I hope someone in the Obama administration is aware of this story about a city in Brazil that is successfully fighting hunger (thanks to Jeremy for the link).
This is one of the grand things about human beings, this urge we sometimes have to help each other, in small ways and large. And to learn from each other how to make things better. It’s not just about changing process, it’s about changing perspective.
Edited 21 March to add: Thanks to Steve for this additional article on Belo Horizonte’s anti-hunger programs.
Such an inspiring and motivating article. Thank you for sharing it. 🙂
Very interesting article.
I take exception to one thing, though: where Adriana says “it’s so easy to end it.” People have been trying to fight hunger and poverty for centuries, if not millenia. If it were easy, it would have been done long ago. Saying that it’s easy trivializes the efforts of groups like Mercy Corps (http://www.mercycorps.org) who are working hard on this very difficult problem.
Maybe Patrus Ananias really had some radically new insight, or maybe he just lucked out with some unique circumstances in Belo Horizonte. The evidence would be more compelling if the city could conduct these programs without federal aid. Given the federal aid, the obvious question is whether Brasilia could afford to provide the same aid to cities throughout the country.
For reference, here is a fairly neutral article about Belo Horizonte: http://www.panna.org/files/Belo_Horizonte.pdf
Thanks, Steve: I just updated the post to add this article. Appreciate it.