Mary’s Meals began working in Haiti in 2006 providing meals in schools in the Cite Soleil slum outside Port au Prince and in the Gonaives and Hinche regions.
School Feeding
Cite Soleil is a slum area of the capital Port au Prince situated on the edge of the Caribbean Sea. Around 300,000 people live crammed together on what is essentially a giant rubbish tip. Their houses are flimsy shacks with no access to potable water or sanitation. The slum is run by armed gangs and the area is extremely volatile. There is widespread hunger and malnutrition especially amongst the children.
Prior to the earthquake in January 2010, Mary’s Meals provided meals to over 6,000 children who attended 8 schools built by our partners, Hands Together. Cite Soleil is a notoriously difficult place to work in and we are only able to do so thanks to the courage and dedication of our partners led by Fr Tom Hagan, an American priest whose humanitarian work has gained the respect and support from the local community.
Sadly these schools were badly damaged in the earthquake and our school feeding projects are now taking place in temporary shelters. See across for more information.
Gonaives – Mary’s Meals provides daily meals for over 2,000 children who attend 7 village schools in this region. This area has been badly hit by hurricanes and flooding affecting the land’s fertility and leaving people already desperately poor living in even more difficult conditions.
‘There have been a lot of changes with the children. Sometimes, this is the only meal that they have. Before, their hair colour was different, an orange colour. Now the colour of their hair is different.’ Daniel Claude, Administrative Principal, Guimby
Hinche – Mary’s Meals provides meals for over 3,000 children in the Central Plateau area. Some are orphans living at the Masion Fortune Orphanage others are children attending schools serving poor, rural communities.
“Nadege is the oldest of a family of 13 members. Her family is very poor, and she always arrived at school without having eaten. During classes she slept as hunger was gnawing her. Sometimes she missed classes altogether as she had nothing to eat at home, and had to walk a 2 hour walk to reach school. Due to these difficulties she had to repeat class as she did not pass the final exams.
Now with school feeding available even though her family is still not able to feed her, she has not missed a day. She is very alert and attentive, as she knows that at 9.30 am she will receive a warm meal. “
LINKS:
Haiti Short Film (Youtube)
Haiti Quake Appeal Film (Youtube)
Haiti Earthquake – Our Emergency Response and Recovery Work
On January 12th 2010 a magnitude 7 earthquake struck Haiti at around 5pm local time. The quake killed an estimated 200,000 people, left thousands more homeless and devastated the capital Port au Prince. Haiti was already the poorest nation in the Americas before this disaster which was why Mary’s Meals was working there. Our friends in Port Au Prince were in the midst of the disaster and sadly members of their team were killed and their office buildings destroyed. In nearby Cite Soleil the 8 schools where we served Mary’s Meals were badly damaged. Thanks to our excellent local partners and our ever generous supporters we were able to respond promptly and effectively to this tragedy.
Our Response
We Have:
We Hope To:
