From: Samerawit Serekebrhane (samrigotluv@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Jun 09 2009 - 21:09:52 EDT
MARCHING RIGHT ALONG AFTER A GREAT CELEBRATION! (YPFDJ-DENVER)
By Samerawit Serekeberhan, YPFDJ-DENVER
This past weekend after wrapping up successful Independence Day events, YPFDJ-Denver refocused and got back to business (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ia0m6eZiLXI&feature=PlayList&p=6848F152E07FBA8B&playnext=1&playnext_from=PL&index=68) and held our first bi-weekly meeting after local Independence Celebrations. During our meeting, in an effort to strengthen future projects we discussed our successes, areas of improvements, and challenges of our Independence Day party and barbeque. We continued our meeting with discussion about upcoming events and other updates. After we discussed our organizational business, we then focused on political education, a key program of our organization as we work toward become strong, conscious, and patriotic youth.
The topic for the next series of political education is the “Global Food Crisis.” In our discussion, we talked about the factors contributing to the Global Food Crisis, how the global crisis affects Eritrea, how people of various nations access food, the choice of fuel versus food, food in calories versus in nutrients, and much more. As we wrapped up the discussion, we were also challenged to think about how we as U.S. citizens and as Eritreans could impact the global food crisis. As a YPFDJ member and as an Eritrean, I was really happy that we were engaging in discussions like these to build our awareness so that we could be active participants in our nation building.
In only a few hours of political education about the “Global Food Crisis,” I gained so much that will stay with me permanently. Here are a few key points that I would like to share from the videos and discussions that I learned:
• The situation around food in Eritrea is NOT an Eritrea specific problem, but a global problem
• Crops like corn and soybeans are being used to power a new generation of cars and other energy consuming products, instead of feeding people
• The rising price of fuel directly increases the cost of production, transportation, etc. of food in turn, causing the price that people pay in their local market to also increase
• The actually shortage is not of just food (there are plenty of calories in the world), but of food that have the necessary nutrients for healthy physical and metal development
• The lack of nutritious food can lead to other societal issues like poor mental and physical development, illness, etc. which all effect how well students learn in school, how healthy your labor force is, etc.
• One 25-gallon gas tank (the average to fill a SUV) of ethanol = enough nutritious food to feed one child for a year
(You can imagine how many families could have been fed just by considering how many times you have filled your gas tank)
• We make decisions everyday as global citizens and particularly as US citizens that contributes to the global food issue
• The issue of food security is also an issue of national security
It was very frightening to learn these things and incredible to think that the issues of food security can be solved relatively easily if people and equity were made the priority rather than the prosperity of individual nations.
As YPFDJ-Denver continues this political education series on the global food crisis, I look forward to gaining answers to the following question that I have, What are the other top contributors to the increased cost of food? Are there common interests between countries and especially developing countries that could help find a solution to this problem? What are those solutions and how will those countries do it? I encourage you all to individually research and learn more about the global food crisis. If possible, participate in discussions with us or with your local chapter to grow your own awareness. It is important and we need to know which and how these issues affect our people, our country and the world. We must also be aware of the best ways WE can impact the future. It’s very important to develop ourselves as conscious individuals especially on issues like this; whether it’s through discussion, reading a book or conducting your own research, we strongly want to encourage other Eritreans to join us in developing our consciousness so we can together build up our nation.
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