THE NOTICE, written in bold letters, read: “Reminder!!! Eat all you can. No Sharing (If you share, double pay).”

When it was flashed from a projector, grammar error and all, the students snickered. But it was also the inspiration for their gathering one cold afternoon at the Ateneo de Davao University’s mini auditorium.

The students, coming from colleges and universities in Davao City, decided to make a stand against the eat-all-you-can culture popularized by restaurants around the country. Their objective: Spread the value of “feed-all-you-can” and “share-your-plate.”

They call themselves the Youth Against Hunger (YAH).

Franklin Alipan, president of the student government of the University of Mindanao and one of those who joined the movement, said the youth, especially the students, could become powerful agents to shift the mindset of keeping food to oneself to one of giving food to others, especially to the needy.

Human rights issue

“This is the best time for the youth to act on a very pressing human rights issue. Many people, especially children, are dying because of hunger,” Alipan said.

“They may be living just next to us, in depressed areas just next to our posh villages, the street across our house or our expensive universities, or in the evacuation centers of Maguindanao,” he said.

“People are hungry and they are all over, and people must act to end this suffering.”

Alipan lives in Pikit in North Cotabato, a town ravaged by fighting between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF).

“For someone like me, a resident of a war-affected town and where people have been dislocated from their villages, I have seen children and women suffer hunger, and the image is beyond description,” he said.

“But what is more disheartening, I just realized, is the fact that while they were dying in hunger in the evacuation centers, somewhere else, food are going to waste and not being shared,” he said.

School partners

The Youth Against Hunger is organized by Aksyon Mindanao, who partnered with the Ateneo Junior Jaycees, University of Mindanao Jaycees, and the student organizations of University of Mindanao, Ateneo de Davao University, and the Holy Cross of Davao College.

Joseph Germin Umadhay Jr., national secretary general of Aksyon Mindanao and representative of the Fraternal Order of St. Thomas More of the Ateneo de Davao Law School, said the idea of recruiting students to become “warriors against poverty and hunger” was inspired by what Jesuit priest Albert Alejo thought on the eat-all-you-can culture.

“I did not know that people will be picking it up. It’s a good thing that they are inspired to do something out of the inspiration that they got from it,” said Alejo, who is also an activist and a poet.

He explained: “I have noticed that we have all sorts of games, like trip to Jerusalem where we put, say, six children to dance around five chairs. These children grab chairs and survive the game at the expense of someone else. It goes to show that there is not enough for everyone as we try to elbow our way to survival or success, at the expense of the weaker ones.”

Sharing and cooperation

“And we have all these eat-all-you can promos that encourage a person to become antisocial. Over the years, this value has been instilled in us and nourished within us. With what many of the Filipinos are facing now, sharing and cooperation is something that must be done with each other. Instead of keeping food to yourself, why don’t you give some to others and feed them?” Alejo said.

Umadhay said the movement would start feeding children and women in depressed communities in Davao City and hoped to immediately expand their mission outside the city and reach even the evacuees of Maguindanao.

“We aim for sustainable relief and not the quick one,” Umadhay said.

In its concept paper, the YAH said it aimed primarily to “feed the most vulnerable, most marginalized and most disenfranchised sectors of the society through a range of fundraising activities that are mutually beneficial and enriching among the partner institution.”

3 components

Its program has three components:

• Actual feeding to hunger hot spots, and monitoring and evaluation to come up with a deliberate, purpose targeting to the hungry and marginalized groups.

• Fund raising and other activities to facilitate and coordinate the organizations involved.

• Research to generate information in its fight against poverty and hunger, and its advocacy to address policy gaps and bottlenecks.

Umadhay said the movement envisioned a youth living virtue of generosity and volunteerism.

It will seek support from local government units and policy makers in fighting poverty and hunger, complement similar programs of the government and private groups, and develop Davao City as a model society in carrying out its cause.

Guiding principles

“Compassion, selflessness, volunteerism, transparency and accountability, teamwork, and generosity,” Umadhay enumerated its guiding principles.

The movement strategically partnered with the academe, NGOs, private and business sectors, religious groups, government agencies and international aid agencies, like the World Food Program (WFP).

Senator Francis Pangilinan, in a message read during the launching of the YAH on July 4, expressed appreciation over its efforts.

“It is not an easy task. It is a very serious undertaking, and it will take all our efforts to end poverty,” he said.

He stressed that the best way to alleviate poverty was not to give doles but teach people how to access food the sustainable way.

“I have always believed that the youth is the essential constituent in nation-building. We have all been young once. We all know the energy, the wide-eyed enthusiasm, the unadulterated passion to make a difference, the anticipation that the future is bound with potentials. These are the things we remember when we look back on our younger years,” Pangilinan said.

Those things, he said, must stay with the youth.

Alghassim Wurie, WFP ad interim country director, said he was very impressed by the noble objective of the movement.

“For the youth here to come together with an idea that is hoped to lessen poverty is phenomenal. We are here to support them,” Wurie said.