Since beginning to work in Cambodia, we have constantly been asked by well-meaning people, “Why food?” “Isn’t giving food just a hand-out which is of no use in the long term?” Is your program sustainable?” “Does it lead to self-sufficiency?”

 

Whilst all these questions are well-meaning, they no doubt reflect current ideologies rather than acknowledge the basic reality facing people in developing countries.

 

The issue for me and the reason I began to think about food distribution programs in the first place was that I find it deplorable that whilst millions of dollars are being spent in self-sufficiency programs (e.g. education), the recipients of these programs can not possibly absorb any of the information provided to them because they are starving hungry.

 

Clearly, there is no need for me to reiterate the argument that money needs to be spent on “helping people help themselves”, but it seems to me that humanitarian organisations have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous so that in the 1970s and 1980s it was all food and “hand-outs” and now in the naughties it is everything but food.

 

There are literally hundreds of organisations in Cambodia helping out with programs designed for self-sufficiency. These programs reflect white middle class values but ignore the basic needs of the locals who are rarely consulted when these programs are designed. During our last trip to Phnom Penh we were yet to find one single food distribution program aimed at providing nutritious food.

 

“Food 4 Everyone” is designed to be complementary and to fit into an already established infrastructure (which does reflect current politically correct ideology) and which provides programs which lead to sustainability and self-sufficiency. Heartland, for instance, not only provides a range of education and health programs but it is also currently raising thousands of dollars to provide vocational training to street children. All we aim to do is to provide whatever food we can so that these children’s basic needs are also met.

 

The problem is such now, that when children are hungry and beg in the streets of Phnom Penh, instead of asking for food, they ask for money for pencils (which clearly they have no intention to use as they get plenty of them through a variety of organizations) so they can buy food. They do this because they have learnt by now that if they ask for money for food they will get none from Westerners!

 

Clearly, what we need is some kind of balance here to re-address what has become a ridiculous situation. Whilst we will continue to support the aim of already existing organisations, “Food 4 Everyone” is simply aimed at feeding some of the recipients of all this information so that at least they can concentrate and remember some of it for the future. Wasn’t that the point in the first place?

 

These children cannot afford politically correct dogma. They do not understand or care for the “Band Aid” theory. They are hungry and they have the basic right to be fed!