Mary’s Meals issues urgent appeal for Haiti amid the country’s worst-ever hunger crisis

• As hunger and escalating armed violence tighten their grip on Haiti, Mary’s Meals continues providing vital school meals under incredibly challenging conditions
• With 5.7 million people experiencing high levels of acute food insecurity, the charity’s school feeding programme remains a lifeline to help protect an entire generation from gangs and to continue learning

• Mary’s Meals reaches more than 196,000 children every school day 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. It’s one of the gravest crises affecting children anywhere in the world today.

More than half of the population – around 5.7 million people – is facing high levels of acute food insecurity.1 At least 1 million of them are children. The situation is dire. In the absence of a functional government, armed conflict has intensified and gangs control 90% of the capital city, Port-au-Prince. Violence has also spread to other areas previously deemed safe, such as the Centre and Ouest departments where Mary’s Meals also serves children. As gangs exploit hunger to recruit children, a daily meal served in a place of education is far more than food.

“Gangs are always trying to target children because they are most vulnerable, most in need of assistance. You cannot get out once you get in a gang. It's either you die, or your family dies, or you stay in,” explains Emmline Toussaint, main coordinator of Mary’s Meals school feeding programme in Haiti. “We’ve already lost those aged 15 to 30. That’s why we need to work more with those children from three to 14. They are the ones that we should focus on, those little ones. They need us to guide them differently,” she says.

Mary’s Meals reaches almost 200,000 children in more than 670 places of education in Haiti, working through local partners. Operating conditions in Haiti have forced many organisations to scale back, but the charity’s partners on the ground have adapted their delivery plans to keep reaching as many schools as possible.

Mary’s Meals CEO and founder, Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, remarks: “I knew from my visits that, from the beginning, Haiti would be an extremely difficult place for us to work. But I had no doubt that it was somewhere we should be providing Mary’s Meals. What I could have never imagined is that, 20 years later, the situation would be even more terrible. Poverty, hunger, and disruption still stand in the way of children and their education. Yet there are signs of hope – a child smiling in school where they feel safe and receive a meal, and teachers who keep showing up for their classes with remarkable courage. Our meals help children to stay in school, and we will keep doing all we can to ensure those we serve can continue to depend on us.”

Today in Haiti, more than 1.4 million people are displaced, half of whom are children.2 In schools where Mary’s Meals operates, children have a reason to go to class and have the energy to concentrate during lessons, staying connected and – for a short time – feeling safe.

More than half of Haiti’s population is younger than 25, and one in five are aged between 15 and 24 – those who many consider to be ‘a missing generation’. 3

“The situation in Haiti has long been difficult, but I cannot think of a time when things have been so desperate. 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,” Emmline recalls.

As the situation in Haiti continues to deteriorate, Mary’s Meals has launched an urgent appeal to continue providing crucial nutrition to children in a safe place of learning. Rising costs and disruption are profoundly impacting the way the organisation delivers its programme. As well as the price of food and fuel increasing, the safe transportation of food is also costing more than ever as suppliers have to use longer but currently safer routes to avoid the gang-controlled main highways.

Mary’s Meals is urging the public to stand with Haiti during this extremely difficult time, helping to keep children learning and supporting Haiti’s next generation. School meals give them a lifeline, and a donation of just €22, $25.20 USD, or £19.15, will help Mary’s Meals continue providing essential nutrition to children in a safe place of learning.

One meal at a time, we can restore their belief that a life beyond the chaos is possible. For more information, visit marysmeals.org

Interviews: Emmline Toussaint, main coordinator of Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme in Haiti; Magnus Macfarlane-Barrow, CEO and founder of Mary’s Meals

Photos & B-roll – Copyright: Mary’s Meals https://contentlibrary.marysmeals.org/pages/search.php?search=%21collection9127&k=180855be3a

For Media Inquiries

Please contact Paloma García Ovejero, Head of Media – Mary’s Meals International: media@marysmeals.org

Notes to Editors

• In 2006, Mary’s Meals began providing 4,500 meals every school day in Cité Soleil (Haiti). When the earthquake struck on January 2010, there were 12,000 children in Haiti receiving Mary’s Meals. The school feeding programme was then established in many village schools, some were very remote, accessible only on foot or by donkey. These schools were filled with children in desperate need of school meals, and volunteers began to cook rice and beans every school day for them.
• Under normal circumstances, Mary's Meals reaches almost 200,000 children with daily meals every school day. Even now, with some school closures and disruption caused by armed groups, Mary's Meals and its partners continue to reach the majority of these children with vital meals in school.
• Mary’s Meals works with communities to serve vital school meals to more than 3 million children in 16 countries: Haiti, Benin, Ecuador, Ethiopia, India, Kenya, Lebanon, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Syria, South Sudan, Yemen, Zambia, and Zimbabwe.
• Mary’s Meals is a simple idea that works. The charity provides a daily meal for children in their place of education in areas where hunger and poverty often stand in the way of learning, or even attending school.
• Local communities own and run Mary’s Meals in the countries where the programmes operate and, wherever possible, our meals are made with locally sourced food, thereby supporting the local economy.
• In schools where children receive Mary’s Meals enrolment increases, attendance improves, and levels of concentration and participation increase.
• In Haiti, Mary’s Meals feeds almost 200,000 children in over 670 places of education together with three local partners.
• 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 €22, $25.20 USD, or £19.15, will help us to continue providing crucial 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.

   

Please visit marysmeals.org to find out more.