World Food Programme

I feel as though I haven’t discussed to an extent one of the biggest problems surrounding the displaced in the Darfur and Chad region. And that is the lack of food. Today I want to discuss the World Food Programme and the work they are doing in Darfur. They do work in other areas as well. They constantly have updated stories from areas around the world suffering from lack of food. The website has a lot of informative aspects well worth checking out. I want to discuss some of the news videos.

The first video I want to discuss is from April 2. The quality was not that great but the videos were interesting. There were parts in which the people were speaking their native language, which was cool to hear. There was then a man from the organization that told the story on camera. He did not speak much, just gave some basic details. The images of the refugee camp life are from Darfur. These refugees came from Chad into Darfur. A change. One of the nice things about the video was the delivering of food to the camp. The refugees are so grateful and all work together to distribute it amongst each other.




The second video was from the capital, Geneina, Darfur. The WFP has many trucks with food that go out from this area to camps and towns in the surrounding desert area. The roads are very dangerous however. The trucks have to be escorted by peacekeepers. Again, and more so in this video, you can see the appreciation for the food. And they all work together in an organized way. They also show the pathetic water pump the town has. It is so crude and water is barley coming out. IT seems strange to me to be excited for a bag of what looks like grain, and in the last scenes what looks like something worse than oatmeal. Also, as I poor a glass of water from the Brita filter pitcher in my fridge, I’m usually thinking about how annoyed I am that someone didn’t fill it up when it’s this low. I will remember that pump the next time I go for a class of ice-cold FRESH water. As someone who LOVES food, I find myself taking for granted things like steak and potatoes. I think the next time we eat any meal, we should think about the mush these refugees eat with such gratitude. Imagine if THEY got the steak and potatoes?

It was also nice to see that the WFP have set up bringing food to the schools. It was depressing however to hear that there were schools in these camps. Why can’t they go back to their homes and their schools and not worry about eating mush and establishing a permanent residence in the middle of the desert?

Two of the most disturbing images were of the infant and the child crying. The infant clearly suffers from malnutrition. It was the sickliest looking child I have ever seen. The child crying made my heart hurt. The cry was so pathetic and energy less. It was as if the child had no energy left to even cry for all that it had lost. When we see kids in the US crying like that, it’s usually because they are tired and they’ve been crying for a toy their mom wouldn’t buy them. Not because they can’t eat.