Voice 1
Hello. I’m Ruby Jones.
Voice 2
And I’m Marina Santee. Welcome to Spotlight. This programme uses a special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people to understand, no matter where in the world they live.
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More than eight hundred and fifty million [850,000,000] people in the world do not have enough to eat.
Hunger and poverty claim twenty five thousand [25,000] lives every day.
Voice 1
These reports are from the World Food Programme. There was a time when such facts shocked people. But today, many people know the facts of world hunger. They may not have experienced serious hunger themselves. But they hear many reports with numbers and facts. There are reports about new policies and papers to end world hunger. There are aid groups asking for money. Food aid comes and disappears in needy countries. Problems remain. Many people ask what they can really do. In today’s Spotlight we look at some people who answered this question in their communities.
Voice 2
Baby birds - chicks - move around the dusty ground. Young girls bend down to feed the little birds. The team of young girls and their chicks offer hope to this village. The village is one of many suffering in Burundi. Political conflict and civil war have had tragic effects on the local people. Many people live without enough food each day.
Voice 1
So how do chicks offer hope in such tragedy? Well, the chicks are part of a development project. TeleFood supplied the chicks to the village. Telefood is part of the FAO - the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. The FAO launched Telefood in 1997. The group gives money to small ‘sustainable’ projects. Sustainable projects are projects that help people to help themselves. Such projects do not simply give ‘aid.’
Voice 2
For two small villages in Burundi, the sustainable help came in the form of chicks - one thousand [1000] of them! Telefood gave the chicks to one hundred [100] girls. The chicks will grow in size and number. Then the whole community will be able to buy eggs and chickens at reasonable prices. Telefood also provided the necessary materials to grow fruit and vegetables. This helps the community because many Burundi farmers lack even the seeds to put crops in their fields.
Voice 1
Still, it will not be easy. The girls with the chickens live in poor conditions. They work all day with little to eat. However, their birds provide a hope for the future. And it is a future that the young women of Burundi are creating!
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Small projects like these are called, ‘microprojects’. Telefood has helped set up over one thousand [1000] microprojects around the world. Many of the projects are aimed at women. Supporting women is one of TeleFood’s major aims. The group says that in far out, poor, areas, women are the main providers of food. If women have money, they will use much of it to buy food for their families. Meet some more of the women Telefood has supported.
Voice 1
Edit works in her local market. She is one of a group of women who sell fish in Burkina Faso, West Africa. It can get very hot in Edit’s hometown of Ouagadougou. During the dry season, temperatures reach up to forty or fifty degrees. The heat makes conditions difficult for Edit and the other fish sellers. They struggle to keep their fish fresh. But if it is not fresh, people do not want to buy it. So the women have to sell their fish at reduced prices. Then they do not have a good amount of money to take home to their families. However, now their situation has improved. Telefood gave money to the women in Ouagadougou to buy some ice boxes, and it provided freezers. Edit and her friends can now freeze their fish, and carry it in these boxes. This means people can buy the freshest fish possible. And fewer fish are left as waste at the end of the day.
Voice 2
People who have less often take greater care of what they do have. That is why Edit and the other fish sellers are so pleased with their ice boxes. Keeping food fresh is important in a country like Burkina Faso. Fresh produce there is often in short supply. Thinking about how to store food seems like a simple idea. But it can mean the difference between having plenty and having nothing. Storing food and keeping it fresh is an issue for everyone - from leaders of government to mothers and fathers at home. Food experts say that every year people waste millions of tonnes of food. Waste can happen in several ways:
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During transport of food to markets and stores.
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If food is stored at the wrong temperature;
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If food is stored in the wrong containers. This permits insects and harmful bacteria to infect the food.
Voice 2
Government officials especially need to consider these matters carefully. They need to examine every step of the food production process in their country. And they need to act to reduce the causes of food waste. But food waste is a matter that we can think about too. What steps do we take to avoid wasting food? Is there anything we need to change to prevent unnecessary waste?
Voice 1
Be sure the food you buy looks fresh and well kept. Take it home quickly, keeping it cool. At home, use good containers to store your food. Do not store food on the floor. Keep food in a cool place. If you have a refrigerator, make sure that the temperature is correct. Then you can use the food before it goes bad.
Voice 2
When you go to buy food, make a list of what you need. Only buy what you will use. Then you should avoid having waste food left over.
Voice 1
Simple steps may not seem much. But they can make a difference. Lowering the world’s food wastage increases the world’s supply. And this helps more people to have food. The right to food is something everyone should have.
Voice 2
‘The right to food’ is the message behind World Food Day 2007. World Food day is on October the sixteenth [16th] every year. This day marks the beginning of the formation of the FAO in 1981. Barbara Ekwell is chief of the ‘Right to Food’ department of the F A O. She said,
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‘The right to food is not an impossible dream. It can be a reality for all. Some countries are on the way to doing this. But everyone should help to make this happen.’
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