What’s in a name? Everything. The reason our project is called “The Hunger Code” is because the problem can became the solution. Like most people, I used to switch off when faced with the overwhelming complexities of the global food trade and the varied reasons why people go hungry. It just seemed easier to donate some money and then forget it. The complexity of it all seemed like a code, a giant mathematical problem too difficult to unravel.
For me, the light-bulb moment came a few months after attending the Global FoodBanking Network’s conference in Texas. I had been discussing the issue of logistics with some of the delegates, and had learned that Feeding America has an internal system for sharing out grocery donations between its various Food Banks. One Food Bank may have a surplus of potatoes, for example, but be short on cereal boxes. So they trade these goods internally. I found out that no-one was aware of anything like this existing on a global scale.
This gem remained at the back of my mind until I was discussing the breaking of the Enigma Code in WWII with a friend. The Third Reich had created a very complex code, so the British Government called in some of the best minds to break it using one of the first computers.
It was then that I realised the blindingly obvious answer – that while hunger appears to have the complexity of a code, in reality it is code which can provide the answer. A global logistic system, taking into account factors like the environment, local economic conditions and so on could provide the solution for getting surplus food to where it is needed. A system which any food related organisation can access. One which matches up supply, demand and transport capacity.
It’s a system that’s badly needed – so join us in breaking the Hunger Code!
For me, the light-bulb moment came a few months after attending the Global FoodBanking Network’s conference in Texas. I had been discussing the issue of logistics with some of the delegates, and had learned that Feeding America has an internal system for sharing out grocery donations between its various Food Banks. One Food Bank may have a surplus of potatoes, for example, but be short on cereal boxes. So they trade these goods internally. I found out that no-one was aware of anything like this existing on a global scale.
This gem remained at the back of my mind until I was discussing the breaking of the Enigma Code in WWII with a friend. The Third Reich had created a very complex code, so the British Government called in some of the best minds to break it using one of the first computers.
It was then that I realised the blindingly obvious answer – that while hunger appears to have the complexity of a code, in reality it is code which can provide the answer. A global logistic system, taking into account factors like the environment, local economic conditions and so on could provide the solution for getting surplus food to where it is needed. A system which any food related organisation can access. One which matches up supply, demand and transport capacity.
It’s a system that’s badly needed – so join us in breaking the Hunger Code!
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