A Scottish charity providing food to children in Haiti has launched an urgent appeal for support as the country grapples with escalating gang violence and its worst hunger crisis in recent history.
According to the World Food Programme, more than half of Haiti's population – some 5.7 million people – is experiencing acute levels of hunger, including at least one million children. The charity Mary's Meals, which provides school meals to children in 16 countries, said many children are being lured into joining armed gangs by the promise of food.
Armed conflict is intensifying in the absence of a functional government, with more than 1.4 million people displaced, half of whom are children. Gangs control 90% of the capital, Port-au-Prince, and violence is spreading to areas previously considered safe.
Emmline Toussaint, main coordinator of the charity's school feeding programme in Haiti, said: "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. We've already lost those aged 15 to 30. That's why we need to work more with those children aged three to 14."
Mary's Meals reaches children by working with local partners, who have adapted their delivery plans to keep reaching as many schools as possible. In schools where it operates, children have a reason to go to class and the energy to concentrate, staying connected and feeling safe, even if briefly. The charity says the price of food and fuel has increased, and safe transportation costs more as suppliers use longer but safer routes to avoid gang-controlled highways.
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow, who founded Mary's Meals from a shed in the Scottish Highlands more than 20 years ago, said: "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." The charity has issued an urgent appeal for donations, saying: "Right now, your gift does more than provide food – it helps children stay in school, where they can learn and grow into the leaders who will transform Haiti's future."
