Thursday, July 31, 2008

Mud pie...


There's one thing that has disturbed me a few days. By "disturb" I don't mean shaken and slightly appalled, I mean a thought that moves me deeply and that keeps returning untill I can't keep quiet. It's the fact that people on Haiti are eating mudcakes. No, they're not having desserts, they're eating slices of chalk clay to survive. Real food are imported and too expensive for many.

When I did my research for this post I soon encountered an all too familiar pattern, clumsy free trade policies (the flow of cheap, imported food have crushed the national farmers), unstable government, corruption and bad infrastructure that makes most of the aid from relief organisations stay in the harbour storehouses of Port au Prince. Plus, of course, the inflation, that made the crisis grave. A complicated background to a catastrophy, with a lot of others to blame, which makes it easy to not help at all (since there's allways something better to do or someone with still redder hands to hang).

And that's how the world is. Complicated. But while we are bickering about the bestest packages of measures, political colour of antagonists and who to blame people are starving, not only in Haiti but over the entire world - and they're doing it now.

Usually I keep this blog on easy reading level; everyday topics and nothing deeper than a plant pot (unless I'm deep digging my allotment), which is why I'm going to concentrate on those tiny things that helps in tiny ways. There may be a big wastage on the way, but I hope that the more that is sent, the bigger the chance that some food parcels arrives to the right reciever.

Help end world hunger

The Hunger Site

8 comments:

kompoStella said...

right on! it is a topic of great importance, thanks for going from tiny to grande - we all need to hear it, read it, talk it, think it and _do_ something about it!

Anonymous said...

Good on you for that. Yes - I read that as well. I dont know how long this has been going on - as I have seen mention of it before. It is shocking - you are correct. What is most shocking, I feel, is that the people in Haiti could go out and buy food - IF they had the money to do so. It IS available - but as things stand at present it is being rationed by price.

I'm pretty computer-illiterate - but if you are able to send an easy link for technophobe me over to my blog that I could maybe manage to add these things - then I can see if I can manage to do it.

Regards

ceridwen
x

Rosengeranium said...

Thanks!

Rosengeranium said...

Ceridwen: Yes, I'm at loss for words for that.

The banners are links that you can click on directly. I'll add some simple ones in my latest comment on your blog as well as here:
Free Rice
The Hunger Site, Click to Give

Anonymous said...

Thanks for that.

ceridwen

Anonymous said...

Great topic something we all need to consider. I'm kind of ashamed right now considering I just had a big breakfast.

Rosengeranium said...

I had a similar reaction, and decided to give some more of my time to help. It's in a teensyweensy way by clicking freedonations banners, but it's something do while pondering where to do the bid stuff (like being monthly giver, join the peace corps or something like that).

Anonymous said...

Lots of thnx ... Got gud info :)