Recently I've been reading a course book by Kathleen Berger, and I've learned that children don't just develop physically or biosocially; they also develop on cognitive (related to the brain) and psychosocial (related to emotion) domains. And childhood stress and/or excessive childhood stress can impair a child's development on one, some or all of these levels.
HUNGER is one of many childhood stressors that can affect a child on all of the levels/domains I mentioned above. When a child goes hungry and the
body begins to starve, the body can stop growing (biosocial), the brain will be malnourished and stop growing/functioning in the right capacity (cognitive) and a child can begin to wonder and worry about when and where their next meal is coming from (psychosocial).
I know a little girl, now 9 years of age. When she was first her born her mother hardly fed her. The mother was so busy trying to get her next "fix", she didn't realize her daughter was going without. When the little girl was about 2years old she would actually steal food off of people's plates and
hold food in her cheeks like a chipmunk for storage. She was so afraid she wasn't going to eat again. I was so happy when authorities finally stepped in. And although this little girl is now 9years old and has been in a loving home for the last 6years she will still overeat, snatch an extra biscuit and put it away, and has even stole a classmates snack. She is currently seeking counseling and prayerfully she will overcome.
Hunger is a driving force or stressor all over the world. In fact, according to the website: http://library.thinkquest.org Every year 15 million children die
of hunger, 160 million children worldwide under the age of 5 are malnourished. About 183 million children weigh less than they should for their age and malnutrition is implicated in more than half of ALL child deaths worldwide.
For this week's school assignment we had to pick a country and I chose India. While scrolling the internet I found out, that despite India's emergence as a major economic power, it has more hungry people than any other country in the world. 48% of their children under five are malnourished and 2.5 million children in that country die every year before reaching the age of five.
India's government is what plays a major role in helping to end their hunger problem and our US government also lends a helping hand. In 1995 the US shelled out $642 million (mainly in food commodities), followed by the European Commission giving $221 million and the Netherlands giving $154 million. These governments not only gave to India but to all under developed countries. Hopefully one day soon, we will hear an end to children dying of hunger!
