The hunger report and the weight of tomorrow

Came across that report about 16 million Nigerians facing hunger crisis by 2027. Nwanne, I just sat down for a long time after reading it. Not because the number surprised me. I see it every day in the faces of young people who come to my office asking if I know any company hiring. I see it in the mothers at the market who now buy half of what they bought last year.

The thing about life is, we can read these reports and feel overwhelmed or we can let them wake us up to something. In my counseling experience, I have noticed that when people are hungry, hope is the first thing that leaves. Not faith, not prayer. Hope. A young man who cannot feed himself will struggle to believe that tomorrow holds anything good for him. I have seen it happen too many times.

But here is what I keep telling myself and the people around me. God is not a vending machine. He will not drop food from heaven because we prayed once. He gave us hands, brains, and each other. Maybe the question we should sit with is not just 'who will help us' but 'what can we do with what we have, right where we are'. It is a heavy thought for a Monday evening.