“If I am hungry, that’s a material problem.  If someone else is hungry, that’s a spiritual problem.” — Dr. Paul Farmer

We understand that addressing hunger is an ongoing endeavor that requires a multi-dimensional, multi-year approach. We are in a time of great divisions and great hunger in the world. Can a song about a forgotten grain bring us together and help solve the hunger crisis? To singer-songwriter Falu and her team, the answer was a resounding yes. The result is this beautiful, powerful, accessible song, “Abundance in Millets.”

Hunger

Imagine the despair of a mother who knows she can’t feed her hungry children. Sadly, millions of mothers around the world do not need to imagine it. They live it every day.

Worse yet, hunger does not exist in isolation. It is embedded with many other social ills —     conflict and war, an ever-changing climate making once fertile lands no longer so, impoverishment of the mind, and, ultimately, the greatest ill, the suffering of individual human dignity.

Hunger is not indiscriminate. The forgotten and shunned — whether they be of indigenous communities or people who “don’t fit in” are the largest sufferers.  

Millets

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day.  Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” -  Lao Tzu

Reliable, sustainable, accessible sources of food are paramount in enabling individuals, their communities, and society at large to ultimately make the changes that need to happen in the modern day.

Millets are historically important, but recently forgotten, grains that provide promise to these ends.  They are rich in most of the nutrients we rely on to live healthy, productive lives: calcium, zinc, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, and protein. They are gluten-free and low in carbohydrates.

Most importantly, millets can be grown and harvested in a variety of soil and climate conditions. They are heartier than many other grains and, as such, amenable to the lands and climates that many of the world’s hungry live in. As with other grains, they are critical ingredients to numerous food products such as porridges and flatbreads. Also, like other grains, millets can be used for protein-rich feed for livestock.

Looking ahead, along with other partners, we are exploring the full supply chain of millets “from farm to table” to advance ways to integrate Abundance in Millets into the very fabric of teaching local communities to “feed themselves for a lifetime.”  Although this movement originates in India, it is intended for Africa, the Middle East, the rest of Asia, the Americas and anywhere that hunger persists.