Should the Maersk Alabama have been there in the first place?

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Comments

[Ian Turner]

The goal of US food aid is to benefit US farmers. A secondary priority is to maintain geopolitical connections with recipient countries' elites. Concern for recipients themselves is at best a tertiary concern.

[Keri]

As I read this post, I find myself thinking back to my time as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Lesotho, South Africa. All of the schools I worked with received food aid from an organization-the food, fortunately, was something that the Basotho people regularly eat and cook, but I find myself wondering- could this aid agency have supported the schools by simply helping them purchase the same food from local farmers? During this time, there had been issues with not enough rain (which eventually turned into a full blown drought) so I don't know how that impacted the issue. However, it does seem that even "good" aid agencices can do better.

[Doug Hanson]

In one South Eastern country in Africa, USAID and lack of government intervention have forced local farmers to sell their land and move on. The net affect is loss of indigenous food sources, lack of employment and reliance on international "food". Despite charitable people and good intentions, we can unknowningly do more damage.