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Baseball and Its Worldwide Impact

Baseball Around The World
Baseball has been known as America’s game since its creation in 1839. It has served as an entertainment outlet for many Americans, bringing about positive feelings of nostalgia and pure competitive joy. As time went on, baseball proved to be a popular sport around the world, allowing kids to chase dreams of home runs and perfect games. With anything long enough to be a bat, and round enough to be a ball, people around the world have found numerous ways to create the game of baseball.

Kids Chasing Their Dreams

Many people in impoverished countries have used baseball as a way to express their competitiveness. With most professional teams coming from the United States and Korea, many kids in impoverished countries dream of one day making it to the biggest professional stage for baseball. For these kids, that starts with the Little League World Series. The Little League Baseball organization has put young kids on the world stage since 1939. Little League teams can represent their region in a world tournament every August. Historically, the United States and China have produced powerhouse teams that dominate consistently. However, every few years, the tournament experiences new young talent from countries like Uganda and Mexico, showing how baseball around the world has been expanding.

In 2012, the Little League World Series tournament said hello to its first team from Uganda. Though the team lacked skill, they made history by appearing in the tournament. Then in 2015, Uganda made its second appearance, showing great improvement since its original appearance. According to Roger Sherman, “Ugandan baseball is young and has faced a lot of obstacles. But these kids have gotten really good really fast, and they aren’t going away any time soon.” The sport has become a staple in Uganda as they continue to build up their baseball communities. Creating leagues and supporting kids in developing countries is one way that baseball has historically helped impoverished communities grow. Baseball around the world has impacted kids, and it continues to do so.

Fighting Poverty With Baseball

More recently, baseball has proven to be a huge supporter of ending poverty around the world. According to Stuart Anderson, 27% of major league players are foreign-born, with the majority of those players coming from the Dominican Republic. About 30% of the Dominican Republic population is living below the poverty line. It is only natural for major league baseball players to use their popularity and skill to support their home countries.

Food for the Hungry, a global nonprofit organization, has teamed up with many major league baseball players to launch the Striking Out Poverty initiative. For the last two years, players like Nick Ahmed of the Arizona Diamondbacks, Dee Gordan of the Seattle Mariners and Jake Flaherty and Michael Wacha both of the St. Louis Cardinals, have dedicated their skills to help raise awareness for countries below the poverty line. Some play for clean water, some play for food donations, some play for farmers and some play to save lives.

How to Help

Anyone can help by donating. Showing support for a team or player’s personal campaign can make a big impact. With each game played, they generate thousands of dollars to donate. With the help of fans across the United States and the world, they can generate even more.

For decades now, baseball has spread its popularity around the world. It is a sport that, played any way possible, provides joy and escape for many people. The sport itself and the professional players have had a positive impact on communities around the world.

– Sophia Cloonan
Photo: Flickr

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5 Ways to Fight Hunger in Nicaragua

Nicaragua, although having made tremendous progress in recent years, is still one of the poorest and least developed countries in Latin America. According to the World Bank, 24.9% of Nicaraguans lived in poverty as of 2016. Of those people, 200,000 lived in extreme poverty making less than $1.90 a day. As a result of poverty and harsh climate conditions, hunger in Nicaragua is a prominent issue. Even though approximately 70% of the population works in agriculture, 300,000 people still require food aid. Located in what’s known as the Dry Corridor, Nicaragua faces erratic weather patterns prone to climate shocks that are consistent threats to stable food production. However, in spite of the unfavorable conditions, many organizations and programs are on the ground working to fight hunger in Nicaragua.

5 Initiatives to Fight Hunger in Nicaragua

  1. The World Food Program (WFP) offers various programs and services to alleviate hunger in Nicaragua. Since 1971, WFP has implemented strategies to improve food security. By supporting the National School Meal Program, the organization helped provide meals to more than 182,000 schoolchildren in April of 2020. Following a five-year plan that spans from 2019 to 2023, WFP aims to find long-term solutions to hunger in Nicaragua. Along with direct food assistance, WFP promotes creating efficient and sustainable agricultural practices by providing technical assistance in implementing weather-resilient farming methods, improving degraded ecosystems and developing technology for accurate climate information.
  2. The organization Food for the Hungry believes that chickens can be a catalyst for solving hunger. Food for the Hungry stated that chickens rank close to the top of its annual gift catalog because of their uses in decreasing hunger. The nonprofit sponsored a program in El Porvenir, Nicaragua called “Happy Chicks”. This initiative taught the locals skills related to running a poultry farm, which is a creative and sustainable way to provide daily meals to the community and, especially, children. These skills help communities learn to operate self-sufficiently.
  3. Indigenous women have a history of banding together to develop more sustainable agricultural practices. Slow Food is an organization that values the protection of food culture and understands the importance of responsible food production. The organization partnered with communities of indigenous women in Nicaragua to encourage cooperation in improving the quality of agricultural systems. Women in the organization shared ideas about planting and harvesting crops, while also promoting economic autonomy through marketing and commercializing excess products.
  4. The Caribbean Coast Food Security Project (PAIPSAN) is collaborating with communities on the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua to fight hunger. The organization provides assistance to those who would normally not have access to adequate technology or resources to engage in sustainable agricultural practices. PAIPSAN encourages farmers to utilize climate-resistant seeds and organic fertilizers, while also promoting innovative and environmentally friendly pest and disease control practices. The program also provides educational services to increase awareness of improving nutrition.
  5. Food assistance programs are a popular way of directly fighting hunger in Nicaragua. Food assistance programs generally provide a stable source of food for those in need. Hope Road Nicaragua works alongside other organizations, such as the Orphan Network and Rise Against Hunger, to provide 3,000 children with meals that include vitamin-dense rice and soy packs, beans, vegetables, chicken and tortillas.  The Rainbow Network is another food assistance program. It has set up 489 feeding centers, reaching approximately 13,581 people. The Rainbow Network also works with The American Nicaraguan Foundation to train community members on how to cook and operate the feeding centers. The American Nicaraguan Foundation itself is an organization that has provided more than 297.3 million meals to Nicaragua’s most vulnerable in the past 25 years. Along with its network of more than 700 partners, the foundation coordinates a variety of programs and allocates resources dedicated to poverty relief.

Nicaragua has made progress in recent years. However, vulnerable groups still need assistance with fighting hunger, a direct result of poverty in the country. In order to address this, many organizations are working to foster the idea of food sovereignty and fight hunger in Nicaragua. 

–Melanie McCrackin
Photo: Flickr

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5 Facts About Hunger in the Dominican Republic

The Dominican Republic has a population of more than 10.5 million. Hunger remains a pressing issue for many people in this region, and the situation has been exacerbated by the COVID-19 outbreak. In 2020, the country’s annual GDP growth rate fell to -8%, in part because of COVID-19. This drastic drop has the potential to bring poverty rates up and leave many more families food insecure. Here are five facts affecting hunger in the Dominican Republic in the post-COVID-19 era.

5 Facts About Hunger in the Dominican Republic

  1. Hunger is more prevalent in the Dominican Republic than in neighboring regions. In Latin America and the Caribbean combined, 42.5 million people suffer from hunger, according to a Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations report. This means that 6.5% of the regional population goes hungry. In the Caribbean alone, however, which is where the Dominican Republic is located, this percentage is significantly higher: 18.4% of the population is undernourished.
  2. Over 2 million people in the Dominican Republic suffer from poverty, making for a national poverty rate of 21%. This is a relatively high poverty rate. Since poverty and hunger go hand in hand, to solve hunger in the Dominican Republic, we also need to reduce poverty. Some progress has been made in this area. The poverty rate is on the decline. In 2014, the World Bank reported that the middle class outnumbered the poor for the first time ever. This progress is a sign that poverty in the Dominican Republic can be lessened significantly through further action.
  3. The limited access to healthy food that some families experience in the Dominican Republic contributes to the country’s high rate of anemia. Anemia affects 28% of children under five. The most common type of Anemia is Iron Deficiency Anemia, which is caused by a shortage of iron in the body, according to the Mayo Clinic. This type of anemia is often caused by a diet lacking in iron-rich foods. While the rate of children with anemia is still high, the World Food Programme and the government of the Dominican Republic have been able to drastically reduce this rate in the last few years. In 2010, the rate of children between 6 and 11 months diagnosed with anemia was 74.8% in 2010. By 2013, that rate had decreased to 27.3%.
  4. The Dominican Republic’s economy could crash in the near future, causing a surge in hunger. The Dominican Republic has decreased its tourism dramatically in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19. According to the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic, the government of the Dominican Republic has suspended all cruise arrivals and set up roadblocks that deter international travel, among other preventative measures. Much of the Dominican Republic’s economy relies on tourism, and it may be damaged badly by the new rules that have been put in place in response to the virus. This damage to the economy could also cause a rise in hunger.
  5. Hunger in the Dominican Republic is perpetuated by natural disasters. Natural disasters are common, and they contribute to hunger. The Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery classifies the Dominican Republic as a “hotspot” for natural disasters. Between 1980 and 2008, almost a quarter of the population was affected by natural disasters. Natural disasters perpetuate hunger because they destroy the livelihoods of many people, leaving them without a source of income and therefore less access to food.

Solutions

While hunger in the Dominican Republic is a serious issue, there are many organizations that are working to help solve it. For example, Food for the Hungry sponsors children through donations to make sure that they are able to eat. To date, the organization has sponsored 7,225 children. In the past, Food for the Hungry also helped provide aid to the country after natural disasters, such as Hurricane David and Tropical Storm Federico.

Another organization fighting hunger in the Dominican Republic is Food for the Poor. In 2019, the organization sent 50 truckloads of supplies to the Dominican Republic. These shipments included food as well as other necessities like educational supplies.

Conclusions

Hunger certainly isn’t a new problem in the Dominican Republic, but it is one that history shows can be ameliorated through focused humanitarian action. COVID-19, however, poses new problems and exacerbates some established ones. Economic instability and the curtailment of tourism have the potential to increase poverty rates that are already fairly high in the region. Hunger in the Dominican Republic is particularly hard on the region’s children, whose growing bodies are hardest hit by lack of nutrients. In order to assure a successful future for the Dominican Republic after COVID-19, attention needs to be given to the problem of hunger and malnutrition today.

– Sophia Gardner
Photo: Flickr

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5 Organizations Battling Hunger in the Philippines

Hunger in Philippines
According to the Philippine Statistics Authority, the estimated poverty rate was 16.6% in 2018 and 17.6 million people faced extreme poverty. Hunger is one of the critical problems stemming from poverty in the Philippines, with 64% of the population suffering from chronic food insecurity.

According to the World Food Programme, factors such as climate issues and political challenges have contributed to the food insecurity that Filipinos continuously face. The Mindanao region has endured four decades of armed conflict that resulted in more than 40% of families displaced between 2000 and 2010, thus deteriorating food security. Natural disasters like typhoons are a typical experience in the Philippines, at a rate of about 20 per year. In fact, the country ranks third out of 171 countries in the 2015 World Risk Index and fourth out of 188 countries in the 2016 Global Climate Risk Index.

In response, many organizations have shown interest in improving the conditions in the Philippines through various programs and projects. Here are five organizations that have stepped up to address hunger in the Philippines.

Action Against Hunger

Action Against Hunger is an organization that has worked in the Philippines since 2000. Since then, it has aided a total of 302,014 Filipinos in poverty to improve various aspects of their daily lives.

In particular, the organization has reached 2,000 people with nutrition and health, 221,820 people with water and sanitation and 73,207 people with food security and livelihood programs. Action Against Hunger also focuses on community-led initiatives within the areas affected by armed conflicts and natural disasters.

World Food Programme

World Food Programme (WFP) tackles hunger in the Philippines with an emphasis on rebuilding communities. For example, its food and cash assistance programs provide aid in exchange for participation in vocational skill training and asset creation activities.

One major program of the WFP is Fill the Nutrient Gap, which aims to address malnutrition among children which can cause health issues like stunted growth. In the Philippines, 33% of children aged 5 or younger, which amounts to 4 million children, are less likely to reach their full mental and physical potential due to stunted growth. To address these issues, Fill the Nutrient Gap has helped identify and prioritize certain policies and program packages. Its goal is to improve nutrient intake for target groups through increased availability of nutritious food. The program resulted in various recommendations on health, social welfare and food processing policies for the country.

The organization also provides school meals to more than 60,000 children in the areas of Maguindanao, Lanao del Norte and Lanao del Sur in the Philippines. In addition, WFP deals with early childhood nutrition. WFP encourages certain products like micronutrient powder for children aged 6 months to 23 months and fortified food for those under 3 years old.

Feed the Children

Feed the Children has battled hunger in the Philippines since 1984. Its programs have positively influenced more than 283,000 people in 38 communities. Through the use of Child-Focused Community Development (CFCD), the organization helps children overcome both short-term and long-term hunger issues.

The CFCD approach works with vulnerable and at-risk children as well as their caregivers and communities. Through this program, Feed the Children has provided caregivers with necessary training and resource provisions required to feed families, build clean communities and increase access to education.  As a result, it was able to achieve the goal of cultivating appropriate conditions required for thriving, specifically in terms of food and nutrition security.

FEED aids Filipinos in many areas, such as improving childhood nutrition and development or training on water and sanitation. It also utilizes the idea of child-managed savings groups to teach financial management to children and allow them to develop savings for food and family use.

Rise Against Hunger Philippines

Rise Against Hunger Philippines is an international organization focused on the distribution of food and relief aid. Its primary goal is to provide packaged meals and facilitate shipments of donated products like medical supplies, water and food. Numerous volunteers contribute by packaging meals that contain an array of micronutrients vital for human growth and sustainability. So far, the organization was able to supply 20.75 million meals to the Philippines, saving 1.4 million lives.

Rise Against Hunger Philippines also provides relief aid for natural disasters and political conflicts through vast networks that work to address various needs. Additionally, it has created safety net programs that provide nutrition and vocational skill training for the poor to transition out of poverty.

Food for the Hungry

Food for the Hungry (FH) has been active in the Philippines since 1978. Beginning with helping refugees, the organization has expanded its efforts to other developmental programs which include the issue of hunger. It has reached 23 different communities and sponsored 6,565 children in the Philippines.

With a significant portion of the Filipino population under the poverty line, FH has focused on long-term developmental programs. These are to create opportunities for improved nutrition and poverty reduction. To create foundations for self-sufficiency, FH employs a four-phase community development plan in Filipino communities.

Phase One begins with discovering the risks and needs of the people, especially in regards to the children. Phase Two is where local government and community leaders come together with FH. From there, they develop action plans that would create livelihood programs and training for future leaders. Subsequently, Phase Three promotes these development projects, handles solutions for health and reduces disaster-related risks. The main goal in this phase is to reduce food insecurity in the event of natural disasters or political conflicts. Finally, Phase Four evaluates how people’s needs were properly addressed and how the community gained a sense of independence in food provision.

These five organizations are just a glimpse of the work that some are doing to help reduce hunger in the Philippines. They have implemented a wide variety of plans to help reduce poverty and provide nutritional meals to the poor. Furthermore, there have been additional efforts in helping people maintain a healthy lifestyle. Nonetheless, even with the progress, more aid would help combat the ever-imminent issue of hunger in the Philippines.

– Kiana Powers
Photo: USAID

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Top 10 Countries That Lack Access to Clean Water

lack access to clean water
About 2.1 billion people around the world do not have access to clean running water and sanitation facilities. Another 2.3 billion people do not have the luxury of accessing toilets. Clean water is important because it is directly linked to “better health, reductions in parasitic infections, increased child growth and lower morbidity and mortality.” Here are 10 countries that lack access to clean water.

10 Countries That Lack Access to Clean Water

  1. Afghanistan: With only 22 percent of its population having access to clean water, Afghanistan has one of the lowest rates of clean water access in the world. About 87 percent of the nation’s water is contaminated.
  2. Cambodia: Since the majority of the population is dependent on catching and storing rainwater, it leaves an estimated 84 percent of the population with no access to water. This leaves 5 percent of the population dependent on water deliveries.
  3. Congo: 75 percent of the country’s 51 million people do not have access to clean water. About 21 percent of people in rural areas can not reach pure water, which is double the level it was five years prior.
  4. Pakistan: Pakistan is known for having the biggest gap between the rich and poor when it comes to basic hygiene. This leaves 22 million people, or 64 percent of the nation, with no access to clean water.
  5. Uganda: About 40 percent of the population has to travel more than 30 minutes to reach drinkable water. A little over 61.1 percent of the 42.3 million population has access to safe drinking water.
  6. Ethiopia: The high mortality rate in Ethiopia is linked to the quality of water in the country. Due to poor water management and water-intensive farming, 60.9 percent of people have no access to water.
  7. Somalia: Water delivery systems have been destroyed due to post-war problems. This has left 60 percent of the population with no basic access to water and 11.7 percent of people consuming untreated surface water.
  8. Nigeria: Even though Nigeria is one of the fastest-improving countries in regards to water sanitation, 15 percent of its residents have no access to this vital resource.
  9. Chad: Chad has a square mileage of 800,000, which is three times the size of California. But only 15,000 square miles of the country has water. This leaves 33 percent of the nation’s population with the struggle of accessing clean running water.
  10. Syria: The Syrian conflict is hindering humanitarian aid agencies from delivering water and supplies. As of right now, only 10 percent of people lack access to water.

NGOs Helping On The Ground

While these populations of people are suffering due to their lack of access to safe, clean, drinkable water, there are many foundations and NGOs helping to fight this issue.

Water.org is an NGO focused on helping people find a way to be able to attain safe clean drinking water. The organization offers small and affordable loans called WaterCredit to help families obtain sanitized water. Water.org has helped more than 223,000 Ethiopians with improved water, sanitation and hygiene services. WaterCredit has also reached 40,000 people, providing them with clean water for five years.

UNICEF along with the Ministries of Rural Rehabilitation and Development, Public Health and Education, as well as local and global partners have come together to resolve the water crisis in Afghanistan. The plan is to end open defecation by 2025 by using their Community-Led Total Sanitation approach. This approach is a combination of “shock, shame, disgust and pride” to motivate people to build their own toilets. In 2017, the partnership has helped 300,000 Afghans reach clean and safe water. This initiative has also helped girls stay in school by installing washrooms so that they can manage their periods and feminine hygiene needs in school instead of staying home.

– Isabella Gonzalez
Photo: Flickr
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Six Organizations Fighting Hunger in Costa Rica

Hunger in Costa Rica
While Costa Rica is doing fairly well as an upper-class nation, there is still a portion of the country suffering from hunger. However, many organizations are able to do a number of things to reduce hunger in Costa Rica.

A group of students from the University of Costa Rica. In 2016, as part of the International Union of Food Science and Technology competition, 11 Costa Rican Food Science majors from the University of Costa Rica developed a nutritional grain called naji which can be used to make tortillas, empanadas, high-protein smoothies and cereal. The grain can help combat malnutrition in high poverty areas and can especially help improve the health of pregnant women in the Chorotega tribe in Costa Rica’s Guanacaste region.

Nadie con Hambre (No One Should Be Hungry). Nadie con Hambre is a string of non-profit Christian organizations. Their main tasks are to collect money and distribute food to low-income families in Costa Rica. One of their biggest food donations is rice; they have previously donated up to six tons of rice. Nadie con Hambre also benefits Fundacion Piedad (Mercy Foundation) which hosts six soup kitchens in low-income neighborhoods.

Costa Rica’s School Child and Adolescent Food and Nutrition Programme (PANEA).  This program is funded by Costa Rica’s central government and the Education board of each school in the country. This program is in charge of distributing healthy foods and promoting healthy eating among the students. PANEA also provides training for agricultural projects for schools to build gardens to grow their own food.

Scaling Up Nutrition. This organization promotes healthy living and nutrition in many countries, but it started operating in Costa Rica in 2014. Its main goal is to increase financial and human resources to work on malnutrition. Once Costa Rica became the fiftieth country to commit to Scaling Up Nutrition, chronic undernutrition in the country decreased.

Food for the Hungry. This federal organization fights world hunger in the name of Christian values and started its branch with Costa Rica in 2003.

ECLA World Hunger. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America helps more than 60 countries. One notable project with Costa Rica was to teach the people in El Jardin, who were working in harsh conditions and getting paid poorly, how to grow other crops and use agriculture efficiently.

There have been organizations fighting hunger in Costa Rica both internationally and regionally. Even though poverty has increased and decreased throughout the years in Costa Rica, people are still struggling, and it is important to continue to combat hunger in Costa Rica.

– Emma Majewski

Photo: Flickr