Pictured: Two students from Armee du Salut on their lunch break
There is a popular Haitian proverb that says ‘Sak vid pa kanpe’, which means an empty sack cannot stand. The “sack” in this proverb is reflective of a sack of flour, from which bread is made. Imagine a sack full of flour standing upright. Just as the sack is kept upright by the flour inside, so we are supported and kept alive by what is made by that flour – bread. Without bread and sustenance, a man cannot stand.
According to USAID, “Food insecurity is a long-standing challenge in Haiti. Even before the 2010 earthquake, Haiti suffered from one of the heaviest burdens of hunger and malnutrition in the Western Hemisphere: 40 percent of households were undernourished and 30 percent of children suffered from chronic malnutrition.”
One strategy that World Wide Village has adopted for dealing with this alarming rate of malnutrition in children, is providing nutritious school lunches at each of our schools. It is not uncommon for children in Haiti to miss meals because of poverty. The hot meal at school can often times be the only daily meal a child receives.
Providing school lunches in Haiti has been shown to increase school attendance and increase passing rates at all grade levels. Thanks to so many of you, World Wide Village has been able to provide lunches at each of our schools with a sponsorship program. A child who receives a school lunch each day and has a full stomach can learn and thrive and reach their full potential.
Thank you for helping fill often-empty bellies.
