WE MUST INTENSIFY WAR ON HUNGER – OR PERISH
Today, September 28, is Freedom from Hunger Day marked for the first time in the Yolo County of California in the United States of America on September 28, 2006.
The overriding objective of the occasion is “to increase awareness about global hunger, and promote Freedom from Hunger’s empowerment of women around the world”.
On that very first Freedom from Hunger Day, the event was symbolically marked in India and the Philippines, as well as in some Latin American and West African countries, where participants toured ‘walk-through exhibits,’ even as “they enjoyed native foods and entertainment.”
In fact, the Freedom from Hunger concept dates back in History to 1946 when a non-profit, non-sectarian and non-governmental charitable organisation was founded in Davis County, California – and just as soon extended its reach to 19 different world countries including six in Africa.
In due course of time, events and some successes, Freedom from Hunger Day was formally proclaimed in California’s Yolo Country in 2006 “to commemorate 60 years of the organisation’s success in fighting hunger with self-help programmes that achieve a lasting end to hunger while promoting the dignity of women and families living in poverty.”
Tanzania is no exception to the world hunger problem and related issues. It was, therefore, with this in mind that well-wishers formed the Action Against Hunger NGO as part of the 2016-2021 National Multi-Sectoral Nutrition Action Plan (NMNAP) tasked with reducing hunger in general, and malnourishment in particular.
Tanzanians are not yet out of the (hunger) woods – although we are already receiving much-needed aid in fighting hunger and saving lives from death by starvation and/or malnutrition.
Indeed, the number of food-insecure Tanzanians is projected to triple by 2024, from five million in 2014 – if we don’t surmount hunger on a sustainable basis sooner.
There is, therefore, every reason to join the rest of the world in marking Freedom from Hunger Day today.
HOW TO TAME WILD DOG MENACE
Pastoralists usually jealously guard their flocks as they are, in most cases, their sole source of livelihood. A threat to livestock is thus a threat to livestock keepers themselves.
That is why reports of wild dogs preying on livestock in Arusha Region are a cause for grave concern. Irate headers sometimes gang up and hunt down the wild dogs.
What we are seeing here is a classic case of human-wildlife conflict. Wildlife forms a critical part of our heritage that needs to be safeguarded to attract foreign exchange from tourism, and maintain ecological balance.
Of course, human life is paramount, but the wanton killing of wild animals is retrogressive. Animals have their rights, as much as humans do. Humans must be protected from rogue animals, at all costs.
However, this is not a licence to slaughter animals they find to be a nuisance to them.
The relevant authorities need to establish who between livestock keepers and wild dogs have strayed into the other side’s territory before taking appropriate remedial action.
