Colombians donate food supplies to south
As residents of the south affected by Hurricane Iris continue to struggle for a sense of normalcy, relief aid is still coming in from abroad. Today, the Colombian government is the latest international friend to step up with supplies. News 5’s Janelle Chanona reports.
Janelle Chanona, Reporting
This morning Colombian Naval vessel the A.R.C. Providencia docked at the Belize City Port bearing relief supplies for the victims of Hurricane Iris. Captain of the ship Jose Cifuentes greeted diplomatic officials of the Colombian embassy and Belize with a brief military salute before handing over the donation of food to the National Emergency Management Organisation’s representative Anita Zetina. Zetina says three months after the storm, there are still people who need sustenance.
Anita Zetina
“There are some villages that are still in need of food. We have a month more to go in terms of food distribution. We feel that after that month, people would be able to take care of themselves, even though there might still be some villages that might require a little bit more of food contribution. But I think that the majority of them will be okay after the month.”
Janelle Chanona
“And these are farmers whose crop haven’t come in yet?”
Anita Zetina
“Right. That would be the reason why, because they have been planting and perhaps their crops would not be ready until a month or so.”
And while a sack of flour may not look appetising beyond “flour lab”, apparently the mixture is extremely nutritional and several dishes can be concocted to appease hunger pangs.
Jose Joaquin Gori, Colombian Ambassador to Belize
“It’s concentrated from corn, highly nutritious with vitamins, developed especially for children in schools. It’s made by an institute of family welfare, it’s a government product, not a commercial product.”
Anita Zetina
“There are several ways in which it can be prepared besides just porridge. There are many things that can be done with it. The Council for Colombian was sharing with me that they can even tell us what are some of the ways that is used to prepare it. She further spoke to me the fact that the United Nations requests a lot of that from their country to distribute in African countries because of the nutritious component of it.”
According to Colombian Ambassador to Belize, Jose Joaquin Gori, the ship made two similar stops in Guatemala and Honduras before arriving in port. The Ambassador says today’s donation is sizeable, but given the good relationship between Belize and Colombia, there are plans to send additional relief supplies.
Jose Joaquin Gori
“We have figured out about half a million dollars, including cost of the shipment. It’s very, very expensive to send a ship, especially a navy ship, with all the cost of crew, food, ports and everything, so more or less that’s the value divided for country because it’s three stops that they make. So, we are taking into account one third of the cost of the whole operation.
We’re working on building materials, we also want to give drugs and clothing and all kinds of relief that these people that we hurt by the hurricane can need.”
Reporting for News 5, Janelle Chanona
The A.R.C. Providencia will be in port until tomorrow morning when she will set sail with a course for Cartagena.
