Sherine Nasr reports on the expanding activities of Egypt's first food bank Stand in the backyard of a five-star hotel after one of the lavish wedding parties in which they specialise and watch the mountains of food that are discarded because uneaten. Or cast your eye over the piles of garbage produced by more affluent neighbourhoods. The amount of food that is thrown away is staggering. There are no reliable estimates of the quantity of food that is daily cooked, not consumed, and then thrown away in houses, restaurants and hotels. In supermarkets housewives that can afford it pile their trolleys high so as to provide the huge portions to family members at meal times that are seen as a sign of love. The results of this manic shopping, and the consumption patterns that fuel it, cupboards full of canned goods nearing their expiry dates and huge quantities of cooked food that goes down the drain, and all at a time when inflation has eroded the real income of society's poorest members to the extent that they struggle to feed their families. The United Nations Development Programme's 2004 Human Development Report estimates that 34 million Egyptians live beneath the poverty line. Of these, a shocking 10.5 million are classified as "hungry". "It is no secret that almost half of Egypt's population suffers from malnutrition," says Reda Sukkar, vice-chairman of the Food Technology Centre. Now, though, at least some of those people benefit from a year-old project, the food bank, which aims to re-direct food from those who have too much to those who cannot afford enough. "The food bank contributes to answering a long-standing problem -- how to feed the increasing numbers of the poor -- that is causing ever greater headaches for the Egyptian government," said Sukkar. Egypt's first ever food bank was set up in October 2004 as a non-profit organisation. It operates on a simple premise: collecting food items from those who do not need them and passing them on to families that do. Simple as it may sound, a number of challenges had to be overcome before the scheme could be put into practice. Cooked items have to be distributed quickly, and require refrigeration facilities. Fresh food also requires speedy transport, often in specially equipped vehicles. And then there is the problem of identifying those most in need. "It was very important to coordinate with NGOs working in different governorates in order to find not only the families most in need of the service but also an appropriate way in which to approach them," says Sukkar. "We started with a handful of enthusiastic people who were ready to finance initial activities from their own pockets. In less than a year that figure had grown to 80, and the LE200,000 used to set up the project has grown enormously." The food bank's organisers were heartened by the response of businessmen, companies, hotels, wholesale traders and retailers as well as individuals ready to contribute time and money. They rented a building in Moqattam to serve as their headquarters and converted the basement into a space where donated food items could be re-packaged before being distributed. Sourcing supplies of food is only one element in the project's success. Equally important was to place the whole operation on a professional footing. To this end the bank hired a full-time manager and several field researchers to help set up the distribution network. "It was important to run the project in a business-like manner," says Sukkar, rather than depend entirely on volunteers. "As the bank grew additional staff members were recruited and we now employ 50 people." Though new to Egypt, food banks have been around for some time. The first was set up in the US by John Van Hengel in 1967. In its first year of operation it opened 13 branches across several states and distributed 2.5 million meals to the poor. It has grown into an enormous enterprise, distributing food to 23 million Americans, most of them children, the old and the unemployed. Similar operations were later set up in Japan, South Korea, India and the UK. Egypt's food bank recently inaugurated four branches -- in Alexandria, Suez, Beni Sweif and Al-Sharqiya -- which now operate alongside the Cairo branch, which also supplies meals to Giza and Qalioubiya. It aims to be a national project, servicing the needs of all Egyptians, regardless of religion. To keep up with the growth in activities the board of the food bank established 15 committees, each charged with overseeing a specific area of activity, including promotion and resource development. "It was vital for the bank to establish projects that would allow it to cover operational expenses," says Sukkar, who explains that the project will soon be involved in a variety of food-related activities, including packaging and poultry farming. A call centre was recently set up to provide information about the bank's activities to both donors and those in need of its services. "In less than a year the bank has established itself as a success. I can judge by the number of people willing to contribute time, money and effort. Activities are growing and the potential is enormous," says Sukka.
