The final line of defense between his neighborhood and the armed gangs determined to seize it is a blazing barricade, which is seen in a newspaper photo of a man bringing two car tires to feed on.
In certain places, these organizations use stakes holding human skulls in the middle of the road to send out terrifying messages.
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Together with the committed employees and volunteers of its Haitian partner organizations, the World Food Programme (WFP) is steadfast in its efforts to increase food deliveries, hot meals, and cash assistance, which allow people to purchase the necessities despite skyrocketing costs, in the face of growing violence and hunger.
One of the people stranded at Croix-des-Bouquets, north of Port-au-Prince, is Lucienne, a mother of five.
The region has been isolated from aid for years and is under the control of one of the hundreds of armed factions that operate in the city.
“For me, the situation is truly catastrophic,” she stated. “Sometimes, we have nothing to eat. We go through the day and night with nothing – it’s the truth, as hard as it may be.”
She then added, “Sometimes, we only eat once a day. I prepare a meal in the morning before the children go to school, but after that, I have nothing left to give them.”
“I go to ask for help from neighbors or friends. Some of them give me a bit of corn. When I don’t have charcoal, I cook the food using wood. When I have nothing to give the children, they cry. It’s very sad.”
By securing a truck to deliver 300 metric tons of grains, beans, and oil into the besieged neighborhood in November, WFP achieved a significant victory that will help 50,000 people.
“This is the first time an organization has come to our area to give us food,” Lacienne said while crying. “This food is helping us so much. We had nothing to give the children before, but now this is a great help to us.”
Due to this adversity, more than 700,000 people have abandoned their houses, primarily in Port-au-Prince and Artibonite, and are seeking refuge in government buildings, schools, and temporary shelters. It’s an extraordinary amount that might have unimaginable repercussions for women and girls.
According to the most recent data on food security, one in two Haitians are undernourished. Approximately 6,000 displaced persons experience “catastrophic” hunger at IPC5, while two million people experience “emergency” levels of hunger at IPC4 on the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification.
With 5.4 million people experiencing acute hunger and one of the highest per capita percentages of food insecurity in the world, over 50,000 individuals have left their homes in the last two weeks alone.
A record 834,664 hot meals were delivered by WFP and its partners in November at 48 locations that housed displaced individuals, including those who had to evacuate due to the most recent round of violence.
The WFP is staying in Haiti. As long as there are vulnerable individuals to reach and as long as people need us, we will remain. Over 50,000 internally displaced persons are presently receiving food distributions from WFP, and in November, we distributed a record 834,000 hot meals at 48 locations. We’re not leaving, then. No matter what, we’re here to help.
We are currently reaching approximately 470,000 youngsters as part of our collaboration with the government to expand school meals. The best aspect is that we support smallholder farmers by purchasing a large portion of the food locally. It benefits both parties. We wish to contribute to the government’s objective of having all school meals be locally produced.
We’ve made significant strides toward gaining access to Port-au-Prince neighborhoods. To ensure that we can reach the most vulnerable individuals, wherever they may be, our access negotiation team has been working tirelessly. We are now finishing up a distribution of rice, beans, and oil that will reach 150,000 individuals in many difficult-to-reach Port-au-Prince neighborhoods.
