Hear it from the people

Caroline Griffin, Fundraising and communications officer

In July, I went to Kenya to find out how speculation on basic food commodities has affected people’s lives. I've put together a photo gallery which tells the story of gambling on food from the people's perspective.

Many of the photographs are of people I met who had gone without food for days or been forced to sell their few possessions to feed their families. The price of maize, the Kenyan staple food doubled or tripled in a matter of days, causing unnecessary hardship for the fifty per cent of the Kenyan population who already live below the poverty line.

Additional problems such as drought, unemployment and underlying health problems meant that many families reached crisis point when food prices shot up. Some of the people I spoke to are still picking up the pieces after the events of 2008.

But thanks to the World Development Movement, economists, journalists and development experts are now pointing to food speculation as the most significant cause of food crises, including the current food crisis in West Africa.

With your support, we can drown out the corporate lobbyists and ensure the banking industry is properly regulated to ensure this cannot happen again.

If you feel inspired by our photo gallery, please join WDM and help us fight the injustices of the current global financial system right now, and in the long term.

Thanks!