Relief food aid with a price

This story is told by Joseph Chimbuto in the Daily Times newspaper of February 12, 2003. It illustrates the gaps in food distribution in rural areas that easily get filled by such initiatives taken by University of British Columbia students and other well-wishers in Vancouver. – Emma Kishindo
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Sixty-nine year-old Selina Ndadzela collapses as she waits to receive free maize flour to be distributed in her area. Having gone without food for six days, the news that the Red Cross was coming to distribute food items was salvation itself to her. Without hesitation, Selina left her home for the distribution centre as early as four am. Aided by her eight-year old granddaughter, Amina, she braved a heavy downpour to get her food portion.

As she arrives at the distribution centre, scores of her fellow villagers have already arrived much earlier. She joins the long queue in anticipation of the distribution exercise beginning. Unfortunately, there is no food available for distribution that day because the vehicles that bring the food had not arrived. The vehicles do not show up the following day either. Selina and Amina wait for five days when on the fifth day, Selina collapses due to starvation. She is taken to the nearest hospital where she remains unconscious for two days. As the days roll by, more people join her in hospital. This is the price beneficiaries of relief food pay in Malawi’s remote areas.

The World Food Program (WFP) Public Information Officer says that they always have enough food items in their warehouses every month to feed three million beneficiaries. What makes it difficult for the vulnerable people in remote areas to get the food items, however, is the inadequate transportation to deliver the food to distribution centres. A Malawi Red Cross spokesperson says that local transporters do not have the capacity to sustain the distribution exercise. It takes them four to five days to distribute food to the final distribution point instead of a single day. This affects the farming activities of the beneficiaries as they are absent from their gardens for far too long.

Apart from the capacity problems, poor road conditions in most remote areas make it impossible for heavy vehicles to reach some final distribution points. Those trucks that can make it on such roads do not carry enough food for all the people that need relief food. More prudent arrangements in transporting food items need to be found. For example, regular assessment and timely maintenance of rural roads and bridges could help ensure easy passage of heavy vehicles.

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