It all started as a homework assignment in my intro to bio-medical engineering class. The assignment was simple. Pick a major world health problem and come up with solution to fix it. "It doesn't matter how big or how small the problem might be. Don't hold back, think big." - those were the instructions. So I decided that I was going to pick the biggest health problem I could find and fix it - in fact, I think I'd like to dedicate my life to fixing this problem, I said to myelf. Little did I know where this little idea would lead me.

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From the moment I first saw the statistics for world hunger, water-related deaths, AIDs deaths (we have anti-retro viral meds for that now!) and other poverty related illnesses, I knew I would have to do something about it - what an outrage! We already have cures for most of these diseases!... and hunger? How can THAT still be an issue? I remember being in the school library with my mouth open and eyes bulging as I stared at the staggering figures – it was a major turning point in my life.

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Before my family moved to America from the Ukraine in 1989 as refugees, my parents told us stories of a land where the stores were overflowing with food, where we would get to try many new exotic fruits and vegetables. I remember going to a grocery store in the U.S. for the first time and

staring up in awe at all the mountains of food around us. And to think, we used to wait in long lines just to buy one loaf of bread in the Soviet Union! My grandparents still tell stories of famine and wide-spread hunger that ravished the country-side around World War II and the constant struggle to put food on the table in Soviet-era Ukraine. I remember being very

upset hearing how Stalin deliberately starved over 2 million Ukrainians (some of them relatives of ours) to death for their resistance. When I learned that over ten times as many people (mostly children) died of hunger and hunger-related illnesses year after year after year, it was simply too much. Adding insult to injury, I then learned that there is more than enough food to feed everyone on the planet! This sparked my interest in world hunger and other extreme poverty issues. My obsession grew as I began reading book after book on the topic unable to put them down. It was clear that I would have to change my major. My mind couldn't let it go. Then I hit an ultimate low point. I had a bone to pick with God. How could he let this happen? So much injustice in this world. Why can't God seem to balance his equations? To my surprise, I got an answer almost immediately after asking the question and it was in the form of an equation - it was actually logically sound! My long educational background in the hard sciences had made me a skeptic but this made perfect sense to me. I needed a higher power to keep me grounded.

 

I prayed for God to guide me and give me a definite major purpose for my life. The answer was obvious...