On July 9th 1980, UNHCR moved 6,500 Khmers from Khao I Dang to the newly opened Phanat Nikhom Refugee Processing Centre in Chonburi Province, Eastern Thailand. This was a first step to resettlement abroad. One feature of the centre was the “border market” where refugees could purchase useful items for their future travels.

 

In order to get permission to feed Khmer refugees, World Food Programme had to give food to the Thai Army for distribution to “Thai Affected Villagers”. Although US$19.5 million was spent (on a population estimated variously between 70,000 and 200,000!), it was reckoned that less than half the food was actually eaten by the villagers, so almost $10 million went elsewhere. In addition, WFP was required to conduct nutrition surveys in the Bo Rai area south of the refugee camps. Two Swedish nutritionists, Monika and Christine, along with several volunteers from a Thai NGO and myself, spent more than a week doing this survey. There were few instances of malnutrition, although some children had teeth problems, probably due to being fed canned condensed milk instead of breast milk. In one village we saw piles of rotting sacks containing CSM (corn soy milk), one commodity provided in large quantities to WFP by the USA, which would not even sell on the black market. Apart from being indigestible, CSM requires cool dry conditions for storage. Thailand is hot and humid so it was extremely difficult to preserve it in warehouses, and much was lost through dampness and infestation. Not only that, but it took up valuable space which could have been well used otherwise. It is an unfortunate fact that donor countries often provide not what is needed, but what they want to get rid of. This creates great problems for organizations like WFP, whose nutritionists then have to waste much time thinking up ways to dispose of unsuitable food.