Hunger spikes and aid dwindles as Haiti engulfed in gang violence

On a recent afternoon, a crowd of about 100 people tried to push their way through a metal gate in Haiti’s capital. Despite the threats of guards wielding batons, they kept pushing and shoving to get in, including children and adults. Some were holding babies in their arms.

“Let us in! We’re hungry!” the crowd shouted. They were trying to get into a makeshift shelter in an abandoned school for Haitians displaced by gang violence. Inside, hot soup was being distributed.

Haitian bird rescue team in times of crisis — Children wait for soup at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti. Photo: AP

According to aid groups, some 1.4 million Haitians are facing starvation and more than 4 million need food aid. They eat just once a day or sometimes not at all.

"Haiti is facing widespread, protracted famine," said Jean-Martin Bauer, head of the World Food Programme (WFP) office in Haiti, with the Croix-des-Bouquets area east of the Haitian capital "having malnutrition rates comparable to any war zone in the world."

Authorities are scrambling to get food, water and medical supplies to temporary shelters as gang violence grips life across Port-au-Prince, leaving many trapped in their own homes.

Only a few aid agencies have been able to resume operations since February 29, when gangs began attacking key facilities, burning down police stations, shutting down the main international airport with gunfire and storming two prisons, freeing more than 4,000 inmates.

Gangs are blocking aid distribution routes and paralyzing the main port, Mr Bauer said, and WFP warehouses are running low on cereals, beans and vegetable oil.

Inside the makeshift school shelter, things seemed a little more orderly as people lined up to receive food. There were more than 3,700 people sheltering in cramped conditions, with only a hole in the ground serving as a toilet.

Marie Lourdes Geneus, a 45-year-old street vendor and mother of seven, said gangs had driven her family out of three different homes, forcing them to come to this shelter.

"Looking around, I see so many people are desperate like me. I'm living a terrible life," she said.

Marie occasionally ventured out to sell beans to buy extra food for her children, but ended up being chased by armed men, causing her to spill her goods on the ground as she fled.

Another man, 54-year-old Erigeunes Jeffrand, said he used to make a living selling up to four truckloads of sugarcane a day, but gangs chased him and his four children out of the neighborhood. He sent his two youngest children to live with relatives in a quieter part of Haiti, while his two older children live with him in a shelter.

"My house was completely destroyed and robbed. They took everything I had," he said. "I used to try to make a living. But now, I just depend on what people give me to eat. This is not a life."

Haitian bird rescue team in distress 3 — People in the shelter have a meal. Photo: AP

On a recent morning, the aroma of rice from one building drew a group of people to a nearby sidewalk, where aid workers were preparing meals to distribute to other shelters in the city.

“Can you help me get a plate of food? We haven’t had anything to eat today,” the group asked those entering and leaving the building, but their pleas went unanswered. The food was delivered to the school’s shelter.

"The amount of food is not much. It's too bad we can't provide more," said Jean Emmanuel Joseph, who oversees food distribution.

A shelter resident named Jethro Antoine, 55, said food was only for people inside the shelter, and could not help much for those outside.

Dozens of people have been killed in the latest attacks in Haiti and more than 15,000 have been left homeless. The situation has prevented aid groups from operating at a time when they are most needed. They are stranded, without cash and unable to move food from their warehouses.

Hoai Phuong (according to AP)

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