"Our food went where it was supposed to go"

NORTH KOREA

His first few nights in North Korea, William Janzen didn't sleep well--not only because of jet lag but also because of the complicated, confusing situation. Janzen, who directs Mennonite Central Committee's Ottawa office, is one of few North Americans to visit the politically isolated country. He was there July 8-15 as MCC representative on a Canadian Foodgrains Bank delegation sent to monitor food aid.

Towering statues and large portraits of North Korea's leaders--the late Kim II Sung and his son Kim Jong II--dominated. Pyongyang, North Korea's capital, is a modern city with many high-rise buildings. North Koreans spoke with loving, almost religious devotion about the leaders of their heavily-controlled country. Government officials carefully guided the delegation's movements.

But, by the end of his visit, Janzen was convinced that many North Koreans desperately need food and that MCC-donated grain and meat are helping feed many hungry people. The delegation agreed on the need for more aid, especially from now until October when new crops can be harvested.

At four nurseries and three kindergartens, Janzen saw "children with very thin arms and legs and listless eyes, seemingly too weak to stand". He also visited seven houses where residents said their daily rations have been reduced to 130 grams of rice. Estimates indicate the rate of malnutrition among children has jumped from 16% to 37.6% over the past year.

Janzen visited three of the 11 counties that received MCC grain donated through the Foodgrains Bank. He was able to follow the distribution of flour, made from donated grain, right into people's homes. Many expressed their thanks for this food. "I am confident that our food went where it was supposed to go," Janzen concluded.

Janzen believes North Korea's national food distribution system is working quite well. The country now relies on donated food, as it has run out of domestically produced grain. Janzen was impressed by the dedication of some government officials, particularly at the local level. "I feel like a mother who can no longer feed her children," one leader told Janzen. She related how she had to reduce rations by one-third for the people in her county. When the CFGB grain arrived, she scoured the area to find fuel for the dilapidated trucks that hauled the food to local distribution centres.

Janzen also saw how North Koreans are supplementing their rations. In the country, people are growing crops in every available space--by the roads, on steep slopes and all around houses, leaving only narrow paths to the doors. People are also cutting and drying grasses. A government guide showed Janzen noodles that she said were made 90% from grasses.

Another image Janzen recalls is the sight of hundreds of people, including many soldiers, nurturing rice in the fields. Lack of fuel for tractors means people do more work by hand. Fertilizers and pesticides are in short supply, so people do more weeding.

Janzen also noted huge factories with no smoke coming out of the smokestacks. Lack of energy sources appears to have also halted much industry.

North Korean officials kept stressing that the food shortage is temporary, the result of two years of flooding. However, Janzen says they must also come to terms with changing world patterns. North Korea can no longer rely on Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union or even China, as it has in the past. "North Korea stands alone; it's really a friendless country," says Janzen.

North Korea has also proved difficult to help. The government has permitted few Western media into the country. It has also not yet allowed the United Nations to carry out a country-wide nutritional survey to determine the exact extent of the needs. (Permission for this survey is expected soon.) "Their secrecy hurts their case immensely," notes Janzen. "But if we wait to help people until they have a good government, then we'll wait a long time. We as churches should help people despite their government."

Janzen and the delegation were monitoring a Canadian Foodgrains Bank shipment of 13,500 metric tons of wheat sent from Canada earlier this year. In 1996 MCC and other CFB partners also sent 4,350 metric tons of grain, purchased in Thailand and Vietnam.

MCC is continuing to send aid to North Korea and is requesting donations for the following efforts:

* MCC is contributing $125,000 toward a CFB grain shipment that is scheduled to arrive in North Korea before the fall harvest.

* MCC is forwarding $11,000 to Caritas Hong Kong for the purchase of multi-vitamins for North Korea.

* MCC is also exploring working with the American Friends Service Committee and Heifer Project International on a long-term agricultural rehabilitation program in North Korea.

Pearl Sensenig, MCC Communications

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