We must fight for Haiti's children

My name is Emmline Toussaint, and I coordinate Mary’s Meals’ school feeding programme in and around Haiti’s capital, Port-au-Prince. 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 currently control 90% of 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.

With food being used to lure hungry children into armed gangs, the need for Mary’s Meals is more urgent now than ever.

Hungry and traumatised by the violence around them, our school meals are helping to keep children in the safety and stability of the classroom where they can learn and be children again. 

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 – it’s too late. We have seen some children as young as eight or nine recruited by gangs.

Those children, who should be in school, are Haiti’s future. Education is their best defence, and they need our support to stay on the right path. They need Mary’s Meals. Someone 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.

With Mary’s Meals, we can provide a child with a daily school meal for as little as 10p.

Despite the atrocities unfolding in my beloved country, our staff are willing to go above and beyond to facilitate this school feeding programme. 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.

A simple school meal can change the path of a child’s life. 

With your support we can continue our vital work in Haiti. Despite it all, if we can still be here helping children, there is hope.

Thank you.
Emmline Toussaint, 
Mary’s Meals School Feeding Programme Coordinator, Haiti