The Tribune

By EARYEL BOWLEG

Tribune Staff Reporter

ebowleg@tribunemedia.net

THE Chinese Embassy and the Zonta Club of Nassau both donated to the Bahamas Feeding Network yesterday.

The embassy donated $10,000 to the network and is in the process of purchasing and shipping over a number of greenhouses to help farmers.

The Zonta Club is providing various food items to help at least 20 families over the next few weeks.

BFN Executive Director Philip Smith thanked the Chinese Embassy for its generosity.

“What I believe is if you could put the right group of people and organisations together there’s nothing we cannot achieve - that is my belief,” Mr Smith said.

“I believe that hunger, if you think about it, a lot of us probably will never experience it but hunger must be so debilitating …and so what I say about donations like this is that it encourages me so much and I believe with all my heart that we could truly, totally eradicate hunger.”

Chinese Ambassador to the Bahamas Dai Qingli said she hoped the “modest contribution” can help a number of individuals and families in putting food on the table.

“I think the Bahamas Feeding Network is not just helping to bring food to the table. I think they are also bringing the message of solidarity, support, love and care to all the Bahamian people. I think that we very much support and identify with the goals and mission of the Bahamas Feeding Network,” she said.

Yesterday Mr Smith spoke about the harsh realities of hunger in the country. He said official figures from the Department of Statistics found that about 12 percent of people were affected by food insecurity or were food insecure prior to the pandemic and Hurricane Dorian. However, he thinks that number could be higher.

“I’m not a statistician, but I always felt that that number was low because they used, I think it was $4 a day for food,” Mr Smith said yesterday.

“... $4 for food a day that’s not going to cut it.

“... My estimate all along has been anywhere between 15 and 20 percent of the population (suffers from food insecurity)...”

Mr Smith said the national food task force is servicing about 18,000 families, which is estimated to four people per family.

“So, that’s 72,000 individuals. That came down prior to the reduction. We were servicing 220,000 individuals, so it was reduced by two thirds because of the amount of money that was left in the programme. A number of persons who were taken off we felt were still food insecure,” he explained.

Spouse of the Prime Minister, Mrs Patricia Minnis, was also present and thanked the ambassador for her partnership and donation to the Bahamas Feeding Network.