“Practically everything is against us, but we have a generation that we need to save.”
Haiti’s children are growing up surrounded by violence and hunger. Yet a daily meal at school can keep them safe, learning, and full of hope for the future.
The situation in Haiti has long been difficult – dominated by gang violence and instability – but I cannot think of a time when things have been so desperate.
Gangs control 90% of our capital, Port-au-Prince, we are facing the worst hunger crisis in our history, and more than 1.4 million people are internally displaced – around half of whom are children.
I remember my own childhood. You could go out in your yard and play with others your age. Now, if a day passes without hearing any shootings, it’s a great day. But shootings are every day, every single day.
People are trying to flee the chaos to save their lives and their children's lives. Children are most vulnerable to the gangs, because of hunger, and once they’ve joined – lured by the promise of food – it’s too late. We have seen some as young as eight or nine recruited by gangs.
These children who should be in school are Haiti’s future. Education is their best defense, and they need our support to stay on the right path. They need Mary's Meals. A child who cannot eat cannot think. We must fight for them.
Motivation to go to school comes from knowing that there will be food there. If they stay at home, they don’t know if they will eat that day. Waking up in the morning, the first thing they are thinking of is survival, so food plays a major role in getting them to school.
Despite the atrocities unfolding in my beloved Haiti, our staff are willing to go above and beyond to facilitate this school feeding program. When we go to a school and find children smiling, cooks preparing food, and teachers happy, there is hope because you know you’re doing the right thing.
If, despite it all, we can still be here helping children, there is hope.
Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Yours,
Emmline Toussaint
Main Coordinator of BND, Mary’s Meals School Feeding Program in Haiti
Haiti’s children are running out of options. Hungry and surrounded by violence, many are being recruited into armed gangs – lured by the promise of food.
School meals give them a lifeline, and a donation of just $25.20, will help us to continue providing life-saving nutrition to children in a safe place of learning. Together, one meal at a time, we can restore their belief that a life beyond the chaos is possible.
Emmline Toussaint works for BND, one of our partners in Haiti. BND helps to ensure successful delivery of our school feeding program in and around Port-au-Prince and in Centre department, a remote area that is experiencing heightened levels of gang violence.