Hunger and aid

Some of you have asked us how are people in Tanzania dealing with the current hunger catastrophy in Somalia and Kenya. I can tell you one thing, it is not the way you are dealing with it in Europe.

The hunger situation is, of course, being written about in the newspapers, yet with the same stoic attitude that all other, minor hungers around Africa, which never make it to the European news, are being reported on. Situations of hunger here are as common as electricity shortages and no day passes without one or two happening somewhere in the region.

The pictures of Somalia and Kenya are not limited to starving children and never make it to page 1. Rather the headlines are about parliamentairy discussions on the new budget... My feeling is that Tanzania  and Tanzanians (also suffering a comparatively minor hunger situation in about 30% of its districts) are happy and relieved that this time it is not them who are dying en masse. They do not feel they have an obligation or capacity to help. Help per se is not being discussed.

What is being discussed are the more technical issues of the situation. Tanzanian government has prohibited export of food to the stricken areas because black market is thriving, but it has at the same time offered Kenyan government to approach it directly with their need for food aid (instead of doing so through private food dealers). This is contrary to the laws of the East African Union and is causing an up-roar.