Students launch Africa Hunger Alert.

• Author: Kirby, Alan
• Position: International Grassroots Campaign

Every autumn, my 12th grade German-language students, together with our German club, choose an international crisis and then adopt a plan of action to solve it. This year, we decided that we had to do something about the famine that currently threatens some 40 million Africans, many of them children, with death by starvation.

Coupled with the AIDS pandemic in Africa, we believe famine is the most severe problem facing the world today. Shockingly, at least here in the United States, it gets little or no press coverage on the evening news or in the newspapers. We learned that in order to prevent millions of deaths, more money was needed; therefore, our mission was simple--to raise awareness of the problem and raise money.

We were often asked how the German-language students came to be involved in this project. First, students of a foreign language gain an appreciation of foreign cultures and start to see themselves as global citizens who do not see a crisis outside of their borders as "not our problem'. One of the many ways we promote global citizenship is by hosting German exchange students every spring and travelling to our sister high school in Germany every summer. Most of my students have been both hosts to exchange students in their homes and guests in Germany as well. Secondly, as students, it is our duty to act when people are suffering. We do an extensive unit on the holocaust, and many of my students are motivated afterwards to help others in need, to speak out and take action. One of the lessons of the holocaust is that good people cannot just stand by and let terrible things happen to other people, and we are using these lessons from German history to make a more positive world today.

We chose to work on the African problem, because the problems in that continent tend to be ignored. As American Congressman Frank Wolf of Virginia stated: "Does anyone really believe that the world would turn a blind eye if this crisis were unfolding in France or Australia?"

We began our project in September 2002 by collecting change in our lunchroom and aluminum cans to recycle. After researching various aid agencies, we decided to send all the proceeds to the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP).

In November 2002, when the situation began to deteriorate, especially in Ethiopia, we decided to hold a candlelight vigil to raise awareness and money. We e-mailed people in WFP advising them of our plans and asking for assistance with the project. A...