Thursday, May 15, 2008

St. Isidore and Free Rice

St. Isidore was born in the year 1070 at Madrid, Spain. He spent his earthly life as a farmer. His was a remarkable life for he cared for the gifts that he had and shared them to the most needy. He is the patron saint of farm workers.

In the country such as mine, the Philippines, a lot of people live through agriculture. Just recently when we started to feel the rice crisis, I particularly remember today the rice farmers who have toiled our lands long and hard every day so that we'll have something to eat for our meals. Filipinos are rice eaters. The rice crisis tells us that our food resources are not keeping up with the growing population, which will in turn result to more people going hungry. The environment likewise affects rice production for it is becoming harder to plant and harvest food because of the environmental changes. Moreover, agricultural lands are becoming less and less because these lands are being used either as residential or commercial areas. I pray that like St. Isidore, we will value our resources and be more concerned of our people and our environment.

And it is fitting that on St. Isidore's day that I found this game called Free Rice. It is a vocabulary game that promises donation of 20 grains of rice for each word that you get right to the United Nation's World Food Program. I played it myself, and I was able to donate 500 grains of rice. Maybe I should play this game more often!

No comments: