To wonder why on earth somebody would do this ?

[butterdaisy]

The findings chime with a story that viral last week of a Kenyan widow who was found cooking stones for her eight children to make them believe she was preparing food for them, saying: "I could do nothing because I had nothing."

It seems really cruel to do something to make your children believe you are preparing food for them when there is no food.

Hopefully international aid will provide food.

Link?

More information? I get the most but context would be helpful

I get the jist

OP, she did it when they were in bed with rumbling tummies, hoping that the thought of food would and sound of her preparing it would calm them and enable them to sleep despite their hunger. Which it did. So it worked.

She could afford no food to fill their bellies so did the next best thing which was try and enable them to at least think food was going to be prepared while they slept. So that they could sleep.

Poor poor woman. My heart goes out to her

Why would someone pretend to their children that they are cooking non-existent food?
Because their powerlessness to change the situation has made them mad with grief.
Blame the system that has driven her to this, not the mother.

Reading this has absolutely broke my heart.

This story is as old as. Heard it for the first time years ago.

It was on the BBC News today - here

It seems really cruel to do something to make your children believe you are preparing food for them when there is no food

Seriously? That's your takeaway from this heartrending story?

Blame the system that has driven her to this, not the mother.

I wasn't blaming her, I just don't understand why anybody would do it when it'd make the children think they were getting food. They slept thinking she was preparing food and then woke up and she had to tell them there was no food?

I just don't understand

Clearly.

Apparently they have access to money and food now..
Poor woman.

They slept thinking she was preparing food and then woke up and she had to tell them there was no food?

They slept was the point. They slept.

People offer false hope to others all the time. Most of the time it's a cruel thing to do.

In all honesty I feel like it’s not fair to judge people in such a dire situation.

And it's stuff like this that gets me mad. Read the linked article and apparently because two thirds of respondents from 20 out of the 54 countries in Africa wouldn't be able to last a 14 day lockdown, most Africans will go hungry. Ffs.

I’ve read your OP several times in the hope that I’ve misunderstood your question.
How can you criticise this poor, poor woman?

This story is as old as. Heard it for the first time years ago.

No you didn't.

The reason you don't understand because you can't imagine such a desperate situation. Thank your lucky stars. My heart goes out to the woman, and well done to the neighbour who noticed.

sparklesocks you took the words right out of my mouth.

Dear god, walk a mile in someone’s shoes before you judge. I can’t comprehend the decisions that poor woman has had to make. Her heart was trying to make things better for her starving children - you read that story and honestly, this was your take on it?

How many of you buy green beans from Kenya or melons from Brazil or prawns from Thailand?

Why are we taking food from those countries still. We should be exporting agricultural know-how and IP rights.

This story and our western consumerism are interwoven.

@AvalancheKit

Isn't that a simplification? i thought buyng those products (at a hefty markup) was building a layer of commerce internationally for those countries, thus developing infrastructure there. That it was recognised if we just think of Africa as corrupt dictators and poor, famine stricken people then we are excluding everything in between and the potential for home grown and led change.

How many of you buy green beans from Kenya or melons from Brazil or prawns from Thailand?

Why are we taking food from those countries still. We should be exporting agricultural know-how and IP rights.

I don't follow. Do you think stopping buying melons from Brazil would HELP poor people in Brazil?

Clearly she is not thinking clearly because she is desperate.