wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] If there's a will there's a way

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Note #8458 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

04366
August 19, 2004

If there's a will there's a way

U.N. leader says world hunger can be licked now

by Evan Silverstein

TACOMA, WA - Global hunger could be eliminated now if leaders exercised the
political will to make it happen, a United Nations official said during a
recent celebration marking the 35th anniversary of the Presbyterian Church
(USA) Hunger Program.

 "We have the resources, we have the know-how, what we are missing is the
political will to do it," said Eva Clayton, a Presbyterian elder and
assistant director-general of the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization
(FAO).

She said even though political leaders have the means to reverse the trend,
world hunger is increasing, with more than an estimated 800 million people
going to bed hungry every night in a world of plenty.

 "We look at it as an insurmountable problem that takes centuries," said
Clayton, a retired Democratic U.S. Representative from North Carolina.
"There's no reason for that. Hunger could be ended. There's enough food to
feed everybody."

Clayton, named to her current post last year, addressed Presbyterian Hunger
Program staff, Hunger Action Enablers and others at Pacific Lutheran
University here Aug. 3.

They gathered in a campus chapel to celebrate 35 years of effort by the
Presbyterian Hunger Program, which was established in 1969 as a channel
through which Presbyterians can be engaged in the fight against hunger in the
United States and around the world.

The anniversary celebration - which included singing by South African guests
- was held during the 2004 Presbyterian Peace and Justice Conference. The
hunger program was one of four PC(USA) sponsors of the five-day
intergenerational event, which concluded Aug. 7.

While never before in the history of the world has so much food been
produced, some eight million children under the age of five die each year
from hunger-related causes worldwide, Clayton said. In the United States more
than 6.6 million individuals experience hunger on a regular basis, she said.

Clayton said hunger causes illness and death, robs people of their potential
to work and cripples children's learning capacity.

She stressed that freedom from hunger would only be achieved by uniting
forces and placing the fight at the very top of the political agenda. She
challenged Presbyterians to join people of other faiths and religions,
national and international organizations, NGOs and governments to create the
political will to achieve this goal.

"We should know that our faith calls us - not calls us, it commands us - to
feed the poor and to care for the poor and to make sure justice is for all,"
said Clayton.

Her work with the FAO focuses on calling nations to commit to ending hunger
in their own counties and to building up international alliances of nations
committed to combating hunger.

But the international community is losing ground in efforts to reach goals
set by leaders in 1996 to cut hunger in half globally by 2015, Clayton said,
adding that the world's hunger rolls have shrunk far too little in recent
years to reach the mark.

 "If we achieve that goal, we should be reducing hunger by 24 million
(people) every year, but instead we are doing 2.5 million," Clayton said. "We
need to do 10 times that much. If we continue at the rate in which we are
doing right now, it will be (the year) 2150 when we cut hunger in half."

International leaders, acknowledging a lack of progress when they met in Rome
for the 2002 World Food Summit, urged those involved in reducing hunger to
double their efforts with a sense of urgency, Clayton said.

She said summit leaders urged countries to turn verbal commitments into
practical programs to end hunger and called on the world's nations to form an
international alliance to battle the problem.

This led to the launching of the International Alliance Against Hunger on
World Food Day last October. Clayton said some 84 countries, including the
United States, have expressed a willingness to take part "to make sure they
create the political force for policy reform and the mobilization of
resources for the vulnerable and for the poor."

Clayton said she's hopeful that this renewed international consensus will
translate into an active, more efficient global partnership that brings
together the strengths of all those committed to fighting hunger.

"Governments cannot do it alone," Clayton said. "No NGOs can do it alone.
Even the Presbyterian Church can't do it (alone). It's only when there is a
coming together in an uncompromising manner that all sections of civil
society are working and acting in a concerted way with their elected
officials can we have meaningful impact on hunger."

Despite the world's bulging hunger rolls, Clayton said, there are reasons to
"keep hope alive" for the future.

Her optimism that global hunger could end is fueled by the far reaching
efforts of such religious groups as the PC(USA) and its hunger program, and
partners like the Christian anti-hunger group Bread for the World.

Clayton said she was also optimistic because a growing number of countries
are making ending hunger a national priority. China, Indonesia, Vietnam,
Thailand, Nigeria, Ghana and Peru, have all seen reductions in hunger, she
said.

Another reason for being hopeful, she said, is that various international
organizations are coming together in record numbers to combat hunger.

She said the upcoming presidential election in November is an "excellent
opportunity to make a loud prophetic voice that creates the political will
against hunger."

In 1992, Clayton became the first African-American woman from North Carolina
to be elected to Congress where she served five two-year terms in the House
of Representatives. Before her retirement in 2002, Clayton was a ranking
democrat on two congressional committees and served as co-chair of the
Congressional Black Caucus Foundation.

With the Presbyterian Church, Clayton has served on the Committee on
Ecumenical Mission and Relations (UPCUSA), and worked with Self-Development
of People (SDOP).

The longtime member of Cotton Memorial Presbyterian Church in Henderson, NC,
was one of three Presbyterian women honored during the PC(USA)'s 215th
General Assembly in 2003 with a "Women of Faith" Award for her contributions
to government and public service.

The Rev. Gary Cook, associate director for Global Service and Witness in the
Worldwide Ministries Division, presented Clayton with a Hunger Action Enabler
stole adorned with the Biblical loaves and fishes that symbolize God's
abundant provision for all of creation. Cook, who is also acting coordinator
of the hunger program, asked Clayton to wear the garment as an honorary
Hunger Action Enabler and representative of the church.

"Thirty-five years is a long time," Clayton said to the anniversary
celebrants as she concluded her speech. "I wish you 35 years more, not of the
same energy, but renewed energy. Not of the same activities, but larger
activities with a more collaborate voice as you create this political wind
and political force to end world hunger."

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