Church agencies call for help in responding to Haitian food crisis

By Chaz Muth
Catholic News Service

BALTIMORE (CNS) – Violent demonstrations in Haiti have prompted officials from aid agencies to call on the Haitian government and the international community to funnel more resources into the country so people can get food and gasoline.

"At the core of the demonstrations is a sense of desperation among the people," said Bill Canny, country representative for Catholic Relief Services in Haiti, speaking from the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, April 11. "The unemployed and poor working class doesn't sense yet the effects of some of the government initiatives. Therefore, you have a high level of frustration."

Food is available in Haiti – the poorest country in the Americas – but most people simply can't afford to buy it, Canny said.

CRS, the U.S. bishops' international relief and development agency, reopened its operations April 11 after several days of looting and rioting over skyrocketing food prices forced it to shut down.

"Yesterday there was still a sense of panic," Canny said. "You could see it in the faces of people who didn't know where their next meal was coming from. People are calmer today. They are starting to crowd the markets and stores."

Because the cost of the basic food staples of rice and cornmeal has risen at least 50 percent in recent months, it is going to cost the relief agencies significantly more to feed the thousands of destitute Haitians to whom they already provide aid, said Angel A. Aloma, executive director of the Florida-based Christian organization Food for the Poor.

"We have to double our donations to maintain what we are doing now," said Aloma, who was in Haiti in late March as the situation was reaching a boiling point. "We would love to open more food centers to ease some of the violence, but we can't right now. It will take a tremendous increase in donations to do that."

Most of the food in Haiti has to be imported, and soaring prices have caused the country to erupt into chaos. Desperate Haitians have resorted to eating cookies made of butter and dirt, Aloma said.

Demonstrations have sparked violence, looting and a call by lawmakers for the resignation of Haitian Prime Minister Jacques Edouard Alexis. Rioting is being blamed for the shooting deaths of at least five Haitians and the wounding of more than 40 others.

U.N. officials are calling for emergency food aid, and France has pledged $1.6 million in support, including $1.2 million worth of food, to the riot-plagued nation.

"The situation is more serious than ever," said Father Duken Augustin, a Food for the Poor representative who lives in Cap-Haitien. "The price of consumer goods like rice, beans and flour has more than doubled in just five months. Consequently, more and more children become malnourished, more and more adults are forced to beg for something to eat."

In the 20-plus years his organization has been helping Haiti's needy, Food for the Poor's president, Robin Mahfood, said he has never seen the situation so bad and he has never seen such an urgent need for assistance.

"In wealthier nations, when hard times hit, we cut back on discretionary spending," Mahfood said. "The destitute, who are already barely existing on less than one or two dollars a day, are faced with enormous price increases on the staple foods on which their very survival depends. What do they cut back on?"

When he was in Haiti in late March, Aloma said the look of desperation was evident on the faces of those in line at the relief agency's feeding center, which has been swamped in recent weeks.

"There have been a few occasions when we've run out of food," he said. "Our workers are so compassionate there. They have given up their own lunch to make sure these people have been fed."

Relief agencies are in negotiations with international governments, including the United States, to boost relief funding during the crisis, Canny said, and the hope is more aid will arrive in Haiti in the next few days.

In the meantime, CRS is distributing its food reserves to organizations – like the Missionaries of Charity – throughout Haiti to get relief to the cities most affected, he said.

CRS also is making sure the food shelves of its Haitian orphanages and other institutions are stocked to feed the children and elderly during the food crisis, Canny said.