.png)
Brandi Wells
West Shore School News is a presentation of West Shore Educational Service District in partnership with Mason County Press and Oceana County Press.
By Rob Alway, Editor-in-Chief
LUDINGTON — Ludington High School junior Brandi Wells will be one of nine Michigan high school students who will be attending the World Food Prize Foundation Global Youth Institute next week. This year’s theme is Seeds of Opportunity: Bridging Generations and Cultivating Policy.
Brandi, the daughter of J.B. Wells and Tia Wells, wrote an essay last school year for advanced food science class, taught by Jennifer Rowe. The 2,000-word essay, titled “Venezuela, Water Scarcity and Malnutrition” addressed a way to decrease scarcity and malnutrition by managing groundwater in Venezuela.
Brandi’s inspiration for the essay topic was based on a mission trip that her pastor, Brian Blont of Lighthouse Baptist Church in Hamlin Township, spoke about in church.
“Something that he talked about was how the people in Venezuela don’t even have access to basic commodities like milk,” Brandi said. “Plus, so much of their diet is based on greasy and fatty goods that it severely impacts their health.”
Brandi initially submitted her essay to the Michigan Youth Institute at Michigan State University. She was then invited to participate in the institute’s World Food Prize event in May. The Michigan Youth Institute connects students in grades 7-12 with local leaders and experts on critical global challenges. They participate in hands-on activities and explore way to make a difference in Michigan and around the world.
The institute is hosted by MSU with support from the MSU College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Michigan 4-H, Michigan 4-H Foundation, MSU Extension, Michigan FFA (Future Farmers of America) and MSU International Studies and Programs.
Brandi’s essay was then accepted into the Global Youth Institute which takes place Monday, Oct. 29 through Thursday, Oct. 31 in Des Moines, Iowa. The trip is paid for by the Michigan Youth Institute.
Rowe said this is the fourth year that a LHS student has been sent to the Global Youth Institute.
According to its website, the World Food Prize Foundation’s mission is to elevate innovations and inspire action to sustainably increase the quality, quantity and availability of food for all.
Since it began in 1994, over 4,000 students have attended the Global Youth Institute. The event includes a variety of programs and immersion experiences.
“This program has amazing speakers and lots of interaction with professionals and students,” Rowe said. “It’s going to be a great experience and we here at LHS are very proud that Brandi will be representing us.”
Brandi’s essay:
Brandi Wells
Ludington High School
Ludington, MI, USA
Venezuela, Water Scarcity and Malnutrition
Venezuela: A Way to Decrease Water Scarcity and Malnutrition by Managing Groundwater
Venezuela is on the coastline, yet it struggles to provide enough food and water for its residents. Food is distributed by the government, which means families are limited in how much food they can have. In most cases, the food families are given is not enough to keep the family healthy, and most children only get 1-2 meals a day. In this essay, we will explore a way to decrease the water and food scarcity problem in Venezuela, aiming to stop the death of the 27.4% of Venezuelan kids who die due to malnutrition every year (The New Humanitarian).
Most families have between 3-6 kids and live in 3-bedroom houses very close to other houses (Cultural Atlas). They only eat 1-2 meals a day; most skip breakfast and go right to lunch. The typical meal consists of corn, rice, beans, and meat. They have a low diet quality and poor quantity of meals. The food is normally distributed by the government and is fried at home. This leads to low quantity and bad quality meals. Having fried food every day can severely affect the digestive tract and can cause people to get sick or develop diseases (Wikipedia). The leading cause of death in Venezuela is heart disease. This heart disease is caused by a buildup of plaque which moves to the arteries rather than the heart and brain. This can be caused by hereditary means or an unhealthy diet. Families can’t just go to a grocery store and get whatever they want. To prevent heart disease, you can eat fresh fruits and vegetables, leafy greens, fat-free or low-fat dairy products, and lean meat (PubMed Central). The majority of people in Venezuela work while their children are in school. Some people in Venezuela are farmers, but due to the recent decrease in water, farmers haven’t been able to produce enough resources to support their country. Since 2011, the Great Housing Mission of Venezuela has provided decent homes for low-income families for an affordable low price or for free. Most people work in factories for 8 hours a day, and their monthly pay is only $145(veja.abril.com).
Health care is very limited. Not only is it expensive, but the quality of care is bad. Venezuela has a lack of medicine and basic medical necessities. Along with not having clean water, it’s very hard to clean and take care of wounds(veja.abril.com). Only 18% of the country has access to clean water, but still, are limited to the amount that can be used. That means that 82% of Venezuelans don’t have any clean drinking water to drink and stay hydrated. The population in Venezuela was growing until 2016 when locals began to leave due to the controlling government. Since 2015 there have been 7.7 million refugees from Venezuela. People in Venezuela have toilets but no water to flush. This is very unsanitary and can cause physical problems because people can be exposed to harmful bacteria (APNews). Venezuela does have roads, but most locals can’t afford cars or keep their cars running due to hyperinflation. This leads a lot of people to use buses and trains, and some even result in using the jungle to get around. This is very unsafe because there are a lot of dangerous animals and plants in the jungle that they are exposed to every day (Iexplore).
Venezuela needs solutions. I believe the best way to do that is by setting up filtered wells in central Venezuelan cities (wells for Sudan), having a local greenhouse to provide fresh food to locals, and giving out instructional flyers to adults so they can learn how to take care of the wells and greenhouses.
Building wells is a great way to get fresh water to a centralized location; this has been done all over the world. Embrace Relief is an organization dedicated to building wells in countries that need water. They have a website that makes it easy to donate money, build a well, or repair a well. All you do is click a button and donate money. People get more encouraged to do this with the incentive of having their name on them. This is a great idea by (Embrace Relief) and it seems to be very successful because they have built more than 800 water wells and given clean water to over 800,000 people to this day. If we could get in contact with Embrace Relief, we could add our project to their website for people to donate if they choose. I could help this by encouraging people in my community to donate online and raising money specifically for wells in Venezuela (embrace relief.org). We could also partner with local food stores like Walmart. Walmart has a button pop up on their checkout page after every purchase, and it asks you if you want to round up your change or donate a few dollars to charity. In December of 2022, Walmart raised 33 million dollars for Children’s Miracle Network within one month. If we could get Walmart to sponsor us for a month, we could raise enough money to build 75,000 wells (click2houston.com). The advantages of water wells are amazing. Wells have a nearly endless water supply (30-50 years), it’s the most cost-effective way to deliver water to houses and towns, and water wells are a great way to obtain water in places that are too far away from water sources (beauchampwater.com). It takes between 1-2 weeks to plan, prep, and drill a well. The first step is finding the right spot to drill. It’s best to hire a professional well driller to plan the location of the well because they know the best spot to get the most water. Next is installation, you need to get the proper permits and have a set location for your well. Then, you can begin to drill and place the well. The next step is to test the well and its water to make sure everything works and the water is safe to drink. Finally, you need to purify the water. This is done by softening the water and filtering out minerals that could be damaging (suburbanwell.com).
Having a local greenhouse or garden in Venezuelan towns would be extremely impactful by providing locals with fresh fruits and vegetables when they need them. Venezuelan foods are distributed by the government, and they are typically fried; greasy fried foods are very bad for health. All the greasy foods people eat in Venezuela can cause heart disease, which is the leading cause of death in Venezuela. Providing healthy fresh food will decrease the amount of grease consumed and will then decrease the number of deaths in Venezuela. A greenhouse is typically a wooden frame with clear plastic or glass windows that allow sunlight in and keep bad weather and dangerous animals out. To build a greenhouse, you first need to pick your location. The location should be an area that locals can easily access but should also be out of the way so it doesn’t interfere with people’s lives negatively. The greenhouse also needs to be somewhere where it can get the most sunlight. For Venezuela, greenhouses on the south side of houses receive the most sunlight. Next, you need to pick your structure, the most common are stand-alone greenhouses, which are separate buildings and not attached to anything, or lean-to greenhouses, which are attached to a structure (lawnstarter.com). Both are great, but stand-alone greenhouses would last longer in Venezuela because they save more space and are a lot more sturdy, which comes in handy with the climate in Venezuela, considering that it storms an average of 300 nights a year according to (Atlas Obscura). After picking the type of greenhouse you want to use, you have to pick shapes and materials, you want the shape to fit well and be sturdy while still maximizing your space. Finally, you need workers and permits paid for to begin building your greenhouse. When you build your greenhouse with simple materials, the cost averages $250 – $1,500 per square foot, which is a lot less than the average $2,500-$15,000 greenhouse (lawnstarter.com). After building a greenhouse, you still need seeds, soil, and water. First, most seeds only cost $1- $2.50 per 1,000 seeds. After buying seeds, the produce seeds can then be reused to make more produce. Second, with the weather in Venezuela, the soil is moist and can be taken from a good place in the ground. Lastly, if we can install wells in Venezuela, the water for farming and the greenhouses can be taken from the wells. If not, rainwater could be collected in barrels because it doesn’t need to be filtered if it’s rainwater for the plants.
Have you ever bought something online or in a store that you had to assemble on your own? A cabinet or shelf? Well, normally when you have to assemble something, it will come with instructions. My original idea is to take common instructional flyers and turn them into learning devices. People in Venezuela don’t have the time to schedule classes because they work 8 hours a day and then come home to take care of their families. Therefore, if people can have instructional flyers on how to maintain wells or keep greenhouses running and organized, then it will lower the cost of maintenance and provide adults with more education as well as give adults the time to learn when they are free instead of having to make room for classes.
In conclusion, I believe that if Venezuela can be provided with wells, greenhouses, and instructions, then this will solve not only the water crisis but also malnutrition and hunger scarcity problems in Venezuela. We can eliminate the leading cause of death (heart disease) by providing organic non-fried foods to children and families in Venezuela.
_____________________
Please Support Local News
Receive daily MCP and OCP news briefings along with email news alerts for $10 a month. Your contribution will help us to continue to provide you with free local news.
The easiest way is to sign up for an automatic monthly payment on Paypal. Click this link.
Alternative methods:
- We can send you an invoice for a yearly payment of $120, which you can conveniently pay online or by check. If you are interested in this method, please email editor@mediagroup31.com and we can sign you up. You can also mail a yearly check for $120 to Media Group 31, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454 (please include your email address).
We appreciate all our readers regardless of whether they choose to continue to access our service for free or with a monthly financial support.
If you would like to support MCP/OCP but do not wish to receive daily emails, please consider sending a contribution to any of the above methods or pay by Venmo (@masoncountypress).
_____
This story and original photography are copyrighted © 2024, all rights reserved by Media Group 31, LLC, PO Box 21, Scottville, MI 49454. No portion of this story or images may be reproduced in any way, including print or broadcast, without expressed written consent.
As the services of Media Group 31, LLC are news services, the information posted within the sites are archivable for public record and historical posterity. For this reason it is the policy and practice of this company to not delete postings. It is the editor’s discretion to update or edit a story when/if new information becomes available. This may be done by editing the posted story or posting a new “follow-up” story. Media Group 31, LLC or any of its agents have the right to make any changes to this policy. Refer to Use Policy for more information.
Please consider helping to fund local news. Mason County Press and Oceana County Press are available for free thanks to the generous support of our advertisers and individuals. Three ways to help us: Venmo: @MasonCountyPress; Paypal: MasonCountyPress@gmail.com; Mail a check to PO BOX 21, Scottville, MI 49454.
.jpg)
