Post-Hunger Challenge

After eating a sandwich and just generally gathering my wits, I've had a chance to reflect on my experience of starving for one day. It was definitely possible, but generally uncomfortable. The whole experience has reaffirmed in my mind that development has to start from the ground up. Before improving infrastructure, education, healthcare or any other noble aim, development workers should focus their efforts on creating secure and sustainable sources of food for the populations they serve. Even in my small experience of being hungry, I found it difficult to concentrate on my schoolwork and I found that I was generally irritable. I can't imagine how I could ever hope to achieve anything or finish any work if I were chronically hungry. Not to mention that starving for only a day won't make me sick, while people who are chronically hungry suffer from a whole host of illnesses. I think people in developed nations have a hard time empathizing with developing nations when it comes to accomplishing goals. But we forget the horror that is a life lived constantly hungry: and how all-consuming this can be.