Hunger in Serbia by Paul Halloran

Empathy

paulhalloran1 — 2024-03-18 16:36:43 UTC

In Serbia, we empathized with the thousands of people who live on or below the poverty line and are therefore hungry. Through listening to other groups and their problem statements, we came to understand that their were many problems in common between other regions of the world. Although, our group felt that hunger was the most crucial aspect needed to tackle in Serbia

The Problem in Serbia

2024-03-18 16:50:18 UTC

In an ideal reality, every Serbian family is able to afford to eat three meals a day without any fear of it being unaffordable.

In reality, 5% of Serbian families live on less than $3 a day and are malnourished due to the lack of affordable meals and rising inflation costs.

This has led to tragic consequences such as Serbian children not being able to get the nutrition they need and families being forced to ration their own food over extended periods.

The root of this entire problem is the uncontrolled inflation of the Serbian market. This has made basic meals unattainable to many families.

2024-03-18 16:58:55 UTC

During this process, we were eager to develop a solution to help contribute to the end of hunger in Serbia. When we got to pick the resources for our prototype,

we slightly had a disadvantage. We did not have many resources to work with. What we were able to grab was a water bottle, a toilet paper roll, a piece

of cardboard paper, a hot glue gun, and a pair of scissors. The idea that came to mind was to build a system of growing food with reused and recycled plastics.

This not only helps grow food but also saves resources and cuts down on the use of plastic, which will end up helping the environment. We cut the top of the water

bottle which allowed space for the crop to grow up through it, and to get sunshine. The toilet paper roll duct taped to the part where you drink out of connects to where the soil and water would be which will be the main starters for the vegetables to grow.

paulhalloran1 — 2024-03-18 16:58:58 UTC

Through testing our prototype. We found that families were more easily able to grow vegetables on their land. Together, we helped reduce hunger in families and make sure they had vegetables with all three of their meals everyday by 50%. We intend on continuing to help the hunger problem by sourcing reusable materials and donating and selling them to countries in need.

Finding a Solution

2024-03-18 17:02:55 UTC

With inflation being the catalyst for the hunger problem in Serbia, our team decided that the best solution was to increase the production of basic foods through Serbian agriculture and incentivized farming.

When the production of a product is increased heavily, the demand for it will always decrease.

Foods such as apples, cherries, potatoes, wheat, corn and sugar are already native to Serbian soil. We will implement personal farming to Serbians so that they can sustain themselves as well.