JULY 5, 2003

Malawi Investor Trip

Reflections from Carol Coonrod, Hunger Project trip leader to Malawi

"Sometimes we talk of the physical hunger of the world, but there's also a spiritual hunger and a longing in those of us who have their physical needs met. It's a real hunger to know that our lives make a difference - that there's a way for us to contribute to all of humanity. We hide that behind our sophistication or the things that we accumulate and we tend to distance ourselves from each other. Our Western cultures have somehow taught us to lose the importance of community and family, and the very essence of what makes us human beings.  

"I think what The Hunger Project allows us as investors to do, especially when we travel abroad, is that we get reconnected with humanity. And the vehicle for that is the hungry people themselves.  Within them we see the best of humanity being demonstrated and we find ourselves in that process. So the gift is that one thinks that we are going to Malawi in this case to demonstrate our solidarity, and yes we are doing that, but in truth the gift to us is we recover and rediscover who we are as human beings, and we come home with more of our humanity available to everyone else. Which I think is the best advertisement for The Hunger Project: that we go home with our hearts open, which is the way everyone wants to be."

Read more reflections from trip: Carol Coonrod, Mariana Maddocks