feeding program
“When people were hungry, Jesus didn’t say, “Now is that political, or social?” He said, “I feed you.” Because the good news to a hungry person is bread.”
- Desmond Tutu
When Lespwa Lavi started, the cost of a balanced nutritious meal in Haiti was approximately $5, similar to prices in the United States. However, most of the families served by Lespwa Lavi live on less than $3 per day. Given this impossible situation, Lespwa Lavi doctors documented at least mild malnutrition in every child they evaluated, and up to 25% met criteria for severe malnutrition.
In 2023, due to the humanitarian crisis and drought in Haiti, over 80% of newly enrolled children met criteria for severe, life-threatening malnutrition.
In addition to the hunger crisis, access to clean drinking water has plummeted. Cholera and typhoid outbreaks are surging. In 2022, three of our children were hospitalized with cholera and thankfully recovered.
Thankfully, there is a solution. In the fall of 2019, Lespwa Lavi partnered with the HaitiOne program through Convoy of Hope to provide 100% daily nutrition for the children in Verrettes. When you sponsor a child, they are immediately enrolled in the nutrition program. After 1 year of the program, we were able to document 0% severe malnutrition in all children enrolled.
Lespwa Lavi partnered with Sawyer International to distribute over 100 water filters that not only serve dozens of families in the community, but hundreds of children fill their water bottles every day at school, soccer and church. Since distributing the filters in March, 2023, we have seen zero cases of water-borne illnesses in that community!
