of school-building projects throughout this mountainous region of Central Asia. All because he took the time to drink three cups of tea. 

In my mind, the two stories written years apart connected in my consciousness this week. Food is more than fuel, just as my sitting next to a stranger is more than a random occurrence. The moment can carry the impact of a butterfly fluttering its wings on the opposite end of the earth. It can breathe comfort into your soul like freshly baked bread.

--- The author is Cynthia Thomet, a humanitarian, and co owner and doyenne of the award winning downtown Atlanta, Georgia; US restaurant, Lunacy Black Market. http://www.lunacyblackmarket.com/

LUNCH: The Film

(HN, October 19, 2010) – Wrapping up our look at hunger and malnutrition in honor of World Food Day, HUMNEWS’ presents, “LUNCH: The Film”.  Produced by Filmmaker Avis Richards, Founder of Bird’s Nest Productions and the Bird’s Nest Foundation, LUNCH explores the pervasively unhealthy food which the US school lunch program provides to children in the public school system.  This lack of quality can lead to malnourishment and disease, even if children are stuffed full of empty calories.  Healthy food is the right of all the world’s population. 

About LUNCH

As nation-wide funding for school cafeterias rapidly decreases and high-calorie, low-nutrient meals have become order of the day, our nation's children are being afflicted by a slew of diet-based diseases from high-blood pressure and cholesterol to diabetes and obesity. In LUNCH, a revealing documentary short, director Avis Richards investigates the causes and the consequences of “growing up in a junk-food culture.” Through numerous on-site interviews with food workers, doctors, educators, and students, LUNCH provides a candid, penetrating, and disturbing account of the National School Lunch Program's failure to promote the proper dietary habits to ensure our youth's physical, social, and psychological well-being. The documentary also explores viable alternatives to the hamburger hegemony, talking with farmers and other community leaders about their efforts to put locally-grown, whole foods back on the menu and make diet and nutrition a core part of every school's educational model. LUNCH serves up an eye-opening account of a national crisis and its potential solutions, a film that should interest anyone concerned about the future of our students and our society.

Storyline

LUNCH is a short documentary exploring the effects of the National School Lunch Program on America’s children today in schools and seeks to shed light on the current situation through candid interviews with doctors, teachers, farmers and various specialists.

The National School Lunch Program feeds some 28 Million children who eat 1 and sometimes 2 meals a day at school. Sadly the food that is served to them too often resembles fast food. The effects are far reaching.

Statistics have shown that kids today will have a lower life expectancy than their parents. Many doctors have had no training in diagnosing adult onset diabetes in younger patients. In 2007 the total cost of diabetes treatment was $174 Billion and that is only expected to rise as more and more people are diagnosed everyday.

One of the major problems is that parents, students, and even school administrators do not pay attention to poor food quality. Ironically even fast food chains have to supply information on what they are serving. So why isn’t that the case with our schools?

With a school system underfunded and a school food surplus sold in bulk and “on the cheap”, the results have been the downsizing of proper kitchen in school cafeterias to the point where pre-made fast food style lunches are the only meals available. This is a recipe for disaster and it is having an adverse effect not only on kid’s health, but it is teaching kids to identify food as being fast food and the result goes beyond heath and weight issues but to self-esteem and abilities to function properly in classrooms. From healthcare to national test average scores, everything is tied to what we eat.

The most common argument that children will not eat healthy food however many in the field disagree with this statement and say its simply a matter of making nutritional food available to them. The film explores how some schools, dubbing themselves as “Green Schools” such as Hamstead Hill Academy in Baltimore, have made nutrition a core part of their educational model. From school garden to cooking classes these schools have taught children to make healthy choices by including them in the preparation of their own meals.

The film also targets a broader range of social issues beyond school and healthcare touching on economics where the importance of locally grown produce in the Baltimore school system has lead to a partnership with Great Kids Farm. Not only does this farm supply produce for the school system but it also educates kids on where their food comes from and offers affordable alternatives to the expensive national distribution plan current in existence. Farms like Great Kids Farm not only create jobs locally but studies have shown that small farms, which use their soil to grow a variety of multiple produce are far more effective than their larger monocropping farm counterparts.

There is a national movement in the US to build a real connection to the food we eat starting with local farmers and schools all the way to Michelle Obama’s white House garden all to show that people don’t need a big farm to have a positive impact on each other and on America.

Production Notes

The idea for LUNCH was born when producer and director Avis Richards realized that our country’s National School Lunch Program was not working and decided to do something about it. With Earth Day Network's input, Avis embarked on a year-long research process. Once she analyzed and understood the issue, she decided to share her findings in a film that would not only expose the problem but also recommend solutions.

Traveling from Boston to New York to Washington D.C. to Baltimore, Avis and her team interviewed medical doctors, teachers, chefs, school directors, food producers, volunteers, and others from various walks of life to ensure that documentary would feature various opinions.

As they compiled interviews, their passion for the subject grew stronger and they became motivated to create a piece that would create impact both the general public and policy makers, so that children across the country may have access to healthy meals on a daily basis, and more importantly, that they can learn the importance of a healthy diet, a lesson that will last a lifetime.

SOME STATISTICS:

■  The US Child Nutrition Act, which supplies breakfast and lunch to some 31 million students = $12 billion annually.

■  The US elementary school lunches average 821 calories per lunch.

■  80% of US schools do not meet the USDA standards for fat composition.

■  Children who consume US school lunches are about 2% more likely to be obese than those who brown bag their lunches.

■  Soda vending machines are present in 43% of elementary schools, 74% of middle schools and nearly all of high schools.”

■  Nutrition requirements for school lunches: “Current regulations require schools to meet the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, which recommend that no more than 30 percent of an individual's calories come from fat, and less than 10 percent from saturated fat. Regulations also establish a standard for school meals to provide one-third of the Recommended Daily Allowances of protein, Vitamin A, Vitamin C, iron, calcium, and calories.”

■  “The National School Lunch Program gets about 15 to 20 percent of its food from the federal government each year, the paper says, with beef and chicken making up a big portion of the largess. But the meat received from the USDA receives far less testing for contamination than it would be by fast-food outlets that have had past troubles.”

■  “Most public schools offer students a government-subsidized lunch that is supposed to adhere to certain fat, caloric and nutritional standards. 20% of schools also sell branded fast foods such as Pizza Hut and Little Caesars pizza or McDonald's burgers and fries, according to a 2000 study of school health policies and programs by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

■  According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 16 percent of children (over 9 million) 6-19 years old are overweight or obese -- a number that has tripled since 1980.
For children born in the United States in 2000, the lifetime risk of being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes at some point in their lives is estimated to be about 30 percent for boys and 40 percent for girls. ("Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, 2005," Institute of Medicine.)

■  In case reports limited to the 1990s, Type 2 diabetes accounted for 8 to 45 percent of all new pediatric cases of diabetes, in contrast with fewer than 4 percent before the 1990s.  ("Preventing Childhood Obesity: Health in the Balance, 2005," Institute of Medicine.)

■  By as early as 7 years of age, being obese may raise a child's risk of future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM).

■  “The likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes and hypertension rises steeply with increasing body fatness. Confined to older adults for most of the 20th century, this disease now affects obese children even before puberty. Approximately 85% of people with diabetes are type 2, and of these, 90% are obese or overweight…Raised BMI also increases the risks of cancer of the breast, colon, prostate, endometroium, kidney and gallbladder.” (World Health Organization)

■  The CDC reviewed the discharge records of hospitals nationwide from 1979 to 1999, specifically of children ranging in age from 6 to 17 years and analyzed the results for all obesity-related illnesses. The researchers found that the incidence of:

•  Diabetes had nearly doubled
•  Obesity and gallbladder disease tripled
•  Sleep apnea increased five-fold

■  More than 70% obese adolescents retain their overweight and obese condition even during their adulthood.

■  As the percentages of obese children raises, so does the percentage of those affected with juvenile diabetes at nearly the same rate.

 ---HUMNEWS wishes to thank Avis Richards and her production team for sharing LUNCH with our audience.

Starved for Attention - US: The U.S. Standard and a Double Standard

In the documentary above, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII photographers Antonin Kratochvil and Jessica Dimmock take a closer look at the US Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC) that provides vouchers to low-income young mothers for the purchase of nutritious staple foods such as milk, fruit, eggs, cereal and rice.  The documentary also takes a look at the sub-standard foods the US, as the world's largest food aid donor, sends to other countries.

Starved for Attention - India: Invisible

One in every three malnourished children in the world are in India. In this documentary focusing on the state of Bihar, India Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photographer Stephanie Sinclair bring to our attention the magnitude of malnutrition in the world and the challenges of addressing the problem of malnutrition in a place like India where the problem is so large and more often than not goes unnoticed.

The “Starved for Attention” series produced by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photography captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.

Starved for Attention - Mexico: A Solution from Within

 “Starved for Attention” captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.

In the documentary above we see how a goverment and it's people can work to put an end to malnutrition in their country. Doctors without Borders and VII photographer John Stanmeyer bring us one such story from the state of Oaxaca in Mexico.  

(Perspective) A World Hungry for Nourishment

Venkatesh Mannar President, Micronutrient Initiative(HN, October 16, 2010) When we read in the media about world hunger, it must be understood that the issue is not simply one of food security. Hunger is about more than empty stomachs. It includes a lack of essential minerals and vitamins that thwarts brain and physical development, stunts growth, lowers physical immunity and starves muscles.

The diets of more than two billion people are deficient in essential nutrients.

With World Food Day upon us, the issue of undernutrition is gaining momentum and attention.

Undernutrition is a contributing factor to more than half the deaths of children under five in developing countries. The statistics are staggering:

- One quarter of child deaths from measles, diarrhoeal dehydration and malaria are attributable to inadequate vitamin A or zinc.

- Every year some 18 million babies are born mentally impaired because their mothers were deficient in iodine during pregnancy.

- Iron-deficiency anaemia, the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world, is undermining global productivity to the tune of billions of dollars by compromising both physical and intellectual capacity.

Thus beyond the provision of food, ensuring adequate nutrition is inexpensive and cost-effective and must play a central role in development plans and budgets if we have any hope of approaching our goals. It must have a prominent place in food security initiatives, within health sector activity and among social programmes. The private sector can also play a role.

We have models to successfully address hidden hunger, but the political will and financing do not yet match the potential.  The latest Copenhagen Consensus – a panel of eight of the world’s most distinguished economists – determined that investments in micronutrient nutrition provided the very best return on investment in global development. An annual investment of US$1.2 billion over five years would result in annual benefits of US$15.3 billion, representing better health, fewer deaths and increased future earnings.

One of the greatest success stories in nutrition has been that of salt iodization, demonstrating how well government commitment, market opportunity and social responsibility can be combined to deliver essential nutrients to billions of people on a regular and consistent basis.

Iodine is so critical for human intelligence that improving daily dietary intake through the iodization of salt not only prevents millions of cases of preventable intellectual disability annually but increases population-wide IQ levels by as many as 13 points. Such nutritional power can fuel not only personal growth but also educational outcomes and, ultimately, economic success.

In 1990, less than 20 per cent of households in the developing world were consuming iodized salt. A worldwide push by UNICEF, Kiwanis International, the Micronutrient Initiative, salt producers and governments changed all of that.  Canada was one of the leaders in funding this push and remains one of the largest contributors to the effort for Universal Salt Iodization.

Today, in 70 per cent of households, the daily pinch of salt is iodized. As a result, the number of countries in which iodine deficiency disorders are a public health concern has been reduced by more than half.

This success was due to the mobilization of many players from a broad range of backgrounds. We need to build on this to address the broader issue of nutrition security – a call to action to provide adequate nutrition to those who are most vulnerable. Together with more than 100 agencies, Canada’s Micronutrient Initiative has helped deliver the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) Road Map. The Road Map encourages a better focus on nutrition within development programs, good research and monitoring into what works in nutrition and what needs to be improved, and long-term commitments from governments, both those that provide funding to programs and those that implement them.

As world leaders set their sights on the 2015 target date for the Millennium Development Goals, let’s remember that we must do more than fill hungry stomachs.

We have an opportunity and an obligation to nourish progress. We need a concentrated effort to ensure that the world's most vulnerable have access to nutritious food and to the vitamins and minerals they need to survive and have access to increased opportunities and a better future. The time to invest is now.

- Venkatesh Mannar is President of the Micronutrient Initiative

Starved for Attention - Congo: The Malnutrition that Shouldn't Be

Starved for Attention” produced by Doctors without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frotiers (MSF) and VII Photography captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.

In the DR Congo where the land is fertile enough to grow plenty of food and graze animals, constant moving as a result of war keeps children and adults alike malnourished. In the documentary above Doctors without Borders and VII photographer Franco Pagetti bring to light the result of war on this fertile soil.

(PERSPECTIVE) “Billions Undernourished: Are You Mad as Hell or Fat and Happy? Maybe It’s Time for a Food Revolution”

--- Commentary by Cynthia Thomet

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) estimates that 925 million (nearly 1 billion) people in the world are undernourished. Following last year’s hunger summit in November, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf was quoted as saying, “with a child dying every six seconds because of undernourishment related problems, hunger remains the world's largest tragedy and scandal” in a press release that called upon people, organizations and states at all levels to do their part in ending world hunger.

 Given that today is World Food Day, you can start by signing this petition http://www.1billionhungry.org/ and joining the ranks of the outraged that are helping create a social media storm to address these tragic statistics. (Webcast to take place here: http://www.fao.org/webcast/.)

I am mad as hell, but I’m also a bit confused. In contrast, the World Health Organization reports that there are more than 1 billion overweight people in the world, of whom at least 300 million are overweight.

Overweight and undernourished.

While world hunger is on the decline and currently hovering at 925 million, it is still “unacceptably high”. In 2009, the number of undernourished people—with little access to food—exceeded 1 billion. Economists and other analysts at a handful of prominent nongovernmental organizations attribute the small decline to lower global food costs and improved economic conditions, but a walk or a drive around Washington D.C. and its Beltway neighborhoods might show a pudgier, less nutritious, reality.

Despite the souring economy in the United States, Americans aren’t getting smaller. And fatter does not necessarily mean happier—unless seriously ill means happy. Recent statistics from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) cite a “dramatic increase in obesity in the United States” and show boldly colored maps highlighting the prevalence of obesity in 33 states, a whopping 72 million Americans. Also frightening are the overlapping reports of diabetes and other health consequences of obesity, including stroke, certain cancers, and heart disease to name a few.

So it’s a little ironic that while about 1 billion people in the world are hungry and undernourished, there’s another billion people who are stuffed and undernourished.

In other words, worldwide undernourishment is a huge and unfed problem. It’s like being at Marie Antoinette’s buffet where there’s only cake to feed the aristocrats and not a thing for the famished. There appears to be an ever-widening “food gap” between the developed nations who appear to be over-exposed to fodder, and those developing countries that do not have enough to go around.

One response is a revolution. A report out of Norway called “Viable Food Future” addresses undernourishment, obesity, poverty, climate change with a sort of food revolution that targets the food production process.

It says, “If the goal is not to follow the path of vanishing empires of the past, then we need to revisit our relation to the earth, our sense of solidarity, and the way we fulfill our basic needs”.  With a view to small-scale food systems coupled with sustainable agricultural processes, the report presents opportunities to eradicate hunger, reduce obesity, cool the planet, and even improve employment for billions of people, and local economies.

A food revolution, indeed.

--- The author is Cynthia Thomet, a humanitarian, and co owner and doyenne of the award winning downtown Atlanta, Georgia; US restaurant, Lunacy Black Market. http://www.lunacyblackmarket.com/.

Starved for Attention - Bangladesh: Terrifying Normalcy

Starved for Attention” produced by Doctors without Borders/ Medecins Sans Frotiers (MSF) and VII Photography captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.

Part II: Tackling Childhood Malnutrition

Most damage caused by malnutrition occurs before a child’s second birthday. This is the critical time when the child’s diet has profound, sustained impact on his or her health and on physical and mental development.

In places such as south Asia and sub-Saharan Africa, research shows that the cost of purchasing nutritious food is prohibitive form most parents, making it virtually impossible to provide adequate nutrition.

Recent advances in nutrition science and nutrition programming create opportunities to enhance the effectiveness of malnutrition in the world’s most vulnerable regions.

Countries including Mexico, Thailand and Brazil have reduced childhood malnutrition through direct nutrition programs that ensure infants and young children from even the poorest families have access to quality foods such as milk and eggs. Through such programs substantial progress has been made to towards freeing children from consequences that come with malnutrition at an early age. At the same time there is growing political will in Asian and African countries to replicate successful programs.

The World Bank estimates that $12 billion a year is needed to scale up effective nutrition programs to meet current needs. Only $350 million were spent on direct nutrition programs in 2007.

There is not enough emphasis on the types of foods included in aid deliveries in other words, the quality of food. Most current food aid programs for developing countries rely almost exclusively on fortified cereals made from corn and soy blend (CSB), which may relieve a child’s hunger, but does not provide proper nourishment.

In 2009 Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres(MSF) medical teams treated 250,000 children suffering from acute malnutrition in 116 programs in 34 countries primarily with nutrient dense ready-to-use foods, which while more expensive than foods currently provided by the food aid system, actually work to prevent and cure severe malnutrition – and can be used on a very large scale. Currently MSF is operating nutrition programs in 36 countries

In addition to a diet that includes quality foods, micronutrients – key minerals and vitamins such as iodine, iron, vitamin A and Folate – enhance the nutritional value of food and have a profound impact on a child’s development and mother’s health. Doctors Without Borders and other organizations such as UNICEF collaborate with diverse groups of public and private organizations, forming alliances such as the Vitamin A Global Initiative (UNICEF) and work with governments to deliver key minerals and vitamins.

Families and communities are the key players in the battle against childhood malnutrition and must work together to assess, analyze and take action to solve any problems.  The strategy is to empower community members to become their own agents of change. Doctors Without Borders and UNICEF's role is to work with governments to support participatory, community-based programs focusing on children’s survival, growth and development.

Also critical is the need to protect the rights of women and girls. Wherever women are discriminated against, there is greater malnutrition. Children born to mothers with no education are twice as likely to die in infancy as those born to mothers with even four years of schooling. Reproductive health, including birth spacing for at least three years, also reduces stunting and death.

The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child recognizes the right of all children to the highest attainable standard of health, and specifically the right to good nutrition. Governments have the legal responsibility to protect that right and it is in the best interest of all that they fulfill this obligation. Malnutrition is both a consequence and cause of poverty. Children’s nutrition and well being are the foundation of a healthy, productive society.

Gertrude Kitongo: Africa Deserves Better Leadership (PERSPECTIVE)

by Gertrude  Kitongo

HUM youth contributors Gertrude Kitongo and Pokuaa Busumru-Banson were chosen to speak on a panel by The Elders at the Fortune Summit in Cape Town. It included Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Graca Machel and Mary Robinson. Gertrude is a Kenyan national studying in Johannesburg. These are her thoughts on African leadership, as presented, in part, to the panel.

(HN, October 14, 2010) - According to Vince Lombardi, - leaders are not born. They are made through hard work. That's the price we have to pay to achieve that goal. If this is true - and I believe it is - then all of us have the potential to lead. And yet - looking at the world around us - and Africa in particular, it is disheartening to imagine that leadership is responsible for the miseries, violence and poverty that is so endemic. 

As Africans the choices we make are what determine the legacy we leave behind. And Africa deserves better. Year by year, universities produce intelligent graduates with a good education; many governments have the ideals of good governance and in some instances, like in South African, we have a constitution in place that is the envy of the rest of the world; many countries aspire to live in unity and the people fly their flags with pride. So, where, when why and how, have we gone wrong?

When leaders are able to separate themselves from greed of self enrichment and begin focusing on people, only then have they found true purpose. Most leaders seem to have lost that. We need more people-centered leaders who are not only willing to give their time and energy to deliver on responsibilities and duty,  but who also draw on the strengths of those around them and allow them to develop their own leadership potential. Leaders must earn there success based on service to others, and not at the expense of others. Authentic leaders are those whose word you can take to the bank, and whose leadership is based on justice and a generosity of spirit.

 The mentoring of the next generation by the leadership of today is essential. And they need to be taught that leadership is all about service before self, and where the first priority is realizing that in order to get somewhere you have to have a map – a vision of a destination that looks different from the place where we are now.  

I believe that it is only when humanity begins to look past its own poverty stricken mentality of blaming others for its woes that it will begin to fully grasp the truth that our present challenges need not be the realities of tomorrow. Hard work, humility and a sense of Ubuntu is the doctor’s prescription to effective governance.

Africa is generally poor, but for the first time there is a real sense of economic growth and improved governance in many parts of the continent.  The turning point calls upon leaders to show the way for a new dawn into the light, so that all citizens will share in a positive vision and optimism and our nations can become demographic dividends and not a demographic burdens. 

I am the next generation of leaders and totally agree that many are called and few are chosen.

How I got selected to attend the 2010 Fortune Global Forum

The journey began in May when Mr. Lekaota, a former CIDA student working with its Marketing Department, invited me to write a one page motivational piece to The Elders about Africa's main problem. I took to the challenge, and in less than 50 words, singled out poor leadership and greed.Richard Stengal, Managing Editor TIME Magazine (Far L), Spencer J Horne, Africa Leadership Academy (2nd L), Pokuaa Busumru-Banson, Wits University (3rd L), Graca Machel, President Foundation for Community Developments (C), Gertrude Kitongo, Cida City (3rd R), Archbishop Desmond Tutu Chair The Elders Foundation (2nd R) and Mary Robinson, President Realizing Rights (Far R) attend the TIME/FORTUNE/CNN Global Forum in Cape Town.

I was one of the 10 CIDA students selected. Each of us was assigned to a different Elders member and I got the privilege of sharing a table with the Reverend Desmond Tutu. The theme of the night was 'How to Make Africa a Winning Continent.'

We were graced by the presence of eight distinct elders namely: Sir Richard Branson, Kofi Annan, Graca Machel, Mary Robinson, Jimmy Carter, Ela Bhatt - to mention but a few. And 10 students from the African Leadership Academy, University of Witwatersrand, CIDA City campus, the Science Technology, The Branson School of Entrepreneurship, the Oprah Winfrey Girls Leadership Academy and many more were represented among the 80 in total.

During the discussion, each table had to pick one representative to give a presentation; I was selected by my table. I have been quoted as saying that the traditional view is for the young to listen to their elders - but this time The Elders were listening to me. That ubuntu spirit is how we would make Africa a winning continent. Yes we can!

I used to volunteer at the Marketing Department and my boss, Nissan Chetty received the an email from The Elders confirming my selection to represent the youth in Africa at the Fortune Global Forum in Cape Town. This is how the whole journey began.

I was accompanied by Pokuaa - a Wits Law student from Ghana, and Spencer, a former African Leadership Academy student. We spoke on a panel with Ms Machel, the Reverend Tutu and Mary Robinson, with Richard Stengel of Time as our commentator.

We were asked what we were passionate about and what we would do if we were Elders. I said that I would grasp the opportunity to open up channels for education to everyone - regardless of their financial background. This is something I am quite keen on spearheading after graduation.

Since then I have been selected as one of the '100 Brightest Young Minds' in South Africa and am working hard to make Africa a winning continent.

Starved for Attention - Burkina Faso: A Mother's Devotion

 “Starved for Attention” captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States

Part I: What is malnutrition?

Malnutrition, specifically undernutrition is a serious medical condition marked by a deficiency of essential proteins, fats, vitamins and minerals in a diet. It is especially burdensome and dangerous for young, growing children.

Malnutrition is different from hunger although they are often confused. The principles of good nutrition are well established: exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life then an introduction to an age-appropriate complementary diet.

Infants and young children need energy furnished by high-quality protein to maintain healthy growth and development such as milk, eggs, and fish, essential fats and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins and minerals.

Malnutrition plays a significant role in mortality because the immune systems of malnourished children are less resistant to common diseases – contributing to one-third of the eight million deaths of children under five years of age every year.

These are largely invisible children and invisible deaths, occurring in places we normally don’t hear much about. Every year the cycle of malnutrition continues with negative economic and community consequences. This is an ongoing medical emergency that requires urgent action and attention.

The story of malnutrition continues - tomorrow Part II: Tackling Childhood Malnutrition

(REPORT) The Origins of World Food Day

(Photo credit: Franco Pagetti/VII) Democratic Republic of Congo, 2009 (HN, October 13, 2010) -- October 16^th has been declared World Food Day which is observed in remembrance of the launching of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in 1945.

In November 1979, the FAO’s member countries launched World Food Day (WFD) at its  20^th General Conference. The Hungarian Delegation, headed by the former Hungarian Minister of Agriculture and Food, Dr. Pal Romany had suggested the idea of celebrating the WFD across the world and ever since, this day has been observed every year in more than 150 countries, highlighting awareness of the issues behind poverty and hunger.

The Objectives of World Food Day are to:

• Encourage the increase of agricultural food production and to stimulate national, bilateral, transnational and non-governmental initiatives to this end.
• Catapult economic and technical coordination among developing nations.
• Enhance and nurture the participation of rural people, particularly women and the under privileged, in decisions and events impacting their living conditions.
• Expand public awareness of the issue of hunger in the world and who and how many people it affects worldwide.
• Advocate the furtherance of agriculture technologies to the developing world.
• Revitalize international and national collaboration in the combat against hunger, malnutrition and poverty; and support positive attention to accomplishments in food and agricultural development.

The Actual Worldwide Hunger Scenario Today:

According to the 2010 Global Hunger Index (GHI), out this past Monday on October 11th, malnutrition among children under two years of age is still one of the leading challenges to reducing global hunger and can cause lifelong harm to health, productivity and earning potential.

-       Malnutrition is the result of an inadequate intake of food, either in terms of quality or quantity and of the poor utilization of nutrients due to infections or other illnesses, or a combination of these two factors.

-       The state of malnutrition causes a lack of energy, protein and/or essential vitamins and minerals in human bodies.

GHI gives developing countries scores based on three indicators:

-       the proportion of people who are undernourished;

-       the proportion of children under five who are underweight; and,

-       the child mortality rate of a country.

The worst possible score is 100, but in practice, anything over 25 is considered “alarming”.

Since 1990 the overall level of the index has fallen by almost a quarter - two-thirds of the 99 countries counted in 1990 have reduced their populations' hunger levels.  Kuwait, Malaysia, Turkey and Mexico have been the most successful, cutting their scores by over 60%. Those where hunger has increased include North Korea, Comoros and Congo. Congo's GHI score fell by over 60%, the worst of any country.  Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia continue to suffer from the highest levels of hunger.

A New Committee on World Food Security Begins Now:  

A five-day high-level intergovernmental meeting of the newly re-formed Committee on World Food Security (CFS) began on Monday in Rome. The meeting takes place against a background of recent increases in international food prices which pose additional challenges to global food security including production, distribution and availability of safe, quality food stocks. 

“This week marks the launch of a strategically coordinated global effort to draw on the combined strengths of all stakeholders engaged in the fight against global hunger,” said World Food Programme (WFP) Executive Director, Josette Sheeran. “With recent volatility in commodity prices and increased global demand for food this comes not a moment too soon. The reformed CFS has an opportunity and a responsibility to rally nations of the world to respond effectively, efficiently and coherently to provide vital humanitarian assistance when disasters strike and build long-term food security.”

The “Starved for Attention” Campaign:

In June of this year Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photography co-produced and presented “Starved for Attention,” a multimedia campaign exposing the neglected and largely invisible crisis of childhood malnutrition. “Starved for Attention” aims to rewrite the story of malnutrition through a series of multimedia documentaries that seamlessly blend photography and video from some of the most accomplished and award-winning photojournalists working today. “Starved for Attention” captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.

Beginning today HUMNews will focus on a variety of global food issues and will feature a different “Starved for Attention” film each day for the next seven days.  

You can show your support for the millions of malnourished children around the world and demand that food aid meets the nutritional needs of young children by signing the “Starved for Attention” petition, here.

- Written by HUMNEWS Staff

Starved for Attention - Djibouti: Frustration

The “Starved for Attention” Campaign: In June of this year Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and VII Photography co-produced and presented “Starved for Attention,” a multimedia campaign exposing the neglected and largely invisible crisis of childhood malnutrition.  “Starved for Attention” captures frontline stories of malnutrition from Bangladesh, Burkina Faso, Democratic Republic of Congo, Djibouti, India, Mexico, and the United States.  You can show your support for the millions of malnourished children around the world and demand that food aid meets the nutritional needs of young children by signing the “Starved for Attention” petition, here.

(REPORT) HAITI – When talking becomes doing – building back better

(PHOTO: USGS, Red shows 1/12/10 earthquake epicenter) (HN, Oct. 12, 2010) – Nine months ago, on January 12, 2010, the island nation of Haiti experienced a massive earthquake, killing almost 225,000 people and leaving more than a million people homeless. 

Days after the quake struck, just outside of Haiti’s capital city of Port-au-Prince, a journalist covering the devastation was quoted as saying: “Haiti will need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up, as even in good times, Haiti is an economic wreck, balancing precariously on the razor's edge of calamity."

And on a recent June 2010 return to the island nation, CNN journalists described Port au Prince as: “It looks like the earthquake happened yesterday.”

HURRY UP AND WAIT:

Within days of the calamity, several international appeals were launched and many countries responded to calls for humanitarian aid help; pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel to the devastated island nation. 

(PHOTO: Relief supplies being unloaded after the 1/12/10 earthquake. Wikipedia) The US, Iceland, China, Qatar, Israel, South Korea, Jordan and many others were among the global neighbors who supplied communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks that had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts. Confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with cargo transportation further complicated relief work in the early days.

Mass graves containing tens of thousands of bodies were centered outside of cities as morgues and hospitals were quickly overwhelmed with the dead. Getting enough supplies, medical care and sanitation became urgent needs; and a lack of aid distribution led to angry protests from humanitarian workers and survivors with looting and sporadic violence breaking out. 

(PHOTO: Wikipedia, BelAir neighborhood, Port-Au-Prince, Haiti) Just ten days after the 7.2 quake struck, on January 22 the United Nations stated that the emergency phase of the relief operation was subsiding, and the next day the Haitian government called off the search for quake survivors. 

One aspect that made the disaster response unique was the deployment of new technology: the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters provided satellite images of Haiti to be shared with rescue groups along with help from GeoEye; the curation site Ushahidi coordinated texts, messages and reports from multiple sources; social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter aggregated members asking for help; the Red Cross and other organizations set records for text message donations.

Also in the immediate aftermath of the quake US President Barack Obama asked former Presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush to lead a major fundraising effort to help the Haitian people. Together they established the Clinton Bush Haiti Fund (CBHF) - which has raised over $50 million from over 230,000 individuals and organizations, and has disbursed more than $4 million in grants to organizations on the ground in Haiti providing near-term relief and recovery assistance, designed to help the people of Haiti rebuild - and build back better. 

Since the initial round of donations were pledged, on January 25^th there was a one-day conference held in Montreal, Canada to assess the relief effort and make further plans.  Haitian Prime Minister Jean Bellerive told the audience from 20 countries that Haiti would “need massive support for its recovery from the international community”.

Another donors' conference, delayed by almost 3 months, took place at UN headquarters in New York in March. The 26-member international Interim Haiti Reconstruction Commission, headed by Bill Clinton and the Haitian Prime Minister didn't get together until last June 2010. That committee is set to oversee the $5.3 billion pledged internationally for the first two years of Haiti's reconstruction; but only ten percent of it has been delivered, mostly as forgiven debt to Haiti. The rest is stalled in more than 60 countries and organizations that pledged help.

Still, nine months later, international officials are looking at the long term planning needs of reconstruction while also continuing to deal with the daily task of managing the emergency situation. 

Here’s where things stand at the moment:

(PHOTO: St. Felix Eves refugee camp, Haiti. Readyforanything.org) -   As of October 1, there were over 1 million refugees living in 1300 tent cities throughout the country in what’s been called `treacherous’ humanitarian situation;

-    As much as 98% of the rubble from the quake remains uncleared. An estimated 26 million cubic yards (20 million cubic meters) remain, making most of the capital impassable, and thousands of bodies remained in the rubble.

-   The number of people living in relief camps of tents and tarps since the quake was 1.6 million, with almost no transitional housing had been built. Most of the camps have no electricity, running water, or sewage disposal, and the tents were beginning to fall apart. Crime in the camps was widespread, especially against women and girls.

-   From 23 major charities, $1.1 billion has been collected for Haiti for relief efforts, but only two percent of the money has been released. According to a CBS report, $3.1 billion had been pledged for humanitarian aid and was used to pay for field hospitals, plastic tarps, bandages, and food, plus salaries, transportation and upkeep of relief workers. Incredibly, by May 2010, enough aid had been raised internationally to give each displaced family a check for $37,000.

(PHOTO: Wikipedia, Damaged buildings in Port-Au-Prince) The Haitian government said it was unable to tackle debris clean-up or the resettlement of homeless because it must prepare for hurricane season. Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive has been quoted as saying, "The real priority of the government is to protect the population from the next hurricane season, and most of our effort right now is going right now in that direction."

And if natural disasters weren’t enough to slay the spirit of the Haitian people, a new UN Report out this week states that “Wars, natural disasters and poor government institutions have contributed to a continuous state of undernourishment” in some 22 nations, including Haiti.

The hearty island nation is no stranger to turmoil and chaos: anyone reading its history from the time of the colonial powers would conclude this. Haiti is the world's oldest black republic and the second-oldest republic in the Western Hemisphere, after the United States and did not receive U.S. diplomatic recognition until 1862.  What should also come as no surprise to many is that before the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the nation needed help to survive, and now after the earthquake, the country is even more in need of help. 

But what kind of help does Haiti need?

Refugees International, a U.S.-based non-governmental organization, made some startling claims in its latest field report, called "Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase," just one day after former president Bill Clinton toured a Port-au-Prince camp. It says Haitians living in refugee camps set up after a devastating January earthquake are at risk of hunger, gang intimidation and rape.

“People are being threatened by gangs, and women are getting raped," said Refugees International President Michel Gabaudan in a release.  "Practically no one is available to communicate with the people living in these squalid camps and find better ways to protect them."  Refugees International says there are still 1,300 camps in Haiti, mostly run by the International Organization of Migration (IOM).  Melanie Teff said Haitians still living in camps often have "no one to turn to for help."

"Young men come with weapons and rape the women. They haven't reported it, because the hospitals, the police — everything was destroyed in the earthquake," reports Hannah, a nurse who sleeps in a makeshift tent in a volatile camp outside of Port-au-Prince.

Bill Clinton, the co-chair of the commission overseeing Haiti's reconstruction, expressed frustration with the slow delivery of promised funds by donors who have delivered about $732 million of a promised $5.3 billion in funds for 2010-11, along with debt relief.

What’s needed according to Haitian officials, citizens and other experts are communication systems, project management, security, food, jobs, housing, mediation, regulatory easing to doing business, and political stability.  According to Transparency International, an NGO which studies corruption levels worldwide in their annual Corruption Perceptions Index, Haiti has a particularly high level of corruption making the rebuilding job even harder.   

INCREASINGLY, PRIVATE EFFORTS ABOUND: 

As the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation struggles to rise up from one of the most destructive natural catastrophes in recent history, Haiti and the huge international aid operation assisting it are looking to private enterprise and investment to be the powerhouse of reconstruction.

Despite $11 billion pledged by donors, the aid commitments work out at $110 a year for each of Haiti's 10 million people, a per capita sum which paled in comparison with huge needs in housing, infrastructure, health and education, on top of daunting humanitarian costs.

In the 2010 Doing Business report prepared by the World Bank, which ranks business conditions around the world, Haiti already lagged at 151 out of 183 economies.

To help Haiti, companies such as The Timberland Co. says it plans to plant 5 million trees in the next five years in Haiti and in China’s Horqin Desert, two regions “that have long suffered severe and widespread impacts from deforestation.”   And to increase its efforts, the shoe marketer is also launching the Timberland Earthkeepers Virtual Forest Facebook application. Consumers can help Timberland plant additional trees in Haiti (above and beyond the five in five commitments) by creating a virtual forest on Facebook.  The larger the virtual forest, the more real trees planted.  

(PHOTO: NASA, deforestation on Haiti/Dominican Republic border)The environment is one of the most significant factors most experts point to as both a past problem and a future solution for the beleaguered country.   In 1925, Haiti was lush, with 60% of its original forest covering the lands and mountainous regions. Since then, the population has cut down an estimated 98% of its original forest cover for use as fuel for cook stoves, and in the process has destroyed fertile farmland soils, contributing to desertification.

In addition to soil erosion, deforestation has caused periodic flooding, as seen with Hurricane Jeanne in September, 2004. While Jeanne was only a tropical storm at the time with weak winds, the rains caused large mudslides and coastal flooding which killed more than 1,500 people and left 200,000 starving and homeless. The UN and other nations dispatched several hundred troops in addition to those already stationed in Haiti to provide disaster relief assistance. Looting and desperation caused by hunger resulted in turmoil at food distribution centers.

Earlier that year in May, floods killed more than 3,000 people on Haiti's southern border with the Dominican Republic.

Haiti was again pummeled by tropical storms in late August and early September 2008. The storms – Tropical Storm Fay, Hurricane Gustav, Hurricane Hanna and Hurricane Ike – all produced heavy winds and rain in Haiti. Due to weak soil conditions, the country’s mountainous terrain, and the devastating coincidence of four storms within less than four weeks, valley and lowland areas throughout the country experienced massive flooding. A September 10, 2008 source listed 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian aid in light of the flood. 

And, this, many experts agree, is just where Haiti’s reconstruction effort should begin – and could, in fact become a model for the rest of the world if done well.

(PHOTO: the Haiti Huddle 2010, Douglas Cohen) Last week’s Haiti Huddle 2010 an effort of Helping Hands for a Sustainable Haiti, an organization founded by Lisa McFadin and Thera N. Kalmijn at San Francisco’s Fort Mason, brought together development, humanitarian and investment experts from both the US, Haiti and from other countries tackled several crucial issues.

The groups’ main mission was to work on breaking the logjam of red tape which has seemingly kept 1.3 million people living in refugee camps for the past nine months by focusing on culturally-appropriate solutions for and by Haitians; and working on practical sustainable solution to recreate an environmentally, socially, and economically sustainable Haiti.  

According to John Engle, of Haiti Partners, “Education and community infrastructure are the foundation to get to a meaningful development plan.  The country must recognize what got us here. A lack of investment in education and lack of cultural sensitivity and in fact connectivity and communication is why little to no progress has been made in the emergency of what many Haitians are still dealing with.“ 

Sam Bloch, Country Coordinator in Haiti of Grass Roots United says, "There were literally hundreds of NGO's on the ground before the earthquake focusing on community empowerment, collaboration and providing basic resources. But even before the earthquake the fabric of this community was torn and broken. Starting now it must be re-woven.  The Haitian community in country and in the larger Diaspora must re-unite and mobilize, in collaboration with all the organizations that pushed us aside after the disaster. We need to reconnect the service providers for such services as counseling, education, water, structures, food systems with community leaders.”

In fact one of the most important efforts that must be made according to Douglas Cohen, Founder of the Sustainable Haiti Coalition is, “Massive investments in education for longer term solutions, jobs, building schools, and revamping curriculum that includes wireless transmission for the whole country and which provides educational materials, and increases teachers’ salaries; paving the way to inter-active curricula; films, and video highlighting Haitian success stories, with Haitians implementing their own solutions.”

Other private efforts include electricity generators from E-Power, a $56.7 million Haitian-South Korean private investment that has forged ahead despite the January 12th earthquake; as well as an industrial park and garment manufacturing operation involving Sae-A Trading Company Limited, one of South Korea’s leading textile manufacturers, in a potential investment of between $10 million and $25 million being backed by the IFC and the U.S. State Department.

Last month, an Argentine entrepreneur announced a project with the Haiti-based WIN business group to build a $33 million, 240-room airport hotel in Port-au-Prince and there are government plans to create several special economic zones across the country. These would concentrate private businesses and investments in manufacturing, tourism and services, creating essential jobs and housing and driving development.

ELECTIONS COMING UP IN HAITI:

(PHOTO: Singer, activist Wyclef Jean, VIA Treehugger) In Haiti, campaigning for next month's November 28 presidential elections is well under way. Nineteen candidates are vying to lead the earthquake-ravaged nation; and with Haitian-American musician Wyclef Jean out of the race there's no clear front-runner. It could be a contentious battle for one of the toughest political jobs in the world.

The next president will have to oversee the reconstruction and try to redirect what was already one of the most dysfunctional nations on earth.  Before the quake, roughly 80 percent of the population lived in poverty. Roads, electrical lines, sewers and other infrastructure were in desperate need of repair. Now, they need to be completely rebuilt, along with most of the capital city.

Allegations of fraud in Haitian elections are practically inevitable, but this year's balloting faces additional challenges. The quake destroyed 40 percent of the polling stations in the country, killed tens of thousands of voters and displaced hundreds of thousands of others; and  numerous people lost all their documents and no longer have voting cards.

(PHOTO: Haiti's Presidential Palace, Wikipedia) But whatever happens in Haiti’s elections, and whoever wins the crumbling Presidential palace, will have their hands full, eleven months later with the still critical priority of getting the lives of Haiti’s citizens along with the entire infrastructure of a long and storied nation, back on its feet again.  And this, will certainly take a global village effort – private, NGO, corporate, government, and otherwise. 

--- Written by HUMNEWS staff.

"WE ARE THE WORLD: FOR HAITI"