450,000 Cambodian students will become the latest victims of soaring global food prices
- From: Chim <ChimS1@xxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 26 May 2008 14:43:51 -0700 (PDT)
Posted on Mon, May. 26, 2008
No breakfast for children because of aid cuts
By KER MUNTHIT and MICHAEL CASEY
Associated Press Writers
KAMPONG SPEU, Cambodia -- At dawn in a ramshackle elementary school in
rural Cambodia, the children think of only one thing: their stomachs.
They anxiously await the steaming buckets of free rice delivered to
their desks.
But by the end of the month, they will no longer get free breakfast
from the U.N. World Food Program. About 450,000 Cambodian students
will become the latest victims of soaring global food prices.
Five local suppliers have defaulted on contracts to provide rice
because they can get a higher price elsewhere, program officials say.
Prices of rice have tripled on the global market since December.
Faced with a shortfall of more than 14,000 tons of rice, and with more
pressing needs to meet, the World Food Program stopped the free
breakfasts in March. The schools' remaining stocks are expected to run
out in the coming days.
That will leave students without what was often the best meal they got
all day.
"I feel hopeless," said Boeurn Srey Leak, a 15-year-old in sixth
grade.
Rich countries have pledged $469 million for food aid to address what
is expected to be a $755 million deficit, due to food prices that have
risen 76 percent since December. The U.S., already the largest
provider of food aid, is expected to contribute almost a third of that
money. If Congress approves, the U.S. will contribute $770 million
more to be available after Oct. 1.
But the money will not arrive in time to save some food programs from
being cut or ended.
"I don't think there is a single program that doesn't have some kind
of concerns because they have to scale down," said Susana Rico, an
official of the World Food Program which feeds almost 89 million
people worldwide, including 58.8 million children. "The majority of
countries will suffer some kind of cutbacks in rations or programs in
the next three to five months."
The numbers are grim. In Burundi, Kenya and Zambia, hundreds of
thousands of people face cuts in food rations after June. In Iraq,
500,000 recipients will likely lose food aid. In Yemen, it's 320,000
households, including children and the sick.
Private aid agencies based in the U.S. also said food price hikes are
hurting their projects.
Mercy Corps will likely distribute 20 percent less food to Iraqi
refugees in Syria and serve 12 percent fewer Colombian families
fleeing violence in the countryside. World Vision may stop helping 1.5
million people - nearly a quarter of the number it serves - because of
rising food prices and pledged donations not yet delivered. At least a
third are children.
In Cambodia, the free breakfasts that started in 2000 have made
children visibly healthier, said Nheng Vorn, the principal of Choumpou
Proek School, about 40 miles west of the capital, Phnom Penh.
"They are more focused on lessons, and their reading ability has
improved subsequently," he noted.
But principals at many such rural schools don't have the money to
replace the breakfast program. Girls in particular will be at risk of
dropping out because families need them at home to work in the fields
or help raise siblings, said Thomas Keusters, the World Food Program's
Cambodia director. Children in Cambodia often start school late and
repeat grades a lot, he said.
"It's not uncommon to have a girl in grade five or six who is already
15 or 16 years old," Keusters said. "We are paying them to come to
school. I'm very concerned about them because I have no rice."
About six miles away from Choumpou Proek school, the students of
Sangkum Seksa school devour hearty portions of rice, peas and sardines
in the morning. The school has only 10 rooms, housed in two faded
yellow concrete buildings. Some students go barefoot.
"I can only feel pity for them," said the principal, Tan Sak. "I have
no solution for them after the current stock is used up."
Before the free breakfasts, many students left school before noon so
they could eat lunch at home.
"I had difficulty sitting in the class because my stomach was
growling," Rim Channa, a 13-year-old fifth-grader.
Now, once again, all they will have for breakfast is the tart fruit
from the nearby tamarind trees.
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