I have noticed through out Africa there are many relief efforts that have one thing in common.
The sharing of food. And not just any food. Rice, and garri.

If you don't know, Rice and garri are two of the most nutrient poor foods a human being can consume. There is nothing in them and this is one of the reasons they cannot be eaten without stew and soup. Most goods take the color of the dominant nutrient within them. So when you see white foods, odds are there's nothing in there but empty husk.

You are not the only creature that eats, and because there is nothing in rice, you will notice that uncooked rice doesn't spoil. Meaning the even bacteria doesn't see anything there worth wasting it's time with. Same applies for Garri, especially Akpu which is used to make poisonous cyanide.
Worst, many are adding indomie to their care packages, which is also nothing nutrient wise but is unfortunately also consumed with no additives other than salt packets.

So as we distribute unhealthy, nutrient poor foods to vulnerable populations, lets remember that we are fighting a virus and hunger. You cannot win a battle against a virus without fortifying your body with actual minerals.

This also makes me wonder, since rice salt and oil, or millet/cassava salt and oil are the almost 100% of our diet, what effect does it have on society as a whole. We don't know this must many of us, because of what we eat are perpetually hungry. Empty grains (rice, millet, indomie) will physically fill the area in your stomach and tell your brain that you have eaten since your stomach is full. When your body goes to pull nutrients from this full stomach and nothing is there, it goes into panic and starts pulling those nurtierts from strange parts of your body, which includes your brain.

The brain is an organ, and needs to it's own nutrients to function and if malnourished will cause stress, brain fog, fatigue and brain damage. We eat vegetables but they are burned to oblivion when put in most soups until all that remains is their husk and traces of their vitamin quality.

So we make zombies of ourselves when we only eat empty calories. We believe we are full but our brain and body is aching to eat and in panic mode without us knowing it. I wonder if this is one of the reasons many of these relief efforts end in riots, or why we have a level of desperation and impatience for food. Why many have a hard time relaxing or thinking about something other than what they an acquire and what they can eat.

I used to belief it was 'poverty' but if you look at the level of truncal-obesity among our rich men (a product of malnutrition), you will see what I am saying. As an experiment, research the signs of malnutrition and check how many Nigerians that eat 2-3 full meals a day exhibit these signs.

When illness comes, our nutrient poor bodies have next to no defense and something that feeds on compromised bodies like corona virus because a death sentence to people who were supposed to survive it.

Many of us are taking a good look at their diet and their vitamin/mineral intake which am happy to see. Lets be mindful of this as we plan community and family relief efforts.