[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 21 (Wednesday, February 25, 2004)]
[House]
[Page H597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               FIGHTING CHILD HUNGER IN BOGOTA, COLOMBIA

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Massachusetts (Mr. McGovern) is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. McGOVERN. Mr. Speaker, over the recess I traveled to Colombia for 
a third time as part of a fact-finding delegation sponsored by the 
Washington Office on Latin America.
  The highlight of my trip was a visit to a school feeding program in a 
place called Ciudad Bolivar, which is a very poor area of Bogota. Mr. 
Speaker, this school feeding program is a partnership between USAID, 
the U.N. World Food Programme and the Bogota Department of Social 
Welfare.
  Joining me at the school were USAID Mission Director Mike Deal; Mr. 
Peter Goossens, WFP Program Coordinator for Colombia; Maria Lucia 
Osorio, WFP staff person who works directly with the school; Andrew 
Krefft, the USAID senior program specialist on Colombia's internally 
displaced; and representatives from Bogota's Department of Social 
Welfare.

                              {time}  1600

  I want to express my personal appreciation for all their efforts in 
making school feeding programs in Colombia so successful.
  Mr. Speaker, the school I visited is called Colegio Luis Carlos 
Galan. Approximately 1,200 children receive meals and food rations at 
Colegio Galan. Eighty percent of these children are from displaced 
families. The children receive a fortified breakfast mixture and mid-
morning fortified snacks. The meals are prepared by community cooks in 
school kitchens, where mothers are educated in food preparation, 
nutrition, child care, and health care. The school meal is supplemented 
with rice, vegetables, beans, eggs, and juice, purchased and prepared 
by the children's families from family contributions of about 10 cents 
per day.
  This one school feeding program costs only $2,000 for the entire 2004 
school year. Think of it, Mr. Speaker, just $2,000 provides 1,200 
impoverished children with nutritious meals and snacks for an entire 
school year. These are some of these children. It also strengthens 
families' commitments to their children's education, attracts and keeps 
these children in school, and demonstrates, as few other programs can, 
that the United States genuinely cares about the future of Colombia's 
children.
  Mr. Speaker, 80 percent of displaced Colombians live in extreme 
poverty and have inadequate nutrition. Only 36 percent of displaced 
children will ever finish primary school, and a mere 8 percent will 
complete high school. Currently, USAID funds a 3-year $5.1 million 
program to alleviate hunger, improve the health and well-being of 
Colombia's displaced families, and increase school attendance through 
school feeding programs.
  The USAID program, which began in September 2003, assists over 
113,000 displaced schoolchildren in 414 schools in 12 Colombian 
departments. The program is implemented by WFP; and prior to this, the 
school feeding program was financed through USDA's McGovern-Dole 
International Food for Education pilot program. Mr. Speaker, 
regrettably, the Bush administration made Draconian cuts in this 
program that resulted in eliminating the Colombian funding. Fortunately 
for Colombia's children, USAID came to the rescue and picked up the 
costs, incorporating it into programs supporting Colombia's internally 
displaced.
  At the school I visited, 80 percent of the children are from 
displaced families. They come from all over Colombia, ranging in age 
from 6 years to 16, and reflect Colombia's racial and ethnic diversity. 
One mother, displaced from Caqueta, told me that her family's life was 
filled with violence: ``It is terrible to have to flee with nothing but 
the clothes on your back, running for hours and days, arriving at 
Bogota, not knowing anyone.'' She gave her sincerest thanks for the 
United States' support of the school.
  A teacher stated, ``Today, these children are fed, but tomorrow, who 
knows?'' This teacher felt that many of these children were in school 
for the first time in their lives, learning things that will help them 
throughout their lives, like how to read and write.
  Mr. Speaker, if you could only see these children. They are bright, 
they are beautiful, they are the future of Colombia; and I admire and 
honor the dedicated teachers and school administrators and parents and 
students at this school; and I respect the commitment of USAID and the 
World Food Program staff, who are giving these families hope for a 
better future.
  Last Friday, the newly elected mayor of Bogota, Mr. Lucho Garzon, 
launched a new initiative called Bogota Without Hunger. Through this 
campaign, Ciudad Bolivar is one of six priority zones designated to 
receive additional resources for nutrition, education, health services, 
and housing.
  I encourage my colleagues to visit U.S.-supported school feeding 
programs when they travel abroad. I most strongly urge the leadership 
of this Congress to significantly increase funding for both the USDA 
McGovern-Dole program and USAID food aid programs. No matter how tight 
current budget restrictions might be, these programs are truly among 
the very best investments we can make in the future stability of 
Colombia and the world.

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