Our Conversation with two Professors on the Middle East
On September 18, 2022 our group was joined by Professor Barnes and Professor Al-tikriti. Dr. Barnes is a professor at the University of South Carolina. Her research focuses on culture and politics of resource use and environmental change. Her new book, Staple Security: Bread and Wheat in Egypt examines its role in Egyptian daily life and the threat of the possibility of bread not being available or tasting inadequate. Dr. Al-tikriti is a professor at the University of Mary Washington and was a member of the Doctors Without Borders Board of Directors from 2011 to 2017. He’s studied Istanbul, Cairo, and New York. They spoke to us about their research, misconceptions about the Middle East, and their time living and learning in the region. We’re lucky that our network had the opportunity to speak with them and that so many people came to our event!
Millions of young children and adults go to bed hungry in the Middle East and North Africa every night. For example, Yemen is considered the world's hungriest country, as more than 80% of Yemenis live below the poverty line; the country has been going through one of the worst humanitarian crisis, due to the ongoing violence. According to the World Food Programme, 13.4 million people in Syria are food insecure. Poverty is not the only reason for hunger in the Middle East, but also the conditions in the region. It is very difficult to grow crops in the Middle East due to the scarcity of water and the limited amount of arable land. Also, the Middle East and North Africa is heavily dependent on imports for food; according to the world bank, the Middle East and North Africa imports 50% of its food. Any amount that can be donated to our fund will greatly help children and adults who are struggling with their current food circumstances.
While we sent this link to our family and friends, currently our clubs are working on holding bake sales and drives, which are various ways we can utilize the individual communities at our schools to raise money for a joint cause!
If you're interested in donating click here
Letter Writing Campaign with Letters of Love
Within our respective clubs, across the country, we wrote letters in April-May of 2022 with the charity Letters of Love. “Letters of Love was an idea born in 2015 that primarily aimed at spreading smiles to refugee children through a handwritten letter. It has since then grown to become a youth-led international non-profit [501(c)(3)] organization based out of the United States of America that offers psychosocial support to refugee children through handwritten letters while creating a globally aware, empathetic citizenry of young leaders in classrooms.” Our clubs held activities where members had the opportunity to write heartwarming messages or draw cheery pictures. Working with Letters of Love was a fantastic way for our individual clubs to band together to hopefully bring some joy and light to refugee children. Here is the link to the charity: https://letters-of-love.org/.
NNMEC Partnership With Tearfund
Tearfund is a Christian charity that works on a variety of initiatives to combat poverty across the world. The organization has worked in over 50 countries, spanning Africa, the Middle East, Asia, and more! We will be hosting a zoom advocacy training session on November 27th with a member from the team at Tearfund to learn how we can support various issues relating to poverty, hunger, and natural disasters online and hear about stories that supported certain issues and had a significant impact. In addition, we are working with Tearfund to create and post advocacy petition pages that will get published on our site in the coming week!
