Hungry Billion

JaBig’s Big Journey is dedicated to and is in support of the one billion hungry people worldwide who urgently need food.

Global hunger statistics are beyond shocking:

- 1.02 billion people do not have enough to eat – more than the populations of USA, Canada and the European Union

- Every six seconds a child dies because of hunger and related causes (16,000 children a day!)

- Undernutrition contributes to 53 percent of the 9.7 million deaths of children under five each year in developing countries

- More than 60 percent of chronically hungry people are women

Hunger is a major reason behind many world tragedies:

- Hunger and malnutrition are among the root causes of poverty, illiteracy, disease and mortality of millions of people in developing countries. (Source: WorldHunger.org)

- Hunger kills more people every year than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined!  (Source: WFP)

While The Big Journey is a personal pursuit of a lifelong dream and passion, as well as a multiple Guinness World Records setting project, the chief objective of the first round-the-world DJ tour by car is to bring urgent attention to the fact that as of 2010, there are one billion people on the planet who go to bed hungry because they do not have enough.

What is even more troubling is that global hunger is a problem that can be eliminated  and prevented in less than a decade. Did you know for instance that there is enough food in the world today for everyone to have the nourishment necessary for a healthy and productive life? (Source: WFP).

JaBig has taken it upon himself to raise awareness about the fact that one billion people worldwide are hungry and that this humanitarian crisis can be solved.

JaBig has chosen the United Nations World Food Program, the world’s largest humanitarian agency fighting hunger worldwide as his official partner charity to support by:

1) raising worldwide awareness and support about their many programs and campaigns through the hundreds of DJ sets, interviews, radio and TV appearances, newspaper, magazine and blog columns, tweets.

2) donating a 100% of proceeds generated by the special projects undertaken on the Big Journey (Beats for Life Tour) to the WFP for use in their fight against hunger (DJ fees, merchandise sales, web advertising revenues, stock photography royalties, album sales, workshops, speaking engagements and much, much more).

3) bringing attention to the fact that the WFP is a 100% dependent on voluntary donations and everyone can contribute to their effort no matter how small the donation (US $50 will provide a child with a nutritious lunch for an entire school year, allowing him or her to concentrate on learning as a quick example).

To put it bluntly, for the duration of the Big Journey (and beyond), JaBig will use every single opportunity presented to him, his team and his many supporters as a platform for bringing attention to global hunger and the World Food Programme’s worldwide relief efforts.

“The question is not whether we can end hunger, it’s whether we will.” –   Hillary Rodham Clinton, US Secretary of State

In future posts, JaBig will provide insight on why he chose the WFP as his official hunger relief partner agency for his Big Journey but as the world tour progresses and he finds himself in territories where the hunger relief agency is working, he will personally make a stop to document their great effort and lend a helping land and hopeful play a tune or two to bring joy to the beneficiaries and team members.