This Miami Herald special documents the struggles of hungry children in Venezuela. I would highly recommend reading the full article that provides a brief, but powerful, look into just one problem that is currently plaguing Venezuela.
The author looks at one gang, with members ranging from ages 10-23, who search for garbage that’s good enough to eat. They’re on the streets looking for food or other factors (such as issues of domestic violence). An example of a meal was corn flour mixed with a jar of mayonnaise. These gangs of children have to protect their territory, using violence and weapons, to prevent other gangs from taking their food sources. Children have also turned to drugs, but not for the typical “high”- police have documented children smoking crack and gang members explained this behavior : “When you smoke you don’t feel hungry.”
It’s tragic and heartbreaking what these children have to go through. While there are public diners established to feed children, they can’t supply nearly enough to feed all of them. It’s interesting to think of the idea perpetuated in the Omnivore’s Dilemma, where we have too many choices for food, now we can never decide what to eat. But this isn’t really reflected in every in the world. It’s such a strange dichotomy to think about how much food “developed” countries throw out on a daily basis, while children are rifling through trash to find scraps and smoking crack to avoid hunger.
What can we do? I’m not sure. As we briefly discussed in class, even if we did a food drive or pushed for more importation of food, how would we make sure that it can be distributed efficiently while the government is in chaos?
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/venezuela/article206950449.html
Geography 335: Sustainable Food Course 