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Santiago Sosa talks about the importance of perserving Nicaragua's
rainforests. Santiago works at an experimental farm, searching for
new crops to cultivate. "The rainforest brings us water, food
and life. Traditionally, farmers slash and burn forest lands, planting
corn and beans, crops that deplete the soil. Fruit trees are a good
alternative. MCC works with Santiago and other members of the El
Hormigero Eco-Tourism Committee to preserve the Bosawas rainforest.
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MCC's Food Philosophy
- People everywhere have a right to enough food to live active, healthy
lives.
- Food is a gift from God. Striving to ensure all God's children have
enough to eat is a witness to God's grace and love.
- Those with abundant food have a special responsibility to share with
those who are hungry.
- Listening to those affected is the critical first step in assessing
their need and developing a response.
- Partnerships with local organizations--often church-based--are essential
to an effective response because of their knowledge.
- An effective response usually means a longterm commitment.
- Responses are based on need regardless of religion or politics.
"Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the
chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed
free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter – when you see the
naked to clothe them and not to turn away from your flesh and blood?
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will
quickly appear." (Isaiah 58:6-8)
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Mrs. Dee, an artisan in Laos, weaves wall hangings, cushion covers
and other products that Ten Thousand Villages sells through a network
of nearly 200 stores in North America. The income she earns helps
her buy food, education, health care and housing for her family.
Ten Thousand Villages, a nonprofit program of MCC, provides vital,
fair income to Third World people by marketing their handicrafts
and telling their stories in North America.
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Food Relief
Food relief is needed because hunger continues to plague the world.
Most of MCC's food aid is distributed as direct food assistance. Recipients
include people fleeing from conflict and natural disasters, or people
suffering ongoing food shortages because of weather and other factors.
MCC responds by shipping food from North America or providing money
to purchase food locally. Relief shipments can include medicine, soap
and other supplies that enable people to get back on their feet.
Food is sent overseas with the help of the Canadian Foodgrains Bank
(CFGB). CFGB arranges the purchase and shipment of food for its 13 church-based
members. In the U.S., MCC has a similar relationship with the Food Resource
Bank established in 1999.
Food Security
Increasingly, MCC's work is addressing issues of food security. Food
relief is important but difficult to sustain over a long period of time.
Besides, most recipients would rather be producing their own food.
Food security means ensuring that all people have access at all times
to enough food to lead active, healthy lives. It means enabling them
to feed themselves in the long term.
This may mean providing water for drinking and irrigation in some parts
of the world, or tools, seeds and fertilizer in other parts. MCC agriculturalists
may teach soil management, crop variety selection and livestock care
to improve food production.
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Nedal Mohammed Zyirah holds her son Abdul at the Basra (Iraq) Red
Crescent Center where women bring their children to be weighed and
measured, and to receive supplemental food including some MCC beans.
U.N. sanctions against Iraq, set in place in 1990 to force Saddam
Hussein and his regime to reform, instead pushed many civilians
to the brink of starvation. More than 1 million Iraqi children have
died because of the sanctions.
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Food Justice
Food aid and food security projects aren't enough to solve the world's
food problem. Changes in political, economic and social relations are
also needed.
People and communities must be allowed the opportunity to feed themselves.
Sometimes this means engaging grassroots groups, non-governmental organizations,
and governments.
Striving for food justice means:
- Working at peace and reconciliation so people can plant and harvest
in safety.
- Advocating for just trade and economic policies. People must have
the ability to produce or purchase enough nutritious food.
- Researching issues of biotechnology. This emerging technology affects
the ability of farmers to produce and feed themselves and others, both
in the developing and developed world.
- Providing food aid to people no matter the political and religious
views of the country they live in. Food should never be used as a weapon
or withheld from people for any reason.
Fish Farms • Trees
in Haiti • Lakota Gardens • Greenhouses
• MCC's Food Philosophy •
Food Security Home
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© 2002 Mennonite Central Committee
MCC, 21 South 12th Street, PO Box 500 Akron, PA 17501 tel: +1 (717) 859-1151
or toll free (888) 563-4676
MCC Canada, 134 Plaza Drive, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 5K9 tel: +1 (204) 261-6381 or
toll free (888) 622-6337
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