Fighting the Real Hunger Games

I have a confession to make: I spent my recent vacation reading not one, not two, but all three of the Hunger Games books. My wife convinced me to read the first book over our Christmas vacation, and before those two weeks were up, I had devoured all three books and waited with baited breath for the release of the blockbuster film last month.

The film paints a gruesome picture of a dystopian world where a small, ruling elite live a life of excess in the Capitol, exploiting and controlling their rural neighbors in the districts who live a life of fear and hunger in a marginalized, cast-off society. In the series, Katniss Everdeen is the courageous, headstrong heroine who defies the Capitol and wins the life-and-death Hunger Games competition.

Yet for nearly 1 billion people around the world, hunger is not a game. But its effect is every bit as deadly as it was for Katniss and her competitors. Every day, 22,000 children die from hunger-related illnesses. For those families, in the midst of skyrocketing prices for global food and severe droughts, the heroes and heroines of hunger in the real world are the millions of small-scale farmers who fight every day to feed and nourish their children. And as the G8 Summit approaches, we have the opportunity to empower these true heroes and heroines.

Every year, the heads of state from the eight wealthiest nations in the world gather together for the G8 Summit to privately discuss the world's most pressing security, economic and development issues. These summits typically take place in remote and luxurious locations, seemingly out of touch with the realities of hunger and poverty. World Vision has made a global commitment to engage these leaders before, during, and after the summits each year, but you may be asking yourself, "Why is this so important?" or "Why should I care?" Let me explain:

1. Life and death decisions are made at the G8. These are decisions that literally mean the difference between life and death for countless children and families in the most impoverished countries around the world. Despite an abundance of food worldwide, one in seven people goes to bed hungry every night, and the hidden crisis of malnutrition is evidenced by the reality that one in three deaths of children under five are due to hunger-related illness. The even greater tragedy is that our world possesses the knowledge, technology and tools to reverse severe drought, increase crop yields, and combat malnutrition.

2. Our voices really do make a difference in these decisions. Since the watershed 2005 G8 Summit in the United Kingdom where major commitments toward poverty assistance were made, these summits have served as pivotal moments to urge greater action from G8 leaders in the global poverty fight. It was the voices of millions of regular people like us that helped result in these world-changing decisions. I had the privilege of attending the largest, peaceful march in the history of Edinburgh during that 2005 summit where a broad range of advocates, including faith leaders, influenced G8 leaders to double anti-poverty assistance to Africa over five years. Since then, public support and pressure have led to life-saving commitments around food security in Italy in 2009 and child and maternal health in Canada in 2010.

3. 2012 is a critical year to fight hunger. A hunger crisis stretches from Somalia to Senegal. Food prices remain high and volatile. This year's G8 Summit on May 18-19 will be held at Camp David, about 70 miles outside Washington D.C., and as the host nation, President Obama wields a significant degree of power to determine what gets discussed. It's imperative that he continues to build on the precedent of past summits, addressing acute hunger and malnutrition around the world. A bigger and better initiative that targets food and nutrition security outcomes to improve upon the 2009 promises in L'Aquila, Italy is paramount.

Fortunately, the Obama Administration has signaled that efforts to combat global hunger and nutrition will be front and center on this year's agenda, but we can help make sure this happens. Too often we forget our calling to be a voice to the voiceless and the power we have as Christians to unite our voices in bringing people - even the world's most powerful leaders - to action and accountability.

Last week, World Vision created a way for us to do just that through Hunger Free-a global movement to end hunger. Share your voice online through Facebook, Twitter, and create expressions of "art activism" through the site to let the G8 leaders know you care about this issue. Hunger is not a game, and through Hunger Free, we have the ability to support the real-life heroes and heroines in the world's most acute hunger games.