Dear Baya,

         I’m really upset – again! I was just eating a really good supper when I turned on the TV and saw hundreds of babies and children starving in yet another famine in Africa. How can we allow this to happen? How is it that in a world where some countries are awash with so much food that they do not know what to do with the grain mountains, in much of the world millions go to bed hungry?

     I know there were terrible famines in the past, in  Japan, India and even in France and Ireland. But how was it that even in the 1930’s millions died of famine in Russia or even later, millions in China? Why is Africa now the land of famine?

     Please explain the main theories of the causes of famine and what can be done about them. Are famines the result of man or nature, or both? How did certain countries escape from famine and why are some still stuck in its shadow?

      Indeed, what is famine, and how does it differ from extreme malnutrition and what are its wider effects?

      It is a terrible accusation against our world that anyone should be hungry, let alone suffer the agony of dying by famine. We should all have some simple knowledge of what the reasons for famine are. We hear a lot about the supposed harm done by things like the World Bank or the International Monetary Fund. Are they the cure or the cause?

     Do explain a little of all this sadness to me.

                Your loving,

P.S. I thought of not eating my dinner or sending some of my pocket money to a charity. Would that help?