World
Food Day focuses on Africa
By
Jeff Overley
On-line Forty-Niner
More
than 70 students and faculty members gathered
at Cal State Long Beach Thursday to take
part in the 20th Annual World Food Day Teleconference.
The
program, titled "Collaboration or Calamity:
Africa in Peril," was transmitted via
satellite to CSULB and hundreds of other
universities around the country and world.
The
conference's main topic of discussion was
hunger in sub-Saharan Africa. Guest speakers
discussed the food crisis and its primary
causes, notably poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic,
poor education and widespread violence.
A
conversation with Urban Jonsson, UNICEF's
regional director for eastern and southern
Africa, comprised the first hour of a three-hour
event. He stressed the catastrophic effects
that AIDS has wrought on communities in
general.
"What
happens when the police chiefs die of AIDS
and the police departments break down? [What
happens] when the parliamentarians die,
when the [only] surgeon in a city dies?"
Jonsson asked.
A
number of other guests also contributed
to the discourse. Julia Villareal, chief
of the food and population program at the
Food and Agriculture Organization, illustrated
how HIV/AIDS has created a whole generation
of orphans.
"An
orphan's parents die before [they] can pass
down knowledge of farming techniques,"
which in turn leaves the children defenseless
and unable to provide for themselves, she
said. Villareal noted that the number of
AIDS orphans is expected to rise to 20 million
by 2010.
The
two foundational causes of Africa's food
insecurity are population and the difficulties
of the current globalization era, said Jean-Francois
Rischard, vice-president of the World Bank.
Africa's population, expected to double
to 1.4 billion by 2025, creates a host of
environmental and social stresses that exacerbate
hunger. The furious expansion of globalization
technology is building a world where Africa's
people will fall further and further behind
because of a lack of experience with "networking"
and sophisticated technological systems,
Rischard said.
A
film depicting the consequences of HIV/AIDS
and poverty followed Jonsson's talk. It
showed images of African prostitutes wandering
in the night, with only the white of their
eyes and teeth visible in the dark, electricity-starved
city streets.
"I
won't ask for a condom if I'm given enough
money," said one prostitute in the
film.
Her
statement and situation highlighted a triple
crisis where women sell themselves due to
poverty and hunger and in the process contribute
to the spread of disease.
CSULB
professor Ramses Toma addressed the audience
after the film. He noted that the problems
are linked together "like a chain,"
and while "there are a lot of solutions,
the [difficulty] is that they must all be
implemented at the same time."
"Education
is important, but if my stomach is empty,
I've got something else on my mind [than
learning]," Toma said.
Students
commented on Toma's speech and engaged in
a brief discussion. CSULB professors had
encouraged their students to go to the event,
many of them offering extra credit for attendance
and a short written review of the teleconference.
Sociology
professor Norma Chinchilla said she wanted
her students to attend because "not
enough attention is given to Africa. And
yet, if the world if going to be a stable
and healthy place, we need to address the
problems that are taking place."
James
Ellison, an assistant professor of anthropology,
said he hoped that his students would get
a "better understanding of African
farmers and their place in the world economy,
and that students will also learn about
their own place in the world economy."
The
teleconference resumed shortly after Toma's
speech, with Jonsson fielding questions
from callers at various universities.
In
answering the questions, Jonsson stressed
the importance of human capital, noted the
misconception that there is not enough fertile
land in Africa and opined that he has never
seen such excellent cooperation between
governments and non-governmental organizations
as that occurring at present.
Jonsson
suggested that for Americans to help solve
Africa's plight, "they must put pressure
on their government, with the use of NGOs,
to not just talk, but to act."
Jonsson's
interviewer, Ray Suarez of PBS' "Jim
Lehrer NewsHour," asked if Africa is
the "first wake up call."
"Yes,"
Jonsson said. "And Asia will be next
and then it will be too late."
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