Hunger

When looking at the list below, I saw a couple of stressor I could have chosen. The one that stuck out to me is the most was hunger, because I know a lot of kids that go to bed without food. I know from a personal point of view because a family member of mine has ten children and receives government assistance and she can barely take care of her kids. The amount that she receives is not enough when you have ten children and yourself. I try to help provide food for my cousin because there is not enough of food for the month in her house due to lack of money. There is a program called Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) it provides low-income families with additional resources to purchase food each month. SNAP is one of the most effective and efficiently run federal programs, and is one of the most responsive, providing additional assistance to needy families. The amount of SNAP money that is provided monthly goes by your income and how many children and adult in a family.

            As an educator I have seen kids come to school just to have a hot meal because they are not getting it at home. The state I live in has a program that feeds every child who attends a public school and lets them receive a healthy breakfast for free. When a child has a healthy breakfast he/she will do their best in school. One of the resources I found that educated me about hunger stated that hunger has been a huge effect on how a child performs at school. In fact, 9 out of 10 teachers say having a healthy breakfast is the key to academic achievement. It also says 9.8 millions kids more than ever get free or reduced price school breakfast on an average day. 10.6 millions Eligible kids go without.

The region I choose is Haiti, because like discussed in my previous blog many of the students at my school have come from this country and have faced hunger there ("No hunger problem" 2013). In Haiti 67% of the people go up to two days or more without food on a regular basis (Daniel, 2013). The children in this area are very effected by this nearly one fifth of the children are “stunted,” meaning that they are shorter than they should be and underweight which affects the brains and other organs (Kale Je, 2013). These staggering statistics just go to show how hunger can affect a child’s brain and learning. Hunger is an issue in the United States and many other countries that is effecting education or our children.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Daniel, T. (2013, June 6). Haiti hunger worse than ever. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/haiti-hunger-children_n_3420959.html     

Kale Je, A. (2013, October 14). Why is haiti hunger. Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19410-why-is-haiti-hungry

No kid hungry problem. (2013). Retrieved from  http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/overview?gclid=CMbY1_TG5LoCFS8S7Aodb2s