Feeding the future of the world

A colourful display of fancy dresses by underprivileged children and expats. Designer Emdad and celebrities seen in the centre (top); Painting by a physically challenged child being sold at the auction (bottom) Photo Courtesy: Saikat Mojumder

It's hard to concentrate when all you can think of is food. About 59 million children attend school hungry (according to a United Nations World Food Programme publication). Ninety-three percent children at primary schools in poor areas of Bangladesh are malnourished. This does not end here, however. It's a vicious cycle. An estimated 17 million babies born each year are underweight, inheriting hunger from their mothers, who are malnourished as well. The world's poor simply pass on their hunger from generation to generation.
Hunger, and the vitamin, mineral deficiencies it causes can leave children blind, intellectually and physically challenged. Their immune systems are weakened, and otherwise ordinary diseases like measles and diarrhoea can easily kill them. How many potential scientists, artists and athletes have we already lost then?
To address this global issue of hunger, The United Nations World Food Programme (UNWFP) and its partners initiated a campaign, “Walk the World”. The global advocacy event aims to achieve the first United Nations Millennium Development Goal of reducing the number of hungry people in the world by 2015.
As part of the campaign, once a year thousands of people, as part of a procession, take to the streets in each time zone. WFP Bangladesh currently assists 600,000 children in over 4,000 schools under its “Food for Education” (FFE) programme.
To raise funds for WFP's FFE programmes, under “Walk the World” campaign, a charity ball was held at the Winter Garden, Dhaka Sheraton Hotel on May 30. The event included a fashion show, painting auction, live performance by a band, raffle draw and more. Hundred percent of the proceeds from the event will go to WFP's “school feeding” programmes.
M. Emamul Haque, Head of External Relations, WFP explained how the programme works. “It takes only Tk 70 or US $1 to feed a school-going child for a month. I hope you'll look into your hearts and your pockets to contribute to this programme that provides food for children at schools,” he said. “The actual 'walk' will be held in Bangladesh on June 1,” he added.
The programme began with a fashion show. Alongside models, enthusiastic expats who agreed to walk the ramp for a good cause, displayed designs by Emdad Haque of 'Banglar Mela'. The highlight however, was children from schools under the FFE programme coyly accompanying the models to the tunes of “Sharthok jonomo amar”, “Esho shyamolo shundoro” and “Aaji Bangladesh-er hridoy hotey”. Celebrities Sharmin Lucky and Fahmida Nabi also sportingly joined in.
The painting auction was next. Paintings and drawings by children, donated by different schools were auctioned. Though it had a lukewarm start, the auction soon warmed up -- after the first 2/3 paintings, the starting bid was Tk 5,000. The auction saw generous bidders calling up to Tk 22,500. However, the latter bid was overtaken by an expat, who came up with an offer of USD 7, 500. The MCs rightly said, “You can't put a price on these paintings but your contribution will certainly go a long way.”
The event also included a “silent auction” of paintings by noted artists and live music performances.