A found poem by David Betteridge, made from sentences in a speech made by Tom Fletcher, UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Geneva, 22nd August 2025
It is a famine within a few hundred metres of food,
in a fertile land.
It is a famine that hits the most vulnerable first.
Each with a name, each with a story.
That forces a parent to choose which child to feed.
That forces people to risk their lives to seek food.
It is a famine in 2025.
A 21st century famine watched over by drones
and the most advanced military technology in history.
It is a predictable and a preventable famine.
A famine caused by cruelty, justified by revenge,
enabled by indifference and sustained by complicity.
It is a famine that must spur the world to more urgent action.
That must shame the world to do better.
It is a famine that therefore also asks
‘… and what now will you do?’
