Food Fights
When you think of food fights, it is hard not to picture John Belushi in “Animal House.” But food fights have escalated and become more serious lately. High unemployment and food prices have caused riots in many developing countries, and it is likely to get worse.
Obviously, we have seen the rising unemployment in the United States. But have you been to the grocery store lately? The prices are going way up when salaries are not. The coronavirus has affected our food supply chain, and it is causing prices to rise enormously. But in other developing countries, we are seeing prices doubling on needed staple items. The price of food is making the most dramatic increases that we have seen possibly in our lifetimes. As a result, the major future conflicts that we will see may not be fought over oil and nuclear weapons. The substance of conflict may be something a lot more basic—do I have food to eat?
Who is going to be hit the hardest? According to World Food Programme—“High food prices are a problem for poor countries that have to import a lot of food to feed their populations. If imports cost more, these countries could struggle to buy the food they need. Taken down to a human level, high prices are a problem for any household that spends most of its income on food. In many of the world’s developing countries, people spend 60-80 percent of their income on food.”
Workers in developing nations typically labor for an entire day to accumulate just enough money to buy food for their family. But in this pandemic, jobs are scarce and governments are often forcing isolation that makes it nearly impossible to leave the house for work.. In the midst of these problems, food has become scarce and inflated. At the end of the day, there is not enough food for many families.
When you think of food fights in movies, it is pretty humorous. But no one is laughing at the battles over food now. We are seeing governments and leaders of major countries in chaos. And these are usually the very places where you see Christian Relief Fund working. During this pandemic, CRF has had to become a food distributor more than ever before. Schools have closed in most places where we serve. And we usually feed our children at schools. So we have had to get creative to make sure every one of our kids get fed every single day. None of our CRF children will go hungry. Every time someone sees a person in a bright orange shirt with food on a donkey, motorcycle or truck—hope abounds. There is enough food to go around in this world. But it will require a different kind of thinking, a different kind of economy and a different kind of generosity.
Children in the Dominican Republic often receive their food and supplies by motorcycle. 
Dorcus Ngumbao, Rehema Ngumbao and Raheli Ngumbao picking up their food distribution in Malindi, Kenya. 
CRF Field Director Michael Mutai delivers food rations to sponsored child Purity Samuel in Mombasa, Kenya.
Your sponsorship is feeding your child during this pandemic. The extra that you give to our Covid-19 disaster response feeds many others. In the midst of this global crisis, your support is more important than ever before!
“If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday.” (Isaiah 58:10)
