World Food Crisis

The words World Food Crisis are simple enough to comprehend but hard for me to get my head around. The reality for me is that I can choose to eat whatever I want today. The problem is too big. Instead, a story about One Hungry Man from my ‘adopted home country’ helps me to understand a little better. Kristin Jack from Cambodia writes:

One evening while staying at the team centre, I was walking back from an e mail café, and on the sidewalk was a young guy (maybe 18 or 20) squatting down, clutching his stomach (our team center is in a nicer part of town. Where we live, we don’t have sidewalks!). Seeing people living and begging on the streets is such a common sight here I walked right past him – in fact I got about 20 meters past him till my conscience got the better of me, and I turned back to ask him if he was ok.

His story was pretty sad, but not uncommon. He had come to Phnom Penh from Stung Treng, a distant rural province right up north near the border with Laos. His parents were poor farmers, and he had come to the city in search of factory work. A ‘broker’ had promised to find him a job, and this young guy had given him all he possessed (about $75) as payment. The broker had now disappeared and left him totally destitute and knowing no one in the city. As our team center was just around the corner, I sat with Kaleb and Emma (Susan hadn’t got home yet) and asked what they thought we should do. Emma and I returned with a plate of food, and sat and talked with this young guy for a while. All he wanted now was to go back home and see his family again. He had the haunted, far off look of someone who had been broken. His cheeks were hollow and sunken. Because he continued to clutch at his abdomen, I suggested I take him for medical help. But he explained that he hadn’t eaten anything for two days, and he was sure the pain would subside once he had eaten something.

We gave him enough money to catch a bus back to Stung Treng, and a little extra for more food, before praying that he would have a safe trip back. Afterwards, I was really glad I had (for once) obeyed my conscience rather than my watch, and turned back to talk to him. And I am glad our kids are getting to see and understand how life really is for most people in the world. Like I say, there are a lot of hungry people in Cambodia right now.