Posted on ContraceptionBlog.com by Ruben.
Yesterday, members of Project Plus held an event called Food Not Condoms on the campus of Mary Washington University.
The event consisted of providing students with a free meal composed of rice, beans, tortillas, and coffee as well as distribution of fliers that address this issue.
From their press release:
"The name of the event says it all," said Shankle, "We want to raise awareness of the fact that people in Africa, Honduras, and other parts of the world are starving while organizations and governments are shipping millions of dollars worth of condoms every year instead of food or aid. Food Not Condoms is their wakeup call.""Last year International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) dispensed 103.4 million condoms to starving people. The problem is, you can't eat condoms," said Brittany Shankle, a senior at the University of Mary Washington who is coordinating the event. "Students at Mary Washington University are taking part in a demonstration called Food Not Condoms, which insists that the selfish policies of sending condoms to places where people are starving to death must come to an end." (emphasis added)
The Food Not Condoms event is aimed at highlighting social injustices, and, Shankle hopes, enlightening people to the true root problem of world hunger: selfishness. "Starvation and disease will persist as long as we continue to apply a 'band-aid' of contraception to this gaping wound," said Shankle. "Our community needs to understand that contraception is not the cure."
The group is on to something here - foreign countries needs food, but too often contraception is forced upon them. A STOPP report linked to from the website highlights this problem:
They spend so much money! It's only NGOs that deal with reproductive health that they call "safe motherhood," because so many women die while giving birth. But, it is a disguise! They come in the village with condoms and talk about abortion rights and women's rights, blah, blah, blah, and they spend so much money! The big organizations spend so much money, but when they find out you are dealing with all that (dying children and mothers) they are not interested. You have to say you are dealing with reproductive rights before you are given support.(emphasis added)
Visit the Food Not Condoms website at http://www.foodnotcondoms.com
