ACTION FOR SCHOOL MEALS

We are calling on you to take action in the days running up to World Food Day. Each day counting down to October 16, we will issue a daily challenge as part of our A Billion for a Billion campaign and the ONE Campus Challenge. 

 Action: Share the facts

If you’re active on Twitter or Facebook or any other social network, you can share one of these facts:

- 66 million children go to school hungry, 23 million of them are in Africa.
- Enrollment rates and attendance go up when children receive food at school.
- Some 20 million children are born mentally impaired because their mothers did not consume enough iodine during pregnancy.
- Vitamin A deficiency, the leading cause of child blindness, affects 140 million pre-school children worldwide.

The world’s poorest often do not have enough food at home, and most schools in developing countries lack the luxury of cafeterias or subsidized meals. The school meals we provide are a good way to channel the vital nourishment poor children need for mental and physical development. Having a full stomach also helps them to concentrate better on their lessons.

The benefits are best explained through the story of Fatuma, a 15 year old Somali girl who grew up in Dadaab refugee camp in North Kenya:

“We used to drink porridge in class, and it helped us. You find yourself hungry, and you are in class, and you have lessons to revise and do all that stuff, so it was a refreshment. In Dadaab you depend on that food.”

Watch the video:

The World Food Day Action Countdown is the result of a joined initiative between the Billion for a Billioncampaign (calling for the online billion ot help the hungry billion) and the ONE Campus Challenge (that invites university students to take part in the fight against hunger for credits).