Different Continent: Same Story

There isn't much space in his hut, all 20 square meters (215 square feet) of it. He has raised four children in the hut, and two of his sons, now 18 and 21, still live there with him. It is dark in the hut, where guests are invited to sit on a sofa that is so old and worn that its original color is no longer discernible. Buckets hang from the ceiling to catch the water that leaks through the corrugated metal roof during heavy rains. A two-kilo bag of wheat flour that cost 40 Kenyan shillings (about €0.40, or 64¢) only a year ago now goes for three times as much. The price of sugar has jumped from 40 to 85 shillings, and four tomatoes cost 10 shillings instead of 2. Wages, though, haven't moved. Food has become increasingly scarce. Because more and more agricultural land worldwide is being devoted to "energy crops" for biofuel, and because speculators control the big picture, making a financial killing on the worsening relationship between supply and demand, a bowl of oatmeal for breakfast is all that Ali Omar and his family have to eat until evening. On days when there is lunch, the family must make do with nothing but water in the evening. Different Continent: Same Story