WEBVTT - Disaster Relief Pt. 2: From 'Food Line' to Front Line 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:02.679 You know, prior to to to COVID, we had thirty 0:00:02.720 --> 0:00:06.000 eight million Americans who are on snap our our food stamps, 0:00:06.280 --> 0:00:08.840 and we're seeing the long lines of people who are 0:00:08.920 --> 0:00:11.520 lined up for miles and sometimes waiting in their cars 0:00:11.560 --> 0:00:16.040 for hours to receive food from a food bank. And 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.560 these are people who have found themselves in a position 0:00:18.840 --> 0:00:20.720 they never thought in a million years that they would 0:00:20.760 --> 0:00:23.720 be in. And often these are the same people who 0:00:23.760 --> 0:00:27.240 pointed at people who needed assistance and saying they brought 0:00:27.440 --> 0:00:31.280 on themselves and raise yourself up by your bootstraps and 0:00:31.560 --> 0:00:34.160 you know, maybe you shouldn't have that many children, and 0:00:34.200 --> 0:00:38.159 you know, just buck up. Well, now we're seeing that 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:40.800 through no fault of their own, they're in that same 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:45.720 position forty million Americans that lost their job so far, 0:00:46.440 --> 0:00:49.040 and uh so the need just keeps growing and you 0:00:49.080 --> 0:00:52.040 can't rely on even uh kind of slapping the other 0:00:52.040 --> 0:01:00.320 emergency responses. Hey, I'm Tom Collichio. This is my cast 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:03.480 Citizen Chef. This is part two of our disaster episode. 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:06.679 In this episode, we'll take a look at nonprofit and 0:01:06.720 --> 0:01:09.399 social services and you know, the agencies there to pick 0:01:09.480 --> 0:01:12.679 up the pieces and you know, hopefully we'll be better 0:01:12.760 --> 0:01:18.600 prepared for the next localized disaster, hurricane fire, our pandemic. 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:21.120 But it has to start with a plan, and in 0:01:21.160 --> 0:01:25.440 the absence of a government plan, charity steps in. But 0:01:25.440 --> 0:01:29.039 but it's it's it's not enough. So we're gonna hear 0:01:29.040 --> 0:01:31.600 from Carolin Bestcom who hasn't turned it out in Tobago 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:34.800 see how localized disaster, how they're dealing with it there. 0:01:35.800 --> 0:01:38.880 But first we're gonna talk to the CEO of World 0:01:38.959 --> 0:01:43.440 Central Kitchen, Nate Muke. Nate. The last time we spoke 0:01:43.520 --> 0:01:46.920 it was pre COVID and we were having a discussion 0:01:47.000 --> 0:01:52.440 about UH feeding people in a disaster area. The interview 0:01:52.480 --> 0:01:55.160 I did with with Nate, the first interview was in studio. 0:01:55.440 --> 0:01:57.880 I don't know was that in January or early February. 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:00.880 I don't even remember. A lot. A lot has changed 0:02:00.880 --> 0:02:03.320 since then. For sure we were in a studio, face 0:02:03.360 --> 0:02:06.520 to face, so it'll probably sound a little different than 0:02:06.600 --> 0:02:11.640 part one. So I'm here with Nick muk who's the 0:02:11.639 --> 0:02:15.240 CEO of World Central Kitchen, and they have been just 0:02:15.360 --> 0:02:18.440 beating the drum on having a government response, not so 0:02:18.520 --> 0:02:21.280 much a charitable response. Why why was there a need 0:02:21.320 --> 0:02:24.120 for a World Central Kitchen or Jose to fill this gap. 0:02:24.200 --> 0:02:27.040 What what what what are we missing here? And how 0:02:27.080 --> 0:02:30.600 can our government improve and and be uh more nimble 0:02:30.639 --> 0:02:34.240 when it comes to feeding people in disaster areas. So 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.960 Jose often says that he wishes he were doing this 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:42.760 work back when Katrina hit New Orleans. UM, you may 0:02:42.800 --> 0:02:45.680 remember the Superdome. We had tens of thousands of people 0:02:45.720 --> 0:02:47.799 evacuated the Superdome and there was no food and there 0:02:47.840 --> 0:02:52.400 was no water, and you know, we said after that 0:02:52.440 --> 0:02:54.440 moment as a country that we would never let this 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.800 happen again. We keep saying as a country, we're gonna 0:02:57.800 --> 0:02:59.520 get better at this, better at this. But the problem 0:02:59.600 --> 0:03:05.440 is the the model, the underlying response is broken. UM. Generally, 0:03:05.560 --> 0:03:07.799 the way that that it works in our country is 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:10.000 for the first seventy two hours, we sort of consider 0:03:10.080 --> 0:03:12.880 that these like m r s shelf stable things or 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:15.240 are sufficient or people will get by, and then after 0:03:15.280 --> 0:03:18.520 that it's sort of it's at hawc um. There's no 0:03:18.600 --> 0:03:21.880 real system. When we landed in Puerto Rico, the first 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.440 question we asked was, Okay, who's who's doing the food? 0:03:24.840 --> 0:03:28.120 And there was no answer. Nobody, nobody. So you know, 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.280 this definitely is not something that that you know that 0:03:32.520 --> 0:03:35.760 Jose went to seek out it was something that he 0:03:36.040 --> 0:03:41.040 saw firsthand. And I think what we've witnessed was that, uh, 0:03:41.280 --> 0:03:44.320 you don't have folks who know food and understand food, 0:03:44.360 --> 0:03:47.680 who are in the power of making the decisions and 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:51.840 crafting these uh you know, the emergency response scenarios and 0:03:51.880 --> 0:03:54.280 so UM, if you don't know anything about food, you 0:03:54.280 --> 0:03:56.119 don't know how you you don't even know where to begin. 0:03:56.600 --> 0:03:58.440 And so I think this is where the real power 0:03:58.520 --> 0:04:00.520 of of chefs comes into play. This is the real 0:04:00.560 --> 0:04:03.880 power of this industry at large. UM, is that you 0:04:03.920 --> 0:04:07.440 can tap into all of that experience and uh, the 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:10.600 expertise and the speed and efficiency of the private sector, 0:04:10.680 --> 0:04:14.400 but also you know, the resources on the ground. I mean, 0:04:14.480 --> 0:04:17.719 if you're if you're going somewhere like Puerto Rico, your 0:04:17.720 --> 0:04:20.120 best asset is all of those Puerto Ricans that you 0:04:20.200 --> 0:04:23.120 know their communities and so you know, it's it's something 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.920 that I hope that by doing this work where we're 0:04:27.640 --> 0:04:31.000 showing what is possible UM and we can start to 0:04:31.080 --> 0:04:33.520 change the system. That's really the I think one of 0:04:33.520 --> 0:04:37.400 our long term goals is start to show that for 0:04:37.600 --> 0:04:41.440 our fellow Americans and also our fellow global citizens around 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:44.560 the world, that that that we deserve better, that that 0:04:44.880 --> 0:04:47.719 we can do better. Um, there's no reason we can't 0:04:47.720 --> 0:04:50.160 be cooking fresh meals for folks who just went through 0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:52.960 this traumatic experience of a natural disaster and do it 0:04:53.000 --> 0:04:55.240 within twelve hours and and be able to support these 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:58.760 communities in need. Um in this sort of fierce urgency 0:04:58.800 --> 0:05:03.159 of now uh as As Jose says, quoting uh Dr 0:05:03.160 --> 0:05:06.000 Martin Luther King Jr. That you know, we we have 0:05:06.080 --> 0:05:08.880 to be able to move quickly, and so you know, 0:05:08.960 --> 0:05:11.320 that's that's really kind of what what we're aiming to do. 0:05:11.680 --> 0:05:15.400 If you look at a an arena, say where where 0:05:15.480 --> 0:05:19.440 sporting events happen, Jose often remarks that, you know, we 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:21.919 think of them as as these facilities for sports or 0:05:21.960 --> 0:05:25.320 music or whatever, but ultimately they're actually really just giant 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.120 restaurants not being used. And so I hope that that 0:05:28.240 --> 0:05:30.360 by doing this work, we can show what's possible and 0:05:30.400 --> 0:05:32.479 start to change the system. And and we've been doing 0:05:32.480 --> 0:05:34.640 more of that. You know, Jose is not uh you know, 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:38.279 anti government or anti you know, he's really trying to engage. 0:05:38.680 --> 0:05:40.560 It also strikes me that there's there's more than a 0:05:40.600 --> 0:05:44.240 need of just food. Um, when people are losing their homes, 0:05:44.279 --> 0:05:46.920 they can't find their family. Um, A simple act of 0:05:46.960 --> 0:05:49.800 feeding someone does a lot more to just nourish them. 0:05:49.839 --> 0:05:52.200 Can you can you talk about the sort of emotional 0:05:52.240 --> 0:05:54.240 connections that you make with people on the ground and 0:05:54.279 --> 0:05:55.640 sort of how you really feed their soul and not 0:05:55.680 --> 0:05:58.200 just their stomach. Absolutely, you know, we really believe that 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:03.560 it's cooking and preparing and serving and handing somebody a 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:07.160 plate of hot food is is a message. I mean, 0:06:07.160 --> 0:06:11.240 it's it's it's symbolic and that somebody has taken the 0:06:11.279 --> 0:06:16.080 time thoughtfully and crafted you know this, this plate of 0:06:16.120 --> 0:06:19.479 hot food. It's it's not just about the calories, you know, 0:06:19.560 --> 0:06:22.320 It's it really is about that. Look, we know things 0:06:22.320 --> 0:06:24.120 are tough right now, and we know it's going to 0:06:24.240 --> 0:06:26.200 take some time, but we're here and we're gonna be 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:28.280 here tomorrow and the next day and the next day, 0:06:28.320 --> 0:06:31.159 and we're gonna keep coming back, and we want to 0:06:31.160 --> 0:06:33.479 make your life a little bit easier. We know you 0:06:33.560 --> 0:06:36.880 just went through this hard moment and we're gonna we're 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:38.920 gonna make it just that much easier to get through 0:06:38.960 --> 0:06:42.000 the day. And that really is is at the core 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.839 I think of of what we do and why Jose 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.160 founded World Central Kitchen from the beginning because food it's 0:06:49.200 --> 0:06:53.080 it's it's so powerful that transcends all of our boundaries. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:56.040 And so yeah, it is, uh, it's something really at 0:06:56.040 --> 0:06:58.280 the very core of what we do. And we we 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.599 engage and we we talked to the comunities and we 0:07:00.680 --> 0:07:04.080 listen to them as well, and you know, we hope 0:07:04.120 --> 0:07:07.720 that it's um you know, can just make things just 0:07:07.760 --> 0:07:11.160 that much easier. Thank you. That's great for having banks 0:07:11.360 --> 0:07:17.080 appreciate it. How did the gears even start when it 0:07:17.080 --> 0:07:19.840 comes to disaster relief like we saw in New York 0:07:19.840 --> 0:07:23.320 City after nine eleven or after Katrina, as well as 0:07:23.320 --> 0:07:26.880 of any hurricanes and fires in between. So let's hear 0:07:26.880 --> 0:07:29.120 from someone who has experienced both sides of a disaster 0:07:29.480 --> 0:07:31.680 in a food bank line and on the front lines, 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:37.880 Lane Fisher of Tulane University during times of disaster, who's 0:07:37.920 --> 0:07:41.720 making sure people eat? A lot of times it's the 0:07:41.800 --> 0:07:45.520 church groups and the local community entities and things like 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:49.320 that that really take the brunt of fixing things after 0:07:49.960 --> 0:07:52.880 taking in people during a storm, and then of course 0:07:52.880 --> 0:07:55.600 the potluck dinners that always found my old Baptist churches. 0:07:55.720 --> 0:07:57.960 You know that the potlucks that follow that comes through, 0:07:58.040 --> 0:08:01.280 you know, and always get out food. It's they're they're 0:08:01.280 --> 0:08:03.960 the biggest food donors in a lot of ways. It's 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:06.880 these local groups, not just church groups, but local groups 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.000 like even things like the Council of Aging. And in 0:08:10.160 --> 0:08:14.080 Louisiana we have what we coined the Cajun Navy, where 0:08:14.520 --> 0:08:16.640 pretty much just a whole bunch of good old boys 0:08:16.680 --> 0:08:18.920 getting a flat boat and they pick up people just 0:08:18.960 --> 0:08:22.160 to help, you know. I'm Blaine Fisher. I'm a professor 0:08:22.200 --> 0:08:25.760 at Tulane University and Emergency Security Studies UM past life. 0:08:25.760 --> 0:08:27.760 I used to also be a paramedic here in New Orleans. 0:08:27.920 --> 0:08:31.000 I come from a place called Bureaus, Louisiana. You don't 0:08:31.040 --> 0:08:33.199 know where that is imagined. Louisiana is a big boot. 0:08:33.880 --> 0:08:35.800 Wherever your tonail would be in that boot would be 0:08:35.800 --> 0:08:39.760 where my house was. That's ground zero for hurricane So 0:08:40.000 --> 0:08:44.280 my family never played around. Camille hit. My parents, grandparents 0:08:44.400 --> 0:08:48.280 get wiped out. Betsy hit. My grandparents didn't get wiped out. 0:08:48.520 --> 0:08:51.720 Katrina hit, we get wiped out. Isaac came in, my 0:08:51.760 --> 0:08:54.280 parents lost her house the second time. I'm like Jason Bourne. 0:08:55.160 --> 0:08:58.480 I was like born at because I have no childhood pictures. 0:08:58.480 --> 0:09:01.559 They're all gone. It's like I'm like off the grid, 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:03.960 you know, but I remember as a child just even 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.160 a category one hurricane, usually category one hurricane is what 0:09:07.200 --> 0:09:11.719 we we're gonna call hurricane parties. Worry, take everything out 0:09:11.720 --> 0:09:14.640 of a refrigerator, invite your neighbors in because we gotta 0:09:14.640 --> 0:09:17.839 eat it because you don't have electricity. So all the 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:19.960 meat and people are like, you know, if you're next 0:09:19.960 --> 0:09:21.679 to people that's hunting a lot and stuff, and all 0:09:21.679 --> 0:09:24.400 of a sudden, everything they've been stockpiling for the local 0:09:24.440 --> 0:09:28.280 community is just as big pig, hog roast or whatever 0:09:28.320 --> 0:09:31.280 it is. And you eat great the first day, but 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:35.439 after that it goes downhill. Past that, you know, you're 0:09:35.480 --> 0:09:38.960 crushing our brain of noodles. That's usually when National Guard 0:09:38.960 --> 0:09:40.880 cove steps in and female kind of comes in and 0:09:40.920 --> 0:09:43.559 the Red Cross and things like that. And like I 0:09:43.600 --> 0:09:46.040 said on the Katrina side, I've been in that area 0:09:46.080 --> 0:09:49.559 where you stood in line to get a big box. 0:09:49.800 --> 0:09:54.560 It's just a big cardboard box of like forty fifty 0:09:54.760 --> 0:09:57.079 m R e s, right, So everybody got issued a 0:09:57.160 --> 0:10:01.320 box Mr E's and no Tom and them be like, 0:10:01.360 --> 0:10:03.040 you know, they're like, oh you know, if you you 0:10:03.080 --> 0:10:05.520 didn't cleanse your palette first and have all fancy food. 0:10:05.559 --> 0:10:06.840 I'm like a guy that's like, just give me a 0:10:06.840 --> 0:10:09.679 burger call to day. Those m R e s were delicious. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:16.160 I thought they were just on point. And the only 0:10:17.200 --> 0:10:21.880 the only problem is is they're designed for military there 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:24.400 so their meals ready to eat or whatever. But they're 0:10:24.440 --> 0:10:27.760 designed for someone out in deployment. That means they're high calorie. 0:10:28.559 --> 0:10:30.880 How does it that you can survive a disaster ended 0:10:30.960 --> 0:10:33.720 up end up bigger like the guy from Lost, Like, 0:10:33.760 --> 0:10:37.080 how does that work? Like, I just it's the food 0:10:37.200 --> 0:10:42.320 is so heavy in the calories um. And I remember 0:10:42.400 --> 0:10:45.719 no one wanted the vegetable plate. You know, you had 0:10:45.720 --> 0:10:47.760 all these like cheesy chicken case of dat and you're like, 0:10:47.800 --> 0:10:50.240 oh score. I mean you're trading the things you don't 0:10:50.240 --> 0:10:52.920 want for something that someone else has. So it's like 0:10:52.920 --> 0:10:55.600 like trading baseball cards. But they're m R e s. 0:10:57.800 --> 0:10:59.959 Like the Mexican dishes were always like my my Mickey Man, 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.400 like I would never get rid of, but you always 0:11:03.480 --> 0:11:04.920 end up with a vegetable plate you can just never 0:11:04.920 --> 0:11:06.640 get rid of. No one wants to trade it with you. 0:11:06.679 --> 0:11:10.280 No one wants to take it. And I think that 0:11:10.520 --> 0:11:13.880 is the thing emotionally that is missing. I say, when 0:11:13.880 --> 0:11:17.079 it comes to food security, canned food makes you feel 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:19.640 like you're in a disaster. But there's something to be 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.440 said about comfort food. It reminds you of what it 0:11:23.559 --> 0:11:30.000 was before. You're getting something that's hot, it's there, it's 0:11:30.040 --> 0:11:33.560 on a plate. You know, I've been on both sides 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.600 of the coin a lot. You don't know who you 0:11:35.640 --> 0:11:38.440 are until you're in that kind of situation, right, but 0:11:38.720 --> 0:11:40.719 even then, how far have you've been tested. You don't 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:43.240 know who you are until you've been tested. You gotta 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:46.760 have a strong sense of family and community, and that's 0:11:46.760 --> 0:11:49.280 where that dinner table comes out. You know, we we 0:11:49.400 --> 0:11:51.880 think we're complex human beings, but it don't take much, 0:11:52.600 --> 0:11:55.480 don't take much to mess up that balance. Then one 0:11:55.559 --> 0:11:57.720 day after that, people are looting TVs and all kinds 0:11:57.720 --> 0:12:00.280 of stuff. It's like this is wild wild West. Just 0:12:00.400 --> 0:12:04.199 then veneer society and if you brought people together more 0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:08.560 in a comforting setting where society is still there and 0:12:08.600 --> 0:12:12.360 the unifying force of the dinner table has always been 0:12:12.360 --> 0:12:18.240 a society thing. That is the real Facebook. The dinner 0:12:18.280 --> 0:12:21.880 table is the Facebook before the Internet of anything. This 0:12:22.000 --> 0:12:24.080 is how you You've got to know people, That's how 0:12:24.080 --> 0:12:26.200 you connected with people, that's how you became close with people. 0:12:26.440 --> 0:12:29.440 It's how you created a community. And emergency management has 0:12:29.440 --> 0:12:33.240 done at the community level. And I guess, as Tom 0:12:33.280 --> 0:12:35.600 would say, you know, probably the most important thing is 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.120 getting around the dinner table again of creating community again, 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:40.319 how food can bring people together at the end of 0:12:40.360 --> 0:12:42.440 the storm and seeing how that happens. And that's what 0:12:42.480 --> 0:12:44.160 it lures me to this field. That's how I ended 0:12:44.200 --> 0:12:47.040 up mercy management. You don't like to see suffering, you 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.920 don't like to see a car wreck, but you look anyway. 0:12:50.240 --> 0:12:52.920 It's it's like that with a disaster, you know, and 0:12:52.960 --> 0:12:54.640 you're kind of in the thick of it, then you 0:12:54.720 --> 0:12:57.320 realize society is not as advanced as you think it is. 0:12:58.800 --> 0:13:02.679 The big things that help people in a disaster is 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:06.480 not the federal it's not female and and FEMA knows that, 0:13:06.520 --> 0:13:09.680 and and and it's not to say that the US 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:11.679 doesn't respond, because we do. We do. We do more 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.080 than any other country, I believe, and I'm pried to 0:13:14.120 --> 0:13:16.880 say that. And it's become a part of me and 0:13:16.960 --> 0:13:26.040 I'm I'm glad to share it here. You know, often 0:13:26.440 --> 0:13:29.839 governance response is just slow and ineffective. And so we'll 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:31.520 take a look at the food banks and the NGOs 0:13:31.520 --> 0:13:33.839 that fill in the gaps, and you know, what does 0:13:33.880 --> 0:13:37.079 it take to get food on someone's plate in a disaster? 0:13:37.200 --> 0:13:39.240 What does it actually look like? And how do we 0:13:39.280 --> 0:13:43.360 get here? After the break, we'll hear from someone on 0:13:43.400 --> 0:13:45.360 the ground and trin it out and tobago and sort 0:13:45.360 --> 0:13:48.800 of explore this issue and what happens after disaster relief 0:13:48.880 --> 0:14:04.079 is over. We're back. So disaster strikes and you know, 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:06.679 the average person that they want to know what they 0:14:06.679 --> 0:14:08.960 can do, and someone always has that great idea of 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:13.280 a can drive and um, but it sounds good, um, 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.400 And you want to help and you want to do something, 0:14:15.400 --> 0:14:17.960 and you figure you take a few cans of food 0:14:18.000 --> 0:14:20.680 and you donate them and you hope that's going to 0:14:20.760 --> 0:14:25.240 make a difference. Unfortunately, it really doesn't, UM, because the 0:14:25.280 --> 0:14:27.600 scale of some of these problems isn't about opening up 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:29.960 small little cans of food and dishing them out, and 0:14:30.000 --> 0:14:34.120 we're talking about a large scale coordination to feed people, 0:14:34.680 --> 0:14:37.600 and so it is hard to bootstrap um. And you know, 0:14:37.680 --> 0:14:40.360 and we're talking about feeding thousands of people, not not 0:14:40.520 --> 0:14:42.400 you know, two or three people. If you know these 0:14:42.400 --> 0:14:45.080 can drives that you see and you see them always 0:14:45.080 --> 0:14:47.520 around Thanksgiving in the holidays. You know it makes you 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:49.920 feel good. But I can tell you from talking to 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:54.760 people who are running food banks, it's it's just a 0:14:54.840 --> 0:14:56.680 it's a band aid. It's a band aid on a 0:14:56.680 --> 0:14:59.480 big problem that can it can It's not gonna do 0:14:59.520 --> 0:15:01.720 what you think does. So you know, we know that, 0:15:01.800 --> 0:15:03.760 we know that. And then the absence of a response, 0:15:03.840 --> 0:15:05.760 you know, you know there's a charitable response, but but 0:15:05.800 --> 0:15:08.160 that doesn't work. And the reason it doesn't because it 0:15:08.240 --> 0:15:11.120 usually runs out pretty quickly, you know, after the weather 0:15:11.200 --> 0:15:16.960 changes and the workers leave countries and these these localized 0:15:17.080 --> 0:15:19.840 you know governments are are still picking up the pieces. 0:15:19.920 --> 0:15:21.960 And so we're gonna talk to people on the ground. 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:23.840 In fact, right now we'll go to Carol Beast come 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:27.040 who is Trinier out and Tobago and and we're going 0:15:27.080 --> 0:15:31.200 to talk about what happens after the relief front out. 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.080 My name is Karen Maskam. I am the creator of 0:15:35.160 --> 0:15:38.400 tech Fi agree Um. This is a social enterprise that 0:15:38.560 --> 0:15:43.520 uses media journalism and communications to support agree use and 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:48.120 other stakeholders in the sector, entrepreneurs, etcetera. And this is 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:52.040 something we've been doing since twenty elevel. So what happens 0:15:52.120 --> 0:15:54.280 is so the disaster hits and then you have all 0:15:54.320 --> 0:15:57.360 these donations, these immediate supplies. You get your you know, 0:15:57.400 --> 0:16:01.680 your toiletries, your can't good items, you know whatever. People send, 0:16:01.760 --> 0:16:04.520 human beings, you know, when these things happened. They care 0:16:04.520 --> 0:16:06.240 for each other. So you get a lot of things 0:16:06.280 --> 0:16:11.280 coming in. But sometimes these things go cool missing. Other 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:15.720 times they do get distributed and you see them land 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:19.680 and then the food never comes. But yet the food 0:16:19.760 --> 0:16:22.800 is three times as much as it was before the disaster. 0:16:23.440 --> 0:16:27.080 So the food comes and it's taken by the government 0:16:27.120 --> 0:16:30.360 and distributed to who they want. And it is literally 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:35.240 a top down structure, and it's rampant across the Caribbean. 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.200 For that type of behavior. We have a crab and 0:16:38.240 --> 0:16:41.480 a bound mentality. And this is literally as a result 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:44.360 of the government response, which is just poor. When these 0:16:44.400 --> 0:16:48.520 answers strikes, after the lights and cameras leave, you know, jeesus, 0:16:48.560 --> 0:16:50.840 a lord of things are still left. You know, you 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.200 still have to face the long term effects not having 0:16:54.320 --> 0:16:58.600 access to food or the slow of imports, and it 0:16:59.080 --> 0:17:03.720 shows all the treumental important dependency is and how important 0:17:03.760 --> 0:17:07.760 the need for self sustainability and a change in our systems. 0:17:08.240 --> 0:17:11.040 My friend and colleague, he and I decided to come 0:17:11.119 --> 0:17:14.520 up with something called the agre Recovery Kit. The aim 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.760 of the kid was to help families who are displaced 0:17:17.760 --> 0:17:21.359 by disaster to grow full at least a portion of 0:17:21.400 --> 0:17:25.600 it for their household consumption. And so now we have 0:17:25.800 --> 0:17:31.359 the COVID nineteen situation, which is a disaster in itself. 0:17:31.480 --> 0:17:34.679 It is called a pandemic. But the effects of this 0:17:34.800 --> 0:17:39.679 pandemic has been an immediate decrease in the amount of 0:17:39.760 --> 0:17:42.919 important food that comes in. As we know, it is 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:47.840 so traumatic and so disastrous. But the hurricane everything has 0:17:47.880 --> 0:17:53.320 gone immediately. But with this, this COVID nineteen, it's in, 0:17:53.760 --> 0:17:56.679 it's in waves. So we are saying, okay, well we 0:17:56.760 --> 0:17:59.439 know what to do. We are going to try to 0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:03.280 make sure that everyone is able to access food. And 0:18:03.320 --> 0:18:07.280 whether it's a hurricane or COVID, that is what is 0:18:07.359 --> 0:18:11.639 at stake, not having access to food. Our food systems 0:18:11.760 --> 0:18:14.520 are still the same way they are, so we need 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:17.640 to prepare. We cannot rely on the government to take 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:20.920 care of us. We need to have self sufficiency and 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.400 so now we are going to be teaching the art 0:18:23.560 --> 0:18:28.800 of subsistence production. So how do you set seedlings, how 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.840 do you store water, or how do you cook the 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:35.200 food that you grow? At the base of it all, 0:18:36.040 --> 0:18:40.879 food was the necessity. Literally, nothing can take place without food. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:43.960 One of my colleagues from the Young Leaders of the 0:18:44.000 --> 0:18:48.600 America's Initiative, in his presentation, he said that the worst 0:18:48.760 --> 0:18:53.800 feeling a human being can feel is hunger. I understand. 0:18:53.920 --> 0:18:58.159 And I was just like, you know, mind blow and 0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:00.720 that I am in the field because thinking about it, 0:19:00.760 --> 0:19:03.040 there are times when I I feel like I want 0:19:03.080 --> 0:19:05.800 to die and I already I just didn't eat for 0:19:05.920 --> 0:19:07.800 the day, or you know, I didn't eat the night 0:19:07.840 --> 0:19:10.600 before or whatever, you know, and it's like, what is 0:19:10.960 --> 0:19:15.520 that is the reality? That is the reality that structural 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.840 inequality causes. I understand that is the reality we are 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:24.880 facing if we entertain these systems that are not working. 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:31.320 You know, it's the reality when the cameras leave. So 0:19:31.920 --> 0:19:37.760 that's that's all purpose we are simply seeing. Let's be sustainable, 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.040 let's be regenerated, Let's be proactive, let's be self sufficient. 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:46.600 Let's teach the art of subsistence production. There's just no excuse. 0:19:46.680 --> 0:19:49.119 No because COVID hits, you know, That's how I feel. 0:19:49.119 --> 0:19:52.600 There's no excuse. We we we just have to keep 0:19:52.920 --> 0:19:55.320 I just have to keep going. We've learned in the 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:57.639 past twenty years at the world government, they're just not 0:19:57.640 --> 0:20:02.360 prepared for disasters, for hurricanes, for five as pandemics, terrorist attacks, 0:20:02.560 --> 0:20:06.600 civil unrest, we've seen it all. But it's during these 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:09.480 times of disasters that we have to make sure that 0:20:09.480 --> 0:20:13.760 that people have food. That's a basic human right, food right. 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:16.080 You know, no one chooses to be born into poverty, 0:20:16.480 --> 0:20:19.159 No one chooses to be born with disabilities. No one 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.720 chooses to you know, find themselves elderly without a pension 0:20:23.080 --> 0:20:25.639 and who are struggling. No one wants to be that 0:20:25.800 --> 0:20:28.160 that that comes home with PTSD and can't hold down 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.560 a job. And yet these are the very people that 0:20:31.560 --> 0:20:36.919 that are are are needing food assistance. And so this pandemic. 0:20:37.119 --> 0:20:39.239 I hope what's going to come out on the other 0:20:39.240 --> 0:20:41.680 side of this is as a greater empathy for people 0:20:41.680 --> 0:20:45.200 who are struggling, and we can break down the barriers 0:20:45.280 --> 0:20:48.560 of making decisions as to who should receive benefits and 0:20:48.600 --> 0:20:51.640 who should get help and who is deserving of it. 0:20:52.160 --> 0:20:54.320 I'm hoping that that we come out with with a 0:20:54.359 --> 0:20:58.439 deeper empathy for people who are struggling. I want to 0:20:58.480 --> 0:21:02.080 thank Christian Castree and Laurie Silverbush from a place at 0:21:02.080 --> 0:21:06.160 the table, Josie Andreas and Nate muck CEO of World 0:21:06.200 --> 0:21:10.520 Central Kitchen, Karen bestco of Tech four Agrie. Thanks to 0:21:10.560 --> 0:21:13.399 Blame Fisher of Two Lane University. Thank you to our 0:21:13.440 --> 0:21:18.359 first responders, nurses, doctors and relief workers. Citizen Chef with 0:21:18.400 --> 0:21:20.879 Me Tom Collichio is a production of I Heart Media. 0:21:21.680 --> 0:21:25.640 Christopher Hasciotis is our executive producer, Jescelyn Shield Is our researcher, 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:29.280 and Gabrielle Collins our producer and editor. Don't forget to 0:21:29.320 --> 0:21:32.920 subscribe and if you like it, rate us. If you 0:21:32.960 --> 0:21:36.560 don't like us, RTUs, just subscribe and rate us.