It may be disappointing for an Australian child to find an apple in their lunch box instead of a chocolate bar, but rarely will they find an empty lunch box. Fortunately, in Australia, child hunger is something most primary school children will never experience.
Many children around the world don't have enough food or the right kind of food, making it hard for them to focus at school.
The 2011 Young Australian of the Year and World Food Programme (WFP) Youth Representative, Jessica Watson, announced the Kids Fighting Hunger campaign at Wellers Hill State School in Queensland on 3 July.
'When I visited Laos with WFP last year, I witnessed the amazing impact that WFP school meals have on the lives of school children, their families and communities,' Jessica Watson said.
It costs only 25 cents to feed a child for a day, and only $50 to feed a child in school for a year through the WFP school meals [external website] program–supported by AusAID.
Australian primary school students are now being asked to learn about child hunger and join a campaign to help feed hungry children around the world.
The campaign will encourage children to take action through fundraising to reduce child hunger while helping them appreciate the good fortune their good fortune in living in Australia.
The campaign will run from July to September 2012. In October, Jessica Watson will visit the eight schools around the country that raise the most funds for WFP. All funds will support WFP's school meals programme in Laos.
How Australia helps WFP school feeding worldwide
Australia is a strong supporter of the school feeding programs run by WFP. Providing meals to vulnerable children at school is a proven way to increase enrolment, particularly among poor girls. It can also reduce the food burden on poor families by providing additional take-home food, an added incentive for parents to keep their children in school.
We know that hungry children, children that go to school on empty stomachs, do not learn. Australia is proud to have helped feed over half a million children in seven of the poorest countries around the world–Nicaragua, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Kenya, Laos and Myanmar.