Three ways Korean rice offers hope to Eastern Africa’s food insecure displaced and host communities
The number of people facing severe hunger in Eastern Africa has more than doubled in the last five years, reaching 63.5 million people. Multiple conflicts, climate extremes, high food prices and economic challenges have also pushed displacement to record levels, with 26.5 million people forced to flee their homes across the region. The Republic of Korea’s rice donations are supporting some of them to meet their food needs.
By Charlotte Bonnet
If you are reading this, there is a 50 percent chance rice is a part of your daily diet. According to United Nations experts, roughly half of the global population eats rice every day.
The popular grain is easy to cook, energy-packed and an important source of fibre, minerals and vitamins.
As in many countries, rice is a staple food in the Republic of Korea. More than a half-century ago, the country received World Food Programme (WFP) assistance to recover from the devastating effects of the Korean war in the 1950s, and massive floods in 1963.
Today, the East Asian country is one of WFP’s largest donors, contributing its domestically produced rice to fight hunger among vulnerable people worldwide. From 2023 to 2024, the Republic of Korea doubled its annual rice contribution to WFP to 100,000 metric tonnes across 11 countries.
Here are three ways Korean rice assists food insecure and displaced communities in Eastern Africa in meeting their nutrition needs:
1. Nutritious school meals for children in Uganda
Wanyinze Meles, 15, lives in the Karamoja region of northeastern Uganda with her family.
“I used to go to another school where there were no school meals,” she remembers. “In that school, student performance was very low.”
Wanyinze and her parents wanted her to excel, so they decided to enroll her in a different, WFP-supported school that provides daily meals to students. Rice — donated by the Republic of Korea — is a key ingredient. She is among the roughly 332,000 other children and adult refugees, asylum seekers and host community members in Uganda benefitting from the 3,000 tonnes of Korean rice.
A daily school meal provides a strong incentive for parents to send their children to school, particularly girls. It allows children to focus on their studies, helps increase school attendance and decrease drop-out. Ensuring that schoolchildren in Karamoja eat a healthy diet is key to building Uganda’s future.
“Now, my performance at school has improved,” says Wanyinze, crediting nutritious school meals for the change. She also has more energy to play and learn. “I used to get 30/100,” she says, “but now I’m getting 70/100 on my assignments.”
Rice has now become her favorite food — something she’s not used to eating at home, the staple food in Karamoja being sorghum. “It’s good to discover new foods at school,” Wanyinze says.
2. Food to eat and share in refugee camps in Kenya
Farhiya Abdullahi Haji likes to cook rice with onions and tomatoes, make pilau — a popular dish across Eastern Africa made with rice, spices and meat — or serve it alongside cowpea leaves and beans. However she prepares it, her four kids love it.
As a Somali family living in Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya, there isn’t always enough to go around. Indeed, food has become scarcer over the last five years, which have seen Kenya’s refugee population swell by 60 percent due to conflict and climate shocks. Recently, refugees’ needs have outpaced available resources, forcing WFP to significantly reduce the size of the food rations it distributes.
“When there’s no food in the house, it’s not a home. There is no joy,” Farhiya says.
Fortunately for people like Farhiya, the Republic of Korea doubled its rice contribution to Kenya this year to 21,000 metric tons, valued at US$ 14.2 million. This substantial donation will allow WFP to continue providing essential food assistance to over half a million refugees and schoolchildren in Kakuma, as well as Dadaab refugee camp in eastern Kenya.
After feeding her family, Farhiya used to share whatever food she had left with neighbours. Unfortunately, when the ration size was reduced, she was no longer able to do so. With the Republic of Korea’s contribution, that may now be possible again.
“My kids love rice so much,” Farhiya says. “When the kids see rice in the sack they say, ‘God is great, we have food.’”
3) Peace for refugees in Ethiopia
In Ethiopia’s northern Afar region, 38-year-old Aisha Ali Mohamed lives with her husband and four children. They are refugees from neighboring Eritrea and have been living in the Aysaita settlement — a small cluster of concrete infrastructure and corrugated iron houses just outside of Aysaita town, home to roughly 30,000 Eritrean refugees — for many years.
“I came from Eritrea to Ethiopia more than 12 years ago now,” says Aisha, sitting on a mat in her home. She is surrounded by her three daughters, and holds her youngest child in her lap.
She fled Eritrea for political reasons, arriving on foot to Ethiopia to seek asylum. “I left everything behind,” she says, “and now we’re surviving on food assistance provided by WFP.”
Ethiopia is the second-largest East African recipient of the Republic of Korea’s rice, receiving nearly 13,600 metric tonnes to support refugees like Aisha. The family gets regular rice donations from WFP, as well as cash transfers, allowing Aisha to make full, varied meals.
“I can buy spices, tomatoes and fresh foods to make it tastier for the whole family,” she says. “My children are very healthy, active and are enjoying the rice a lot.”
As she shares a rice dish with her smiling daughters, Aisha reflects on her dreams for her family. “I really hope that my children will be well educated here, and I hope for them to be healthy, happy and have bright futures,” she says.
Her children also eat rice as part of their WFP meals at school — where Aisha volunteers as a cook.
Despite displacement and other hardships, Aisha and her family have found a new home in Ethiopia. While the surrounding community is also struggling to survive, the locals and refugees live in harmony, Aisha says.
“We are happy here in Aysaita, mainly because of the peace we now have,” she says, “and the warm welcome from the local communities.”
