After overcoming seemingly hopeless obstacles, the Lespwa Lavi nutrition program is finally up and running full speed! This program was prioritized after inflation rates had driven food costs up over 300% last year, and we were finding malnutrition concerns with every one of our children. After signing a contract with the HaitiOne feeding program through Convoy of Hope in August, our staff prepared the kitchen, supplies and volunteers while we waited for our first monthly shipment of food to arrive at the distribution center at Mission of Hope, 80 miles south of us. Unfortunately, the day it arrived, the country broke out in protests and roadblocks, resulting in a complete shutdown of transportation throughout the nation. The city of Verrettes is in the Artibonite Valley, landlocked, surrounded on 3 sides by mountains and accessible by only one road. The road passes through a nearby city that was taken over by violent gangs opposing the Haitian government. These angry young men have been taking advantage of the chaos and anarchy to stop all vehicles traveling through and stealing everything, often killing the drivers. The protests have been continuous for 12 weeks, cutting off Verrettes completely. Can you imagine? The majority of citizens of Verrettes live in extreme poverty on a regular day, subsisting on less than $1.25 a day and never knowing where their food is coming from week to week. Suddenly there was nothing. No markets, no jobs, no school, no fuel for electricity or clean water. People who were already hungry became desperate. Worst of all, we could not pick up our food at Mission of Hope! The roads were impassable.

But God provided. A month before the roadblocks went up, the church in Verrettes received a gift from Evangel church in Bismarck, ND to pay their pastors’ salaries and to pay for a Sunday feeding program. They were able to purchase enough food to feed 150 people every week before the lockdown. The Sunday meal kept many elderly and orphans alive as the weeks stretched into months without food. More and more people sought the church for help and that 150 people grew to 250, but the food never seemed to run out until everyone had enough.

The church in Verrettes, L’Eglise Assemblee de Dieu des Verrettes

Still, as the weeks went by with no end to the protest in sight, the children in our program were getting weaker, many not eating a thing for several days at a time. Our director, Duvelsaint, was often faced with the choice of feeding his own children that day, or feeding someone else’s child who was suffering. Finally, he called us and said we had to try to get through to Mission of Hope or the kids would start to die. As he was preparing to leave, we were notified that Mission of Hope had to close the food distribution center due to riots and there was no way to pick up the food. Indefinitely.

Our USA board called everyone we knew, every organization we could think of, from the US government, to other grassroots organizations like us. No one had food that we could get to. Thankfully, Duvelsaint found someone who had recently harvested some rice and was willing to sell it. At six times the normal cost. We purchased the rice, which was enough for a little more than 2 servings per child, for $1,000.00. When that ran out, there was nothing left.

The day before Thanksgiving, Mission of Hope called to tell us they were able to re-open the warehouse. Still, the protests continued and every truck that had tried to pass through had been raided and burned. Duvelsaint decided to go, taking two other brave men with him. He texted us, “If I have to die to save starving children who otherwise would die of hunger anyway, my short life on earth would be more meaningful than living with that regret for my whole life.” So, at 3am Thanksgiving morning, the three men set off. The journey that would normally take 90 minutes took them six hours. In the dark, they traversed side roads and paths that were not really roads in order to avoid the gangs. Typically, no one travels at night in this part of Haiti because there are bandits and guerilla gangs everywhere. Once they were a few miles north of Mission of Hope, there was no way to avoid the main highway, but they passed through the blockades without being stopped. The food was ready and waiting. By this time there was five months worth of supplies, thanks to the faithfulness of Convoy of Hope, who continued to deliver shipments every month, even though we couldn’t pick it up. They loaded the food into the truck, but of course the real danger was getting back in broad daylight with a truck full of valuable food. But amazingly, they were not stopped and the journey back was completely without incident. Prayer works friends! I believe God made that truck invisible to the bandits and gangs.

So today the party started. The children came in shifts, 90 at a time, to eat at the makeshift dining hall in Duvelsaint’s backyard. The kitchen staff is made up of volunteers, and they have every shift covered for the next year! The children ate, laughing and chatting like any lunchroom crowd, grateful and relieved. Now they will have a fortified meal every day for the next few months, and we pray that the roadblocks will stop and it will be easy to continue picking up food at Mission of Hope.

U15 and U14 boys teams. They had the kids come by teams to stay organized!

A volunteer cooking over a wood fire pot.

We have authorized Duvelsaint to distribute food to children who are not in our program yet, but are in extreme need. These children are the ones waiting for sponsors! Sponsorship allows us to purchase more food from Convoy of Hope and provide several other services for the children. Check out our sponsorship page to see the lives you can change for $38 a month!

Sponsorship

Lastly, we do not want to see a crisis like this happen again in our community. The new building plans include a food storage facility and a kitchen large enough to feed all the kids at one time. Would you consider making a year-end gift towards the building project?

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Miracle on the Highway: The Food Story