30-Hour Famine

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For most of us, hunger is a signal to grab a bite – often with plenty of options to choose from. “What to eat?” is a question we ask daily.

But for those living in constant hunger, the question becomes “What is there to eat?” And when children go hungry, the effects ripple far beyond an empty stomach. Here are some ways hunger takes its toll:

Malnutrition

Nearly half of all deaths in children under five are linked to undernutrition1.

Poor nutrition can stunt growth or lead to obesity, weakening the body and

making children more vulnerable to illnesses.

Read: Meet Sunday and Blue

Loss of Opportunities

Hunger levels among the 250 million children currently out of school are significantly higher than those in school 2.

When children are hungry, they struggle to concentrate or are forced  to drop out and work, pushing their dreams further away.

Read: Hunger, the childhood thief

Risk of Exploitation

In the least developed countries, more than one in five children are engaged in child labour3.

Desperation can push children into dangerous situations like forced labour or early marriage, as their families struggle to survive.

Read: A mother’s heartbreaking choice

We’ve had enough of hunger, poverty, and lost potential. It’s time to act!

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Sources:

1UNICEF, World Health Organization and the World Bank, 2023
2World Food Programme, 2022
3UNICEF, 2024

Global Hunger Crisis

The global hunger crisis has surged since 2015, exacerbated by a combination of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflict and rising cost of living. While immediate food provision is essential, the complexity of the crisis requires a sustainable solution.

Hunger is more than the lack of food, it is also associated with the challenges that come with it such as insufficient nutrition and energy to study or work, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and hunger that is hard to break. Despite the world producing enough food for everyone, millions still face hunger.
LEARN MORE
PETER's STORY

Climate Change

Climate change stands as one of the major challenges of our time. Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation contribute to escalating greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating climate change at rates beyond our anticipation and posing a significant threat to life on Earth.

This leads to more frequent and intense weather events, including storms, heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires, causing widespread destruction, displacement of communities, and loss of lives.
LEARN MORE
ABDI's STORY

Conflict

Our world today faces an unprecedented level of global conflicts, disrupting peace to an extent warned by the United Nations as more threatening than any time since World War II.

From new and ongoing conflicts to long-standing wars in Afghanistan and Syria, it is apparent that we are living in a fragile landscape. Whether recent or lasting for decades, conflicts inflict widespread damage, destroying communities, disrupting social cohesion, imposing economic burdens, and extinguishing any hope of eliminating poverty.
LEARN MORE
EVA'S STORY

Global Hunger Crisis

The global hunger crisis has surged since 2015, exacerbated by a combination of factors including the COVID-19 pandemic, climate change, conflict and rising cost of living. While immediate food provision is essential, the complexity of the crisis requires a sustainable solution.

Hunger is more than the lack of food, it is also associated with the challenges that come with it such as insufficient nutrition and energy to study or work, perpetuating a cycle of poverty and hunger that is hard to break. Despite the world producing enough food for everyone, millions still face hunger.
LEARN MORE
PETER'S STORY

Climate Change

Climate change stands as one of the major challenges of our time. Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation contribute to escalating greenhouse gas emissions, accelerating climate change at rates beyond our anticipation and posing a significant threat to life on Earth.

This leads to more frequent and intense weather events, including storms, heatwaves, floods, droughts, and wildfires, causing widespread destruction, displacement of communities, and loss of lives.
LEARN MORE
ABDI'S STORY

Conflict

Click here
Our world today faces an unprecedented level of global conflicts, disrupting peace to an extent warned by the United Nations as more threatening than any time since World War II.

From new and ongoing conflicts to long-standing wars in Afghanistan and Syria, it is apparent that we are living in a fragile landscape. Whether recent or lasting for decades, conflicts inflict widespread damage, destroying communities, disrupting social cohesion, imposing economic burdens, and extinguishing any hope of eliminating poverty.
LEARN MORE
EVA'S STORY
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Blue is nine. Every day, he carries his
four-year-old brother, Sunday, seven kilometres to school, so he can get his only meal of the day.

Although five years apart, the brothers from Kenya share a bond forged by hardship. After their mother passed away, they were left in their aunt’s care. But with other children to feed, food is scarce.

Blue spends his afternoons tending to their few surviving goats and searching for wild berries. The berries aren’t particularly nutritious and can cause diarrhea, but offer momentarily relief from hunger.

Blue is malnourished, but Sunday is severely malnourished. He is too weak to talk, let alone walk. So Blue carries him everywhere.

When Sunday arrived at World Vision’s mobile health clinic, his tiny frame told his story. His weight and arm circumference measurement confirmed it—he was battling Severe Acute Malnutrition, the most dangerous form of malnutrition.

“I don’t go to school. I don’t do anything anymore. I just break stones.”

In Afghanistan, twelve-year-old Mujeb* is the sole provider for his family. If he doesn’t work, they don’t eat.

Every morning, instead of going to school, he heads to the mountains with his friend to break stones. The work is gruelling and dangerous—the rocks are too heavy, and one wrong move could trigger a deadly rock fall.

“The weather is so hot that my head gets hot, and sometimes when I break rocks, my nose bleeds.”

As he watches other children walking to school, he thinks: “I suffer from doing this hard job. These children are going to study, but I come here to break stones.”

For one carload of rocks, he and his friend earn just USD8 (approximately RM36), which they split to buy rice and flour for their families.

Mujeb dreams of becoming a teacher, but he wonders, “If I work here, how can I achieve my dream?” Hunger is stealing both his childhood and his dream.

*Name changed to protect identity.

Each night, when her daughters are hungry, Rita sings a heart-breaking lullaby:

“Baby sleep, today we do not have enough. Drink
water and sleep.”

As food prices soar in Nepal and work becomes scarce, feeding her children has become further and further out of reach for Rita. Her husband has crossed the border to India for work, but his meagre earnings can no longer sustain their six daughters.

Desperation has forced Rita into an impossible choice. She never thought she’d have to decide who gets to eat, who goes to school, and who has to work.

She didn’t want to do it, but decided t o send one daughter to be married and another to work, while a younger daughter has dropped out of school to help at home. It breaks Rita’s heart. She has always believed education is her daughters’ way out of poverty, but hunger is stealing that
dream.

10-year-old Peter from Kenya loves to learn and used to ace his tests, but had to quit school due to a lack of 50 shillings (approximately RM1.50). School was also where he was sheltered from hunger as they provided lunch. “School was better than at home,” he says.

Peter, the youngest of six children, is now a goat herder. The family used to have 10 goats, but six have died. His family’s livelihood is dwindling and they cannot afford to purchase sufficient food. With not enough to eat, Peter, who used to be a healthy and active boy, is hungry and lethargic, but he longs to return to school and fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.
10-year-old Peter from Kenya loves to learn and used to ace his tests, but had to quit school due to a lack of 50 shillings (approximately RM1.50). School was also where he was sheltered from hunger as they provided lunch. “School was better than at home,” he says.

Peter, the youngest of six children, is now a goat herder. The family used to have 10 goats, but six have died. His family’s livelihood is dwindling and they cannot afford to purchase sufficient food. With not enough to eat, Peter, who used to be a healthy and active boy, is hungry and lethargic, but he longs to return to school and fulfill his dream of becoming a teacher.
Abdi, a 13-year-old from Somalia, lives alone as his family migrates in search of pastures and water for their livestock during an ongoing drought. Tasked with guarding their home and farm, Abdi takes on the role of protecting his home, cutting what little wheat was left and storing it for the family.

“I would love to be with my family, but since I’m the oldest boy, my parents gave me these responsibilities. I’d love if there was someone else who can take my place so I can stay with my parents and siblings.” The prolonged drought has disrupted his education, forcing him to drop out, yet he dreams of restarting his education, and becoming a teacher to inspire and educate many children.
Abdi, a 13-year-old from Somalia, lives alone as his family migrates in search of pastures and water for their livestock during an ongoing drought. Tasked with guarding their home and farm, Abdi takes on the role of protecting his home, cutting what little wheat was left and storing it for the family.

“I would love to be with my family, but since I’m the oldest boy, my parents gave me these responsibilities. I’d love if there was someone else who can take my place so I can stay with my parents and siblings.” The prolonged drought has disrupted his education, forcing him to drop out, yet he dreams of restarting his education, and becoming a teacher to inspire and educate many children.
On a frigid December 2023 morning in western Ukraine, nine-year-old Eva begins her routine amid the turmoil and fear that has marked the past few years. Bundled in warm layers, she prepares for and walks to school with her older brother. Inside the dimly lit classroom, an air-alarm pierces the air and disrupts the Ukrainian language lesson after just 25 minutes.

The children, familiar with disruptions due to the ongoing war, evacuate in an organised manner to a cold, concrete shelter. “In the last year, I don’t remember a week without at least one class being disrupted,” explains Eva. As time slows down, Eva and her classmates spend more than two hours in the basement as their teacher tries to continue with the lesson.

Despite the challenges, children like Eva persevere, dreaming of a future free from air raid sirens and bombs. “I want to be an astrologist, but my greatest wish is for my father to return from war,” said Eva.
On a frigid December 2023 morning in western Ukraine, nine-year-old Eva begins her routine amid the turmoil and fear that has marked the past few years. Bundled in warm layers, she prepares for and walks to school with her older brother. Inside the dimly lit classroom, an air-alarm pierces the air and disrupts the Ukrainian language lesson after just 25 minutes.

The children, familiar with disruptions due to the ongoing war, evacuate in an organised manner to a cold, concrete shelter. “In the last year, I don’t remember a week without at least one class being disrupted,” explains Eva. As time slows down, Eva and her classmates spend more than two hours in the basement as their teacher tries to continue with the lesson.

Despite the challenges, children like Eva persevere, dreaming of a future free from air raid sirens and bombs. “I want to be an astrologist, but my greatest wish is for my father to return from war,” said Eva.

The World Bank estimates that between 2021 and 2022, roughly 2.7 million additional Sri Lankans have fallen into poverty. According to the World Food Programme’s latest food security assessment of Sri Lanka in 2022, three in 10 households across the country face food insecurity.

3 major factors

affecting livelihoods:

Lack of technology, skills and resources for sustainable livelihoods
A lack of agriculture facilities, technology and skills lead to poor harvests, meagre incomes and reduced food purchasing power
Lack of capacity to respond to natural disasters
Droughts, floods and COVID-19 can disrupt the livelihoods of vulnerable families
Inability to meet food needs
Those with no job opportunities or low household income are unable to meet their minimum food requirements

3 major effects

of poor livelihoods:

Unstable household income
Apart from food insecurity, families with insufficient household income are unable to pay for their children’s education, health needs and more
Many relocate to find work
Low levels of education and a lack of livelihood skills have caused many to move away from home to work as daily wage workers
High rates of malnutrition
Nutritious food cost more. Those who cannot afford it suffer from malnutrition

3 major factors

affecting livelihoods:

Lack of technology, skills and resources for sustainable livelihoods
A lack of agriculture facilities, technology and skills lead to poor harvests, meagre incomes and reduced food purchasing power
Lack of capacity to respond to natural disasters
Droughts, floods and COVID-19 can disrupt the livelihoods of vulnerable families
Inability to meet food needs
Those with no job opportunities or low household income are unable to meet their minimum food requirements

3 major effects

of poor livelihoods:

Unstable household income
Apart from food insecurity, families with insufficient household income are unable to pay for their children’s education, health needs and more
Many relocate to find work
Low levels of education and a lack of livelihood skills have caused many to move away from home to work as daily wage workers
High rates of malnutrition
Nutritious food cost more. Those who cannot afford it suffer from malnutrition
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