Jerome Novotny , OMI – Who are the Poor? It is difficult for me to look at a photograph of a hungry child and simply turn the page. Perhaps it is because I have spent so many years working with young people at Kochi University and traveling across Asia to share the pro-life message. When you look into the face of a child who does not have enough to eat, hunger is no longer just a statistic. It has a face. It is a face of a little boy or girl who is hungry today and whose parents may not know where tomorrow’s food will come from.
Most of us rarely have to ask that question. We open the refrigerator, walk into a supermarket, stop at a convenience store, or sit down at a restaurant and expect food to be there. We may even throw some of it away without giving it much thought. Yet somewhere else in our world, a mother may be wondering how she will feed her children that evening. That contrast troubles me. We live in a world that has made tremendous progress in science, medicine, technology, and agriculture. We know how to produce enormous amounts of food. Yet one of the oldest forms of human suffering remains with us: hunger.
Perhaps this gives us an opportunity to rediscover some of the basic values of humanity and the human bonds that connect us. We have it in our hands to learn something about our world and about ourselves. One lesson we desperately need to learn is how serious hunger still is. In our world today, about 673 million people suffer from hunger. Yes, 673 million human beings. United Nations FAO — The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2025
How many children worldwide suffer from hunger? The numbers are staggering. According to the latest estimates from UNICEF, the World Health Organization, and the World Bank, 42.8 million children under five suffer from wasting, meaning that they are dangerously thin for their height. Of these, 12.2 million suffer from severe wasting, the deadliest form. UNICEF — Malnutrition in Children
These are enormous numbers. But we should never forget that behind every number is a child—a little boy or girl who needs food, care, and love just as every other child does. Children are especially vulnerable to hunger because without adequate nutritious food, their bodies and brains cannot develop as they should. Malnutrition weakens their immune systems, leaves them vulnerable to disease, and can cause irreversible damage to their physical and cognitive development. In severe cases, it can lead to death. War against children does not always come in the form of bombs and bullets. Sometimes it comes through an empty bowl. Hunger can steal a child’s health, development, education, and hope for the future.
Hunger Among Children in Asia
Across Asia, millions of children continue to suffer from hunger, food poverty, and malnutrition. In Afghanistan, the situation remains critical. UNICEF reports that in 2026 about 3.7 million children under five are affected by wasting, with nearly 1 million suffering from severe wasting and at imminent risk of death. UNICEF — Afghanistan Humanitarian Appeal
In Pakistan, child malnutrition remains a major problem. In 2025, UNICEF-supported programs treated approximately 304,000 children for severe acute malnutrition. UNICEF — Pakistan Annual Report 2025
In India, the scale is enormous. UNICEF data indicate that about 40 percent of young children live in severe child food poverty, meaning that they consume diets from only two or fewer food groups. UNICEF also identifies India among 20 countries accounting for almost two-thirds of children globally living in severe child food poverty. UNICEF — Child Food Poverty Report
In Sri Lanka, children also continue to struggle with malnutrition. The country’s Ministry of Health reports that about 17 percent of children under five are stunted, 15 percent suffer from wasting, and 20 percent are underweight. The World Food Programme also reports that nearly one-third of Sri Lankan children under five are malnourished and that 39 percent of households have inadequate diets. Economic hardship and difficulty obtaining sufficient nutritious food continue to place many families under tremendous pressure. These statistics remind us again that hunger and malnutrition are not problems somewhere far away. They affect children and families throughout Asia, including communities much closer to us here in Japan. Sri Lanka Ministry of Health — Nutrition Statistics and World Food Programme — Sri Lanka
And in Yemen, years of conflict, economic hardship, and food insecurity have left children particularly vulnerable to hunger and malnutrition. In government-controlled areas, about 5 million people are currently facing crisis levels of acute food insecurity or worse, and conditions are expected to deteriorate further during 2026. World Food Programme — Yemen Food Crisis 2026
Perhaps one of the most disturbing aspects of child hunger is that it is often preventable. A child does not choose war, poverty, displacement, or hunger. Children inherit the consequences of decisions made by adults. Therefore, when we speak about a “war against children,” we must remember that the victims are not only those who die from violence. They also include the children who survive—but survive hungry. In countries where a hunger crisis exists, children are always among the most vulnerable. Millions of children around the world still go to bed hungry. Without adequate nutritious food, children cannot develop as they should and are at high risk of acute malnutrition.
Hunger Crisis — Why Does It Exist?
You may think one reason is that there simply is not enough food to go around. But consider this astonishing fact. The United Nations estimates that in 2022 the world wasted 1.05 billion tonnes of food—almost one-fifth of all food available to consumers. Households alone wasted more than one billion meals every single day. Think about that for a moment: more than one billion meals are thrown away every day while millions of people are hungry. United Nations Environment Programme — Food Waste
Here is another comparison. Estimates of what it would cost to end world hunger vary considerably depending on what programs and investments are included. One major study estimated that ending hunger by 2030 would require $39–50 billion in additional investment each year. Now compare that with this: in 2025, spending on food away from home in the United States—restaurants, takeout, and other prepared food—reached approximately $1.41 trillion. U.S. Department of Agriculture — Food Prices and Spending
What can we conclude from this? SHORTAGE OF FOOD IS NOT THE WHOLE PROBLEM. There is an enormous amount of food in our world. The problem is that too much of it is wasted, while millions of people do not have access to the food they need. War, poverty, displacement, high food prices, and broken systems of distribution all contribute to hunger. But I believe there is another reason we need to confront it, and it is much more personal. We can easily develop the attitude that feeding the hungry is someone else’s problem, not mine. This is what I call APATHY.
Andrew Daub, cofounder of Team Iron Will, once wrote, “A better way to describe moral relativism is MORAL APATHY—the absence of truth, interest, emotion, feeling, or concern in regard to morals. It’s feeling blah about right or wrong—too lazy or uninterested to make a decision.”
If we feel this way, we have not listened carefully to Jesus in Sacred Scripture. What does He say about having such an attitude? In John 6:1–13, Jesus and His disciples are faced with a hungry crowd of more than five thousand people. Jesus has spent the day feeding their souls, and He refuses to send them away without being concerned about their bodies. And so He says to Philip, “Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?” In Saint Mark’s version of the story, Jesus puts it even more plainly: “YOU give them something to eat.” (Mark 6:37)
The disciples want to send the crowds away to fend for themselves, but Jesus will not allow it. Now put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples. In the face of so much hunger, Jesus turns to us and says, “Give them something to eat.” Feeling helpless like the disciples did, we might be tempted to think that there is nothing we can do. In some cases, we might even be suffering ourselves and worrying about our own next meal. Even if we want to help, we may not know where to begin.
As followers of Christ, this is where our faith plays an important role. We believe that whatever we do with love can be multiplied by God many times over. So, even though none of us can solve world hunger on our own, we can begin to make a difference—and hopefully inspire others to action. Without urgent action, children will continue to suffer and die from hunger and malnutrition. There is something terribly wrong when our world can waste more than one billion meals every day while millions of children do not have enough to eat. We have an opportunity to help save many of these children. But we need to act. Let’s look at a few things that we can do.
Action One: Eat and Waste Less
We can begin with something very ordinary: the food in our own homes. Before buying more food, look at what is already in the refrigerator. Take only what you are likely to eat. Save leftovers rather than throwing them away. When eating at a restaurant, order what you can reasonably finish. These may sound like very small things, but changing our attitude toward food is an important first step.
We can go one step further. Once a week or once a month, we might give up something we normally buy—a restaurant meal, dessert, coffee, snack, or other small luxury—and put that money aside for people who are hungry. A young person may only be able to give a small amount, and that is all right. The important thing is to begin. Perhaps families, schools, parishes, and groups of friends could even keep a small “five loaves and two fish” fund. Every small sacrifice could go into that fund and eventually be donated to a trustworthy organization feeding hungry children and families.
There is also a spiritual benefit to this. Going without food or another comfort from time to time can become a powerful spiritual practice. Fasting helps us discipline our wills and reminds us that we do not need everything we want. More importantly, it can help us feel greater solidarity with people who go without food not because they choose to fast, but because they have nothing to eat. In this way, our small sacrifice can become someone else’s meal.
Action Two: Meet and Serve the Hungry
Giving money is important, but I believe we should also try, whenever possible, to meet the people we are helping. Look around your own community. Is there a food bank, soup kitchen, parish outreach program, children’s program, or organization helping struggling families? Could you volunteer once a month? Could your school, parish, or group collect food? Could you help prepare or serve a meal? If there is no program nearby, perhaps a few people could begin something simple.
And do not underestimate small acts. Bringing groceries to a struggling family, helping an elderly person who has difficulty shopping, supporting a local food collection, or inviting someone who is alone to share a meal are all ways of feeding the hungry. Something important happens when we meet people face to face. “The hungry” stop being an anonymous group somewhere far away. They become people with names, families, worries, hopes, and dreams.
There is a spiritual benefit here as well. We may discover that poverty does not always look the way we expect it to look. Meeting people personally can challenge our prejudices and help us recognize the dignity of every person. We become less likely to blame poor people for their situation when we have taken the time to listen to their stories. For Christians, these personal encounters can also help us recognize the face of Christ in the person standing before us.
Action Three: Pray—and Then Ask God What He Wants You to Do
Prayer should never become an excuse for doing nothing. Christian prayer should gradually move us toward love and action. The disciples could not feed that enormous crowd by themselves. Five loaves and two fish were obviously not enough. But they brought Jesus what they had. Jesus took their small offering and did something with it that they could never have accomplished by themselves.
We can do the same. Perhaps each morning we could simply pray: “Lord, show me one person I can help today.” At mealtime, we could occasionally remember and pray for families who do not have enough food. Parents and grandparents could teach children to say a short prayer for hungry children before meals. A parish or school could regularly pray for people suffering from hunger and then connect that prayer with a concrete project to help them. Prayer and action should go together.
Then we need to listen. God may be asking us to donate. He may be asking us to volunteer. He may be asking us to waste less. He may be asking us to notice someone close to us who is struggling. He may simply be asking us to begin with one small act of generosity. Prayer reminds us that we do not have to solve world hunger by ourselves. We offer God what we have and allow Him to use it.
Saint Teresa of Calcutta understood this very well. Her extraordinary service to the poorest of the poor was rooted in prayer. Before going out to care for the sick, hungry, abandoned, and dying, she and her sisters spent time before God. Mother Teresa once described herself as “a little pencil” in God’s hand. She understood that God could accomplish something beautiful through a person willing to be used by Him.
What we do may seem very small: one meal, one donation, one hour of volunteering, one less piece of food thrown into the garbage, or one person treated with greater compassion. But remember the five loaves and two fish. God did not ask the disciples to provide what they did not have. He asked them to give Him what they had.
Conclusion
God has created a world capable of producing an abundance of food. Yet hundreds of millions of people still experience hunger, millions of children suffer from malnutrition, and at the same time enormous amounts of food are thrown away. Something is wrong. But it is easy to point fingers at governments, organizations, wealthy countries, or other people. Jesus asks us to look first at ourselves and ask a much more personal question: What am I doing?
When Jesus looked at that hungry crowd, He did not tell His disciples to wait for someone else to solve the problem. He told them, “YOU give them something to eat.” Those words are also addressed to us. We all have different roles to play. Some can give money. Some can volunteer. Some can waste less food. Some can fast and give what they save to the poor. All of us can pray, and all of us can refuse to become indifferent to the suffering of another human being.
Someday, when we stand before God, Jesus tells us that one of the questions that will matter is how we treated those who were hungry: “For I was hungry and you gave me food.” (Matthew 25:35) The problem of world hunger may seem enormous, and what you or I can do may seem very small. But five loaves and two fish also seemed very small. They were enough when placed in the hands of Christ.
So let us listen to God, believe what He says, and take that first step forward.
