REVOLUTION HUNGER BLOG

Rotating stomachs, confusion of sound
Negative imagery, holding us down
Social delusion, clearly constructed
Human kept hungry, morals corrupted
Trapped in reaction, lawlessness war
Dissatisfaction from bowels to core
Wicked theology, robbing the poor
Light shown in darkness, image exposed
Nobody can see the power food can hold
Few can see through the new emperor’s clothes
When the blind lead the blind
Just more trouble and woes
Thin looking cosmics, from schoolyards to college
Primitive child with civilize knowledge
System collapse and he still won’t acknowledge
That burning belly, tryna not to remember
Trying to fix the mix mind that God gave ya
Stiff-necked scholars , when’s the last time you were fed?
Congress wish this problem was all in their heads
Morale dilemma, pride is the root
Misguided from youth, heart divided from truth
Industrial wealth
Global economy, in it for self
cracked lips, dry, famished mouth
Heart full of madness, covered with kind
Pleasure designed to take over your mind
While classes in government, set up the veil
And cultivate minds for more mythical tales
while kids in my hood don’t even have meals
but it’s the system right? it never fails
little hungry  girls still not happy without pearls
While vice and corruption take over the world
Motives and thoughts
Check your motives and thoughts
For centuries this is what my people have faught
Go get educated, that’s how Martin made it
But when the fridge is empty
the feeling is cringing
Lied to your neighbors, so you get ahead
Milk ran dry, don’t even got bread,
Modern day trickery is all you’ve been fed

Tekiah Jones is the Washington DC New Media Producer for the Revolution Hunger Campaign. Tekiah is a a senior at McKinley Technology High School is planning to study film production and broadcast at Syracuse University.

Welcome to San Francisco: cable cars, hillsides, and coffee shops. Welcome to the lives of 197,000 San Franciscans: poverty, homelessness, hunger.
 
Everyday, I walk the streets of my city and think about how fortunate I am to live in such a wonderful place, but it never occurred to me that a fifth of my people struggle everyday to make ends meet. That’s right—a fifth. According to the US census bureau, that statistic is shockingly true to reality.
 
I work with revolutionhunger.com as a youth advocate because we believe that there is a way to fight hunger through active organization and participation within our communities and beyond! Come join the fight to end hunger at revolutionhunger.com

Jessie Chen is the San Francisco New Media Producer for the Revolution Hunger Campaign. Jessie prides herself in working with great organizations such as buildOn, Youth Steering Committee, and the ACLU.

By: Tekiah Jones

Hola queens and kings! Just the other day, I was venting about how nobody takes hunger as a more serious issue than the Kardshians or Bad Girls Club. Well, I think somebody must have been listening to me, because I have just received heartwarming info about the issue getting some attention!

50 Cent, one of the richest, biggest, and now heart felt rappers, has just started a new initiative to fight hunger. He’ll be using one of his famous clicks, energy drinks, to promote the combat of hunger and famine in the horn of Africa. For every shot sold, 50 will provide a meal for a child in need. Sounds easy and simple enough right? Well, this dude took it even beyond that. He will donate one meal for every Like on the Facebook page and if it reaches one million, he’ll double it to 2 million meals. His goal is to provide 1 billion meals over 5 years and he is well on his way.

Now, if you’re like me, then you’re probably thinking that this is to get publicity or something along those lines. I watched the promotional video and by the look on 50 Cent’s face, he was very sincere. When he spoke, very softly (yea, I know), you could still hear the urgency of helping the children and families in Africa. Even while he spoke, he wrinkled up brows and looked around as if saying, “Can you believe this?!” He touched on his childhood and the circumstances in which he was poor, but never went without a meal. 50 Cent even told us that he made a visit to Africa, so he’s not just reading the paper and talking. He’s seen it and acting on it.

50 Cent isn’t the only celebrity whose attention has been pulled to hunger or the famine in Africa. Bono, George Clooney, Jessica Alba, Idris Elba, and some others, have all made a viral video, promoting ‘The F Word’, a campaign used to bring awareness about famine. They bleep out the word famine, as if it was a curse word. They call it “the REAL obscenity.

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Hunger is really starting to cross peoples minds.  But you don’t have to be a celebrity to make a difference. Just join another awesome campaign, Revolution Hunger. It’s based in three cities, but not limited to any. They’re here to raise awareness, not money. Time and knowledge is all you need and a simple t-shirt and blog action can really help alleviate such a issue. Join the website, start the activities, and tweet about it.

I’ve been clicking the Like button on Facebook for 15 minutes now, and just made a difference. Now, it’s your turn.

mikerusch:

(Click to enlarge)

Created by eLocal.com in partnership with The Washington Post

arewehungry:

By Tekiah Jones

I’ve been watching a show, Africa’s Last Famine, about farmers in the horn of Africa who are facing famine, or in danger of damaged crops. This season, the rains failed, triggering the worst drought in 60 years. 13 million people were affected, 1.8 million Somalis were displaced. Farmers are who weren’t effected, are trying to prepare for next time.

One farmer struck me, Medhin Reda, a female farmer in Adi Ha, Ethiopia. She grows teff,  the staple ingredient in a common bread in Ethiopia, injera. She was worried about whether the rain will continue to regularly fall, or will it stop. If it stops, then her crops will fail and her livelihood, will be in danger. One fail of harvest, and she could sink deeper into poverty.

World Food Hunger Day is just around the corner, this years theme is food- from crisis to stability. While it’s still expensive to farm, it costs less to manage risks than to manage a crisis, if one should hit. To give farmers like Medhin stability if her crops should fail, there’s a new program too ensure her. Rural Resilience Initiative provides compensation for failure, if there is a drought or flood, and encourages farmers to save and provides them with what many in the US take for granted, insurance. They give them confidence in that they will be covered, when they need it most. Farmers who can’t afford to pay the insurance in cash, are allowed to work on community projects, improving the local agriculture. When they are insured, farmers can grow businesses and keep their children in school.

This is the greatest news I’ve heard all week. Farmers being insured if there is a drought? That’s an excellent way for them to stay stable even if there is a disruption. That’s definitely rerouting the way that a disaster can be viewed and conquered. Now that’s a revolution.

By Tekiah Jones

Yesterday was World Food Day, a worldwide event designed to increase the understanding and awareness of hunger. As my co-worker and I made our own plans to alleviate hunger, we decided to research some possible events in DC, for World Food Day. We googled it and found only about three events happening, and they weren’t very mainstream or big. We googled another search box and came up with even fewer results. What did come up a lot  was a lot of information on weight loss and how to control your hunger. Maybe it was the computer……. nahhhhhhhhhh it wasn’t that. It was that nobody finds hunger a ‘big’ issue. At least no more important than Kim Kardashians wedding, that is.

Why hunger is not seen as an important issue in DC, bypasses me. In DC alone, more than 633,000 residents are at risk of or experiencing hunger; 200,000 are children. More than 35.5 million people will go hungry this year in our country. As the nation’s capital, I would expect that we showed some interest in World Hunger Day to some degree. Especially, since it fell on the same day that the Martin Luther King Jr. memorial was being dedicated. We, call it, the Stone of Hope. Next year, I hope DC notices the importance of ending hunger, here, and around the world.

As it may be, not all of DC is oblivious to such causes! After our meeting, me and my co-worker went to different stores and taped up posters about hunger statistics, and our campaign, Revolution Hunger.  With teams in DC, San Francisco, and the Twin Cities, we’re dedicated to bringing awareness to such a cause and ending world hunger. Oh yeah, we’re here and we’re all over. Join us and become part of a movement to teach people about the understanding of hunger, its ins and outs. I know I am.

By Tekiah Jones

In the District of Columbia, it’s been a little busy. We have been preparing for the new Martin Luther King Jr. memorial in the downtown area. Its been a big deal here in DC, as it was first supposed to be dedicated in August but put off when the hurricanes hit our area. Martin is carved from a 30- foot tall piece of granite. We call it the stone of hope.

It got me thinking about Dr. King’s “I Have A Dream” speech and what it means. I remember one particular line, “With this faith we will be able to hew out of the mountain of despair a stone of hope.” This has resonated with me very much. King meant for people to keep faith and things will change. He had a dream, and humanity, we as one, have to keep it alive.

My dream is that I will one day awaken to a realm with no hate or vengeance. We would live on a planet where everyone loves each other, and where poverty morphs into wealth. Children go to sleep at night full and happy. That there is enough food for every one. That the ‘-isms’ in the world disappear and hatred becomes obsolete. Where abysmal transforms into radiant and shines down on man, child, and woman. I’ve been working on part of my dream, to end hunger. My awesome team, Revolution Hunger is a dedicated team of teens focused on bringing the awareness of hunger to people’s attention. Someone dies every 3.6 seconds from hunger, and with today’s famine and harsh weather conditions, it’s no wonder that the numbers are increasing. But there’s hope.

Joining Revolution Hunger isn’t just an activity or a reason to say “you did”. It’s an opportunity to stop a growing attack on our faith and hope. Hunger is one of the leading causes of death in the world and that’s a reason to act and say “I am”.

By Jessie Chen

High School: the place of learning. Here I learn math, science, English, physical education, history, but what I whole heartily believe is missing in high school curriculum are current event classes. Current events could cover a whole spectrum of things, but what is and always has been current is the discussion of hunger. One might think that the discussion of hunger is outdated and maybe even overrated, but the sad reality is that, well, it isn’t.  

 
I took to asking students from different cultural backgrounds at my high school several questions about hunger statistics and tested their knowledge about hunger by putting together this little bit of information for you.

These statistics were conducted by the San Francisco Food Bank and the World Food Programme websites.


For quick clarification, all the facts listed about are True. What I found the most interesting through conducting this survey was the amount of students who answered correctly on the questions pertaining to hunger outside the country, verses the questions about hunger within our own city: San Francisco. My hunch is that because we hear about hunger in places such as Africa and Asia so much, we forget (or just plain aren’t aware) that hunger exists within America too!

Why isn’t it that we learn about hunger issues at school? That a fifth of my classmates are, and have been, living in poverty without me even knowing for a whole four years now? This is where current events come in. If we had classes that informed us about shocking statistics such as the ones listed above, kids would take stronger affirmative action and have a reason to believe they should be doing something to change these statistics.

Here comes into the picture: Revolution Hunger. I work with Revolution Hunger as a youth blogger, outreacher, or in official terms the Revolution Hunger New Media Producer. My job is to encourage youth to really get out there and become fighters of hunger. How, you might ask? Through the Revolution Hunger site, you can keep up to hunger activities, events, and information, all a part of making you, become a stronger hunger fighter!

Check out RevolutionHunger.com, take part, learn, share, and fight hunger!