SPECIALS
Famine
Food and Shops
kate Bodyinmotion
Mapping the
war on poverty
June 5, 2008
Having spent the majority of my adult life on African soil, trips back to
the US are full of both nostalgia and contradiction. Visiting my mother’s
workplace in the Bronx is one of the most dramatic of these contradictions.
The Bronx is the poorest urban county in the US, even including middle class
neighborhoods like Riverdale. The public school where my mother works is
just a few short blocks from what was at one point named the most dangerous
block in New York. And yet as I drive to pick her up, I can’t help but
notice solid brick apartment buildings (some with more charm than others)
and clean streets with minimal graffiti. There are no garbage piles or
street children begging by the side of the road. The kids walking past look
well-dressed and well-fed.
But poverty in America isn’t about bellies bloated with stage 2 malnutrition.
It’s about kids who grow up with at least one parent or close relative in
prison, kids who are not hungry but survive undernourished on processed
foods with no vegetables in sight. They go to a school where the janitor
sleeps overnight for fear of being on the streets after dark. Just as
children in the Malawian bush can’t imagine the development in Lilongwe,
these kids have never seen a cow and don’t know that the bread they eat
comes from wheat growing in the rich Midwestern earth. There are check
cashing (at high interest) outlets on each corner and Popeye’s fast food
where a supermarket might have been.
American poverty is buried under bright new sneakers and digital cable,
hidden behind access to credit and fancy cellphones, when in reality, it’s
the lack of the cultural capitol needed (like knowing someone who’s attended
and completed college) and strong social supports that hinders people from
finding a path to the American dream.
While many of the residents of this neighborhood are African, this isn’t
Africa. It’s not one of the poorest countries ranked at the bottom of the
human development index. Poverty alleviation doesn’t have to be about those
living thousands of miles away any more than those living thousands of miles
away are all poor. Each corner of the planet is filled with contradiction.
Finding a way of out poverty is just as complicated. kate Bodyinmotion
Trade minister slams 'increase
in fuel price' rumours
Moses Kargbo
Friday, 13 June 2008
“These are all lies, government has no intention of doing that at this time.
This has become the usual habit of certain individuals to cause discontent
in the minds of citizens by always spreading false rumours,” reacted Sierra
Leone's Trade and Industry minister, Alimamy P. Koroma as rumours do the
rounds that the country is about to experience another increase in the price
of fuel and other petroleum products
According to the minister who was addressing a hurriedly convened press
conference at the Ministry of Information conference room, government is
deeply saddened by the fact that certain Sierra Leoneans still do not want
to see the country forge ahead despite the strides being made by the current
administration to cushion the sufferings of the people. Mr. Koroma
maintained that his government is currently preoccupied with seeing the
prices of fuel and other essential commodities either remain as they are or
go down, stressing that it is not even in their thinking to add to the
current prices.
“Government is aware of all these rumours being bandied around. You all know
that previously, whenever there is going to be an increase in the pump price
of petroleum products, the government usually comes out publicly to announce
the new price. As a Ministry, we are working together with petroleum
marketers regarding the pump price, and if we had any intention of making
increases, we would have come out publicly and explain to the public,” the
minister noted.
Koroma informed journalists that the price for a gallon of patrol, diesel
and kerosene remains at Le16,500. He urged members of the public to always
listen to the government for issues that concern their welfare and the
running of the state.
Representatives from Oil Marketers and the National Petroleum present at the
conference, underscored the position of the minister by dismissing as
outright lies rumours of an imminent increase flying around. The members
said they first drew the attention of the government to the rumour, and
therefore considered it prudent to dismiss it for the public good.
Moses Kargbo. kokorioko
news
The road is blocked
The Kashmiri valley is connected to rest of
India by a road which passes through mighty mountains and steep drops.
Occasionally in winters, the road is closed for traffic due to blockage by
snow or rocks. Thus, supplies to the valley are stopped until the roads are
declared open for traffic. Among those who suffer most are the butchers and
the poultry shops. (After all you can’t bring thousands of sheep and chicken
using the costly and luxurious air-travel.). As soon as the road blockage is
announced, the Kashmiri gene is activated. All the traders of the valley,
sensing an opportunity to make extra bucks, hoard the essential commodities
and lock them away in their stores. Thus, suddenly one finds everything
disappearing from the markets; from vegetables to clothes. Ask anyone about
this sudden shortage of goods and he will reply, “The road is blocked so the
supplies aren’t coming. The demand is far greater than the supply.”
A local having a family to look-after eventually ends up giving more for the
goods which he buys. There is a very interesting incident that I wish to
mention here. One day, during Mr. Bakhshi’s reign, the road was blocked due
to some mud-slides. Naturally the essential commodities disappeared from the
shelves and reappeared in the store-houses.
The situation was extremely serious as the road was expected to remain like
that for a fortnight. Then the crafty mind of Mr. Bakhshi (who himself is a
Kashmiri) cooked something up. He made the radios to (wrongly) announce that
the road had been repaired and the essential commodities were rushing into
Kashmir. No sooner this announcement was made; the supplies started
appearing back in the shops. “A diamond cuts a diamond” but in this case it
was a “Kashmiri who cut the Kashmiri”.
Timez Of Kashmir
TOK/ Qazi Mamoon
frangi
frangipane
The price of
bread
2007. The cost of bread, this
autumn, is set to increase by 100 percent in Poland. Why? Because the price
of grain has increased as more and more farmers are encouraged to use
their land for ‘bio-fuel’ products and less for growing food. There is a
shortage of grain. That means that the cost of grain derived products is
increasing.
May 29, 2007
The price of pork
I finally arrived in
Beijing this afternoon. This is my first time in Beijing in 7 years, and the
city of my birth has morphed into...well, a place I don't recognize!
Traffic is on par with Bangkok and Jakarta. Posh high rise apartments are
everywhere. My family's condo was brand new when I was here 7 years ago, with
construction sites surrounding the tower. Today, the apartment is very lived
in, my grandfather has plants everywhere - just like the old place in San Fran.
Outside, there are rows of fashionable eateries, both domestic and foreign
chains. I may just have to go for a dipped cone at Dairy Queen tomorrow.
My favorite so far: on the evening news tonight, the headline news was about
the price of pork skyrocketing. People are panicking for the other white meat!
China's got a "strategic
pork reserve" No kidding! .
The
Face of a Dollar a Day
kate Bodyinmotion
April 6, 2008
Since I was little, Sally Struthers has been asking us to sponsor a child
somewhere in the world who is living on less than a dollar a day. I’ve been
working in Africa for the better part of the last ten years and have become
accustomed to what I see in the village -where most African still live- that
once made me stop and think. Six year olds taking care of two-year olds.
Kids running around with swollen bellies full of parasites and orange-tinged
hair – a sure sign of malnutrition.
In the countryside after the rains, the fields are full of green green crops
and overripe mangoes lie rotting on the ground, and I can’t help but wonder
how people here can be so poor. The soil is volcanic and fertile. But it’s
malaria season, flooding has brought cholera to the surface, and bridges to
health centers have washed away only to be rebuilt after an interminable
period of time.
Here in Malawi, 133 of
every 1000 children born dies before they turn 5. Amazingly, this figure is
down from 189 deaths in 2000. Forty-six percent of children are stunted from
malnutrition, and only 64% make it through enough school to considered be
literate. Over half of Malawians live on less than a dollar a day.
I was in the bush last weekend, face to face with a young man speaking
decent English with a good head on his shoulders. He has 2 small children,
his wife has passed away. His salary comes out to a bit over a dollar a day,
making him just slightly better off than many others in the village. But
averaged across his small family of 3, he and his little boy and girl are
each living on about 35 cents a day. Even if his kids don’t go to bed
hungry, any extra cost -a minibus ride to the health center, a few
secondhand clothes- will seriously set them back.
Progress is made slowly, but today out of each thousand born, 56 more
children than at the beginning of the decade make it to their 5th birthday.
Each step, however small a stride in keeping those most vulnerable alive, is
bringing us closer to a world in which a child can grow up to earn more than
a dollar a day. kate Bodyinmotion
Who is to Blame for the Sierra Leone
Rice and Petrol Crisis? Not the Government!
Jacob sax
conteh
Monday, 21 April 2008
As food prices escalate in Sierra Leone, sending a bag of rice to a record
Le110,000 or higher in some places, and petrol prices hit above Le15,000,
the blame game has taken a new twist. Many in the opposition blame the
current administration for siphoning funds for food for fuel to light the
city, while some members of the ruling APC blame the SLPP for leaving us in
such a mess. But the factors that led to the present woes may be beyond
either the APC or SLPP.We live in a global economy that is intricately
connected. Today, a poor rice harvest in Thailand or the Philippines will
not only impact residents in those two countries, but will affect any other
country that imports rice from those countries. In the same token, a poor
diamond production in South Africa or Sierra Leone could affect auto and
jewelry dealers in the US.The number one factor that is affecting food
prices around the world today is rocketing gasoline (petrol) prices. With
the boom of China, India and other Asian countries, the demand of oil has
surpassed the supply, hence the excessive prices of fuel. For Sierra Leone
where both food and fuel are mostly imported from abroad, the price of fuel
is closely connected to the price of food.Another problem Sierra Leoneans
face is abandonment of agriculture. As one walks around the streets of
Freetown or any other city in Sierra Leone, it is not uncommon to see
rib-thin men and women ply the streets with nothing productive to do. Many
left their villages during the war, and almost a decade since the war ended,
they are not willing to return “upline”. The food crisis in Sierra Leone
goes deeper than any of the factors above. Since the days of Noah, Sierra
Leoneans have lived on rice. Although the country is pregnant with food
ranging from yam, cassava, maize and millet, none of these foodstuffs is
considered real food. It is time some of us try other foods. During my
student days in Nigeria, my first shock was to find out that they did not
serve rice in the cafeteria regularly. I almost died the first day I saw
“amala”. I still have to eat rice everyday. It is in my genes. We have to
return to agriculture. We need to help our folks realize that no amount of
imported rice can feed them. We have to encourage some of our relatives to
return home to the villages, provide them with seed money to farm the land.
The government should also embark on mechanized farming. It is only when we
can reduce the price of food that we can change the mood of the people in
Sierra Leone. Sierra Leoneans should also realize that the current food
crisis is global. It will be unfair to blame either the APC or the SLPP for
something beyond their control. We have to return to farming. It will help
us produce our own food., and not depend on imported rice. And I will start
eating other foods to set an example. Just tell my wife to stop cooking
cassava leaves bathed in sparkling palm oil saddled with chicken and fish!
Jacob sax conteh
April,
2008 . Syria. Price of bread to remain unchanged. There is a
political decision not to increase the price of bread and of basic food
items, Prime Minister Naji Al-Otri said, amid growing concerns over
spiralling …….
.
World Food Crisis
Lynda lulu's bay in Cairo
11.4.08
Well, something odd has happened. Suddenly,
even we, affluent ex-pats are starting to feel the food price squeeze. For
the first time since I managed to go shopping alone here, I had that
disorientating feeling that happens when you get to the register, scan your
groceries and realize you are going to have to take a second job to pay for
them.
Today I walked out of Fruit & Vegetable shop with a couple of little bags,
my wallet considerably lighter. Now it could be that I have been living here
just long enough to lose all perspective about the cost of a normal load of
shopping.
Let’s examine this, shall we?
In the bag:
1 Pineapple
2 Avocados
1 kilo of Lebanese apples
I small piece of fresh ginger
1 small bunch of green asparagus
Total cost of goods = 87EGP (US$16.00)
I had a look online to see what the same bag of goods would cost elsewhere
in the world.
In the USA = 148EGP (US$27.39)
In the UK = 110EGP (10.14GBP)
All well and good, I hear you say…. But let’s just consider for a moment the
difference in earning power here in Egypt against the UK & USA……
In a country where banquet waiters in 5 Star hotels can earn as little as
300EGP per month, where a driver for an expat family earns (which is
considered a high paying position) about 1500EGP – not too many people would
be buying up the items I did.
When was the last time you spent a third of your monthly wages on a
pineapple? Lynda
Beth Jakob
The Ouaga Rumour Mill turned away
like mad yesterday
The Ouaga Rumour Mill turned away like mad
yesterday, but I didn’t want to post without getting some solid details.
So, here's what I learned this morning from journalist Ramata Soré this
morning: Burkina is gearing up for a two-day general strike.
The peaceful demonstration I saw Friday morning near the university was
actually a student strike.
At that same moment a big group of the main Burkinabe workers' unions was
meeting with the national government, bringing six demands to the table-
measures aimed at dealing with the dramatic cost of living increases in
Burkina over the last few months .
Out of six demands, only one was met- the one dealing with the minimal
prices/quantities of water and electricity for the poorest households. ( if
you consume below a certain threshold, you pay at a much lower rate than
households that consume a greater amount) All other demands- such as a 25%
increase in salaries and pensions for many workers- were not met.
They are meeting again today, but if at least two more of the demands aren’t
met, they plan general strikes for Tuesday and Wednesday.
More news: this morning, three of our household workers came to me for
salary advances. They said that stocks of corn and millet are running very
low in the city and they want to stock up with a few sacks each. I knew that
rice was a problem, as there is already a global shortage and prices
recently have reached record highs. But extremely low stocks of millet and
corn in Burkina in early April is definitely a very bad sign.
I am no expert on the subject, but I’m guessing that many of the farmers are
holding on to more of their grain, rather than selling it for cash. Having a
granary full of food for your family has to be better than just having money
which buys less and less food every day.
Me? I’m going to the grocery store to stock up. Just in case.
Guyana-Gyal
Monday, April 28, 2008
Ricericericerarsericericericerice
Rice price going up, gone up, it might even affect we folklore. Villagers
gon think twice about throwing precious raw…uncooked…rice on they floor at
night to ketch Ole Higue when she invade they home. Ole Higue, the ole
blood-sucker, ain’t gon feel compelled to count hundreds o’ rice grains
whole damn night ‘til sunrise and villagers ketch she. She gon scrape up
every grain, full she pocket and flee.
Rice is the new pearl. My second brother in Florider tell my mother on the
phone how they rationing rice now over there. My mother say she read in the
papers how in China it is becoming a delicacy.
I know who fault it is after I hear a protest march in town on Friday.
Tramp, tramp, tramp, them protestors tramp in the broiling hot sun. Somebody
holler something about high cost of food. Somebody holler something about
guvament.
I put two and two together and make ten. It is we guvament fault why food
prices gone up. Rice is food. Rice price gone up. Guvament fault. Rice price
gone up in the world. We guvament fault, damn them, why they couldn’t stop
drought and flood?
As I watch them protestors I wonder if I shoulda join them and add me two
cents. I try to calculate how much it musta cost to do this protest. Cost of
getting people together. Cost of taking precious time off from work. Cost of
cardboard, markers. Nah, nah, I decide; I better take me two cents and buy
plant seeds. I better use me energy to work in we garden when the sun ain’t
rise too high and hot.
And if the day come when I can’t afford rice, I gon eat even more green
plantain, cassava, eddo, sweet potato, yam, bide me time and wait for rice
price to drop. That is what me nanee do during World War Two; she plant and
grow and dig and plant some more...yes, me short, short, li’l, li’l nanee.
I still want me dhal and roti though…so flour better don’t go running scarce.
Guyana-Gyal
Price of bread
