World Food Programme Fighting Hunger Worldwide

After the food distribution, this girl waits for her parents to pick up the food rations distributed by WFP and National Emergency Secreatariat (SEN) in the community of La Esperanza, in the Paraguayan Chaco.

Cristina Garcia (52) stamps her finger print on a document before receiving her food ration in rice, wheat flour, beans, oil and salt in La Esperanza (Hope, in English) community, more than 200 kms from the capital city of Asunción, Paraguay.

After signing all the documention, Cristina and here husband receive their monthly food ration and prepare to head home. “Little before the arrival of the food and due to the extreme situation we were living in, we were on the verge of abandoning all our belongings and our small piece of land… We were all going to be employed, including the children, in a nearby farm so that we could eat,” says Cristina, with an almost choked voice.

After storing most of the monthly food ration, Cristina heads to the kitchen to store the rest of the food. “Above all the rice and the wheat flour are of great help because they are basic food staples," says Cristina. "Before I send my grandchildren to school, I prepare them pireca (flour tortilla) so that they will not study with an empty stomach.”
 

Once in her kitchen, Cristina begins to store the rest of the food. Next to the food ration bag is one of the egg-laying hens the family is growing.
 

Cristina uses her cooking oil to start preparing a meal of beans to her grandchildren. The whole family misses eating pumpkins and potatoes as they used to before the floods. The Garcia family estimates that they will have to wait until December to harvest such items because soil conditions do not allow planting crops.
 

“Tomorrow we will eat better,” she says Cristina while serving her grandchildren the beans that she cooked. She cooked what was left of last month's ration, but tomorrow she will start cooking with rice, wheat flour and vegetable oil she received today on WFP's food distribution.

Food rations distributed by WFP in coordination with the National Emergency Secreatariat (SEN) among indigenous communities of El Chaco were purchased in the local Paraguayan market.
 

Cristina serves her grandchild a plate of beans.

“Above all the rice and the flour are of great help because they are basic food staples," says Cristina. "Before I send my grandchildren to school, I prepare them pireca (flour tortilla) so that they will not study with an empty stomach.” Here both grandchildren eat their hot meal of beans. During this month, Cristina and these children will not have worry about where they will find their next meal.