UNITED NATIONS – The United Nations says the children who were affected by the massive earthquake which devastated large parts of south-west Haiti in August are receiving free hot meals at school as part of an initiative by the UN’s World Food Program (WFP) to support the recovery of the French-speaking Caribbean country’s most vulnerable communities.
Lunch for 307 children is prepared at a school in south-west Haiti. (UN Haiti/Daniel Dickinson)The UN said students at Ecole Nationale des Filles de Dame Marie, a school in the small town of Dame Marie on the western peninsula of southern Haiti, are benefiting from WFP’s school feeding initiative, which aims to provide the most vulnerable children with at least one cooked meal per day.
The school principal, Franesie Sylvestre, told the UN that, for many of these children “this is the only meal they will eat today”.
The UN said Dame Marie town was affected by the earthquake, but the school remained largely unscathed apart from a few cracks in the walls of buildings and a collapsed entrance gate.
The most significant impact has been on the parents of these children, many of whom lost their farms or missed the planting season due to the earthquake, the UN said.
“They can no longer cultivate food so they cannot feed their children properly. That’s why this school feeding program is so important. It will give the children energy to carry on studying and provide support to their parents. In the long run, that is good for our community,”” said Principal Sylvestre.
The UN said this school feeding program was in operation before the earthquake, which struck south-west Haiti on August 14, leading to the deaths of more than 2,200 people; an additional 12,700 were injured; and key infrastructure, such as bridges, roads, hospitals and schools, was destroyed or damaged.
Ecole Nationale des Filles de Dame Marie is just one of more than 1,600 where WFP is providing meals to around 344,000 students, the UN said.
In most schools, it said the initiative is focused on more than just providing a meal to hungry children.
The UN said small hand washing stations fashioned from buckets stand on platforms outside each classroom that have been installed by the UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, “to ensure that the children learn good hygiene habits such as washing hands before meals.”
UNICEF has provided books to study the French language, math and other subjects, as well as desks where students can comfortably study, the UN said.
“We have to take a holistic approach,” said WFP’s Maguelita Varin, “because, if children don’t wash their hands and then eat, they can get sick. And if they don’t have any books, they’re not able to study, even if they have eaten well.”
The UN said WFP’s school feeding program is planning to expand to provide meals cooked from locally-grown produce for almost 40,000 children in 190 schools in the three departments that were affected by the earthquake.
In addition, the UN said its International Labour Organization (ILO) is looking to support the wider cultivation amongst farmers in the area of breadfruit, a nutritious and versatile food.
“It’s hoped breadfruit will become a staple ingredient in school meals, a development which would, in turn, support the local economy,” the UN said.
“This approach helps to sustain the local economy and will encourage farmers to grow more crops,” Maguelita said, adding “ultimately, it will help communities to recover better and build their resilience to future shocks.”
The UN said WFP’s school feeding program in Haiti, reaching 344,000 schoolchildren this year, is funded by Canada, Education Cannot Wait, France, Switzerland and the United States Department of Agriculture. (USDA).
The program in Ecole Nationale des Filles de Dame Marie is funded by USDA, the UN said.
Across Haiti, the UN said almost 100,000 schoolchildren are reached thanks to USDA funds.
