Feed a child, bring a smile

A Monday morning and I am late for college. What do I do? I skip breakfast. And what is the consequence? I am unable to concentrate in the class as I am hungry. This is a rare occurrence for me as I usually don’t skip breakfast. But the days when I skip, my whole day is ruined! If this is the condition of a 21 year old because of just missing a meal, think about the thousands of children who go hungry everyday!
Food, clothing and shelter are the basic necessities of life. This is what we are taught in school. And why do we go to school? Because education is the means to fulfill our basic necessities when we grow up. And hence education also becomes a basic necessity. But there are many children in India who don’t go to school. Reason? Poverty! And what do they do instead of going to school? They are forced to work along with their parents to fill their stomach. These parents though wish for a better life for their children and want to send them to school are helpless because their first priority is to feed their children and many times the only way that they can do it is by making the children also work. If such is the situation of children- the future of our country how can we become a developed nation?
The government has tried to do its bit by providing free and compulsory primary education. But how can children study if they are hungry? Can a child be cheerful and participate actively in the school activities if he or she is hungry? Definitely not!
But many a times we have extra food in our homes. We have seen food being wasted at functions. But we don’t bother much about it because we think it is with our money that we have bought the food and what we do with it is solely our decision. But isn’t it better to feed someone with the excess food rather than wasting it? And by excess food I only mean excess freshly cooked food and not stale food!
So what can we do to feed these poor kids? Akshaya Patra has been doing a great work in this regard. It has been feeding so many children who would have skipped school if it wasn’t for the meals that they provided. I have had the opportunity of visiting one kitchen of Akshaya Patra situated here in Hubli and I must say the cleanliness and the hygiene they maintain is praiseworthy! Can we also not do our bit?
We can all eliminate classroom hunger if each one of us would stop wasting food. Cook whatever quantity is required and in case there is excess, feed a child when the food is still fresh. When there are weddings and other functions we often see that a lot of food is wasted. We can see that it does not happen by giving away the extra food to nearby orphanages. Instead of having big celebrations for occasions we could donate the money to feed the hungry. These are just a few ways and each of us can help in our own way.
Just imagine how developed our country would be if each child went to school and also had proper nutritious food? Many problems that we face today would be reduced. If we had an educated younger generation, the problem of poverty could be reduced by a great extent. The dream of making India developed would only be possible if we have a healthy India and that can be made possible if each child gets healthy, nutritious food. The smile on the faces of these poor children if they get even one meal per day will bring a smile on our faces too! Let us pledge not to waste food and feed someone instead. Let young India be hungry for knowledge and not for food!
I am doing a little bit in this regard by writing this post and BlogAdda is going to sponsor a child’s food for an year. Thank you BlogAdda for this initiative.
I am going to #BlogToFeedAChild with Akshaya Patra and BlogAdda.