Dubai

The United Nations World Food Program website (WFP) estimates that there are 795 million undernourished people in the world today. With a world population of around 7.3 billion people, this means that one in nine people do not get enough to eat. In fact, hunger and malnutrition are the number one risk to health worldwide — greater than Aids, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

According to a report by the United Nations in 2013, one third of the world’s food is wasted. To make matters worse, this food waste that is discarded in landfills produces methane — a greenhouse gas that traps heat 20 times more effectively than carbon dioxide. While 45 per cent of children under the age of five die due to starvation, the world continues to replenish landfills with leftover food that ultimately contributes to climate change. Two extremes exist on our planet Earth — deprivation and gluttony. How can we reconcile them?

Perhaps with idea of sharing.

Gulf News spoke to our readers for their opinion on sharing food with the less fortunate in their communities. Most readers were open to the idea and had occasionally given leftover food to the staff who work in their buildings and in nearby supermarkets. Sophy Aqeel, a homemaker based in Sharjah, said: “When I have food left over, I give it to people who work at my neighbourhood grocery in Al Khan, Sharjah or to the security guards. They work very hard with 12 hour shifts, so I think they appreciate someone helping them out with a smile. I try and do it at least once a week because I feel like I have a moral obligation to my community.”

India-based Aashirvaad’s feel-good campaign #ServeUpLove believes in the power of small actions to make a big difference. It has revived the idea of sharing food as an act of goodwill, to inspire people to make small changes in their daily lives to positively affect the lives of others.

The “Share My Dabba” campaign by the Mumbai-based Dabbawala system of lunch delivery serves as a case study for this concept, and demonstrates its success in the real world.

Every day, the Dabbawalas deliver around 200,000 tiffin-boxes all across Mumbai. Their innovative initiative involves passing on leftover food in these ‘tiffins’ to hungry street children. In order to ensure that the food is shared, the person who has purchased the box must mark it with a “Share” sticker. The Dabbawalas then distribute this food to families who live in poor neighbourhoods.

The “Share My Dabba” initiative reveals an important difference between ‘giving’ and ‘sharing’. By using the word ‘Share’, it destigmatizes the act of giving food and forges an intangible bond between giver and receiver. Perhaps, it is a spirit of ‘sharing’ instead of ‘giving’ that can motivate people to help the less fortunate in their communities and begin to #ServeUpLove.

So, how much would it cost a household to share one meal in a week?

Sharjah-based graduate Fatima Suhail told Gulf News: “In my family, there is always extra food being cooked that we save for the next day. I would be more than happy to give that leftover food away to someone once a week. With respect to cost, I do not think that it will be a heavy burden on my expenses to make a little extra food — maybe between Dhs 10-15 per week for one person. My main concern is that sometimes I do not know who to give it to or how to approach them.”

For some readers, however, there are concerns other than cost that prevent them from sharing food. Indian homemaker Rihana Basheer explained: “Sometimes it can be a safety concern, which might prevent people from giving away food to people, especially if they are strangers. However, I do give away food to people I know like my security guards, after special occasions and dinner parties.”

Although readers were hesitant about approaching strangers to give them food, there was a positive reaction from individuals on the receiving end.

Gulf News spoke to Beeran Abdul Kadar, who works as a cleaner in Jumeirah 1. He said: “Not a lot of people in this building offer me food. There was one woman, however, who used to come and give me breakfast. She was very nice but she has moved out now.”

He explained that he always accepts food given to him and took no offence when she approached him.

Kadar said: “If someone gives me something from their heart, I will readily accept it. Of course, I appreciate it because I work here for the whole day and usually do not have time to cook and bring food with me.”

Ending world hunger is a daunting task. While it may not be feasible to feed hungry children who live on a different continent, it is possible to reach out and help people in the communities that we live in. Our actions have the power to change the status-quo of our society, which ultimately impacts our lives — it is a cycle of change that begins and ends with us.

So, how are you helping your local community? Would you take on an initiative to help people in your neighbourhood? Share your ideas with us on readers@gulfnews.com. You can post on our Facebook page or tweet us on @GNReaders

— The writer is an intern with the Readers Desk at Gulf News.