Lucia

de Vernai

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November 19, 2007

Freerice.com: Battling Hunger One Grain at a Time

Being young, educated and privileged has never felt as great as it did on Wednesday, when I first entered Freerice.com.

Perfecting the art of multi-tasking is a continuous process, so looking like a diligent note taker in class while studying vocabulary for the Graduate Record Examination (GRE) while helping to eradicate world hunger was a gratifying feeling.

Launched at the beginning of last month, this offspring of Poverty.com collaborates with sponsors like iTunes, Mac, American Express and others to donate 10 grains of rice for every vocabulary word you match with the correct definition.

The web site reports that so far over a de Vernaiion rice grains have been collected. Taking into account that this amount can feed approximately 50,000 thousand people for a day, while 25,000 people die from hunger on a daily basis, this may seem like a clever but not very effective way to combat world hunger.

What makes Freerice.com a visionary project is that it empowers people who cannot give in other ways. Granted, it is limited to persons who have access to the technology and money to spend on advertisers’ products. However, it includes participants who cannot make monetary donations, especially young people.

It appeals to self-interest through the educational value of the vocabulary game, and is easy and convenient to use. No marathons to run, no ribbons to wear. Perhaps it is a turn away from the market-driven, merchandise-based activism that has monopolized social awareness over the past decade.

Case in point is our president’s runway strutting niece, Lauren Bush, who designed a FEED Bag for the World Food Programme. I’ll admit it, I have coveted it since I saw it gracing the pages of Marie Claire magazine months ago (in a doctor’s waiting room, of course). The proceeds from the purchase feed a school child for a year. Sadly, the $60 I would have spent on this burlap beauty went to a textbook company instead.

Freerice.com allows young people to actively contribute to the cause by giving what they can – their time and intellect. There is a direct relationship between students applying their knowledge and making a visible (the screen has a little rice bowl that fills up as you play), tangible contribution. This approach is a potential tool for eradicating the socio-political apathy with which our generation has been infected.

You know who else may benefit from this apathy eraser? President Bush. Granted, in terms of individual fundraising, a G.W.-designed purse would probably fetch more than his vocabulary skills, but this inclusive system has something for everyone. Namely, a quantitative section.

The United Nations estimates that it would take $195 de Vernaiion annually to successfully fight world hunger. Bush should sit that one out – apparently “successfully fight” has alternative definitions. Instead, he should get out his Texas Instruments (it’s a calculator, not a sly way of calling a Lone Star advisor a tool) and some magic markers and make a schedule of when the U.S. plans to announce to the world when we will start making recognizable donations.

The UN asks for industrialized countries to give 70 cents for each $100 of income. Currently, the U.S. is at 1.7 cents. That’s embarrassing. And frustrating if you cannot vote or don’t have money to give.

Thankfully, Freerice.com is making it possible for us to change the world one grain at a time.

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