Looting food which was donated

 

The looting of donated food is a terrible injustice—one that speaks to the cruel realities of the world.

A few years ago, food aid was sent to Mozambique during a devastating time. I was living there when the floods hit. Water engulfed everything, making travel impossible.

We had to find alternative food sources. Fortunately, we had friends who could send us parcels from South Africa, but they had to be flown into town. At the time, we lived in the Inhambane Province, where road access was cut off, leaving us isolated from other towns.

The local Mozambicans relied on subsistence farming, growing just enough to survive. Any surplus was either traded or sold at local markets. But when the floods came, homes were destroyed, lives were lost, and hunger set in. NGOs and humanitarian organizations rushed to provide aid.

Rescue operations used rubber boats with outboard motors to reach stranded families. Food arrived in massive quantities—bags upon bags of rice and mielie meal meant to feed the displaced and the hungry. This was meant to be a gift, a lifeline.

Yet, in times of crisis, power can be a dangerous thing. Greedy opportunists saw the donated food as a way to profit. And so, the free rice, intended for those who had lost everything, was sold for money.

                                           

One of the most heartbreaking moments I witnessed was an elderly woman who had walked for miles through floodwaters with her bowls, desperate to collect food. She arrived at the distribution point, only to be turned away because she had no money to pay for the rice and mielie meal. The so-called "Director" overseeing the food supply dismissed her without a second thought.

I stood nearby, horrified. I asked someone to purchase the food for her and quietly hand it over. But she wasn’t the only one turned away that day. The corruption ran deep, and despite whispers of injustice, no one held him accountable.

Stories circulated about warehouses in Maputo, filled to the brim with donated food that never reached the people who needed it. Instead, it was hoarded and sold by those responsible for distribution.

Of course, nothing was ever proven—this is Africa, after all. But isn't it tragic how one person’s suffering can become another’s ill-gotten gain