Updates From Jo Anne Lyon

Killing for Food

 
Her voice was pensive but steady on the other end of the crackling line, "There are food riots here in Port-A-Prince ( Haiti). They started in Les Cayes and we understand that five people were killed. Rioters are now surrounding the Palace demanding the President do something. We are all trapped in the World Hope - Haiti office. The internet has gone down. So we will try to stay in touch via the cell phone for as long as we can."

These were the words last week of our American Program Director for HIV/AIDS programs in Haiti. Our crisis management people here in our office began to work immediately on a contingency plan for expatriate staff. While our staff was working here the rioting and burning moved closer to our Haiti offices. Our Haitian staff also worked on a contingency plan and were able to get the expatriate to a hotel for safety. However, our Haitian staff is just as vulnerable because they are seen as connected to resources. But they have no choice of escape.

We work in one of the worst slums in the world located in Haiti - Cité Soleil. A few weeks ago there were several articles in various newspapers citing examples of people in Cité Soleil eating dirt to survive. My visits there would verify this tragedy. We are working with a school in the midst of this painful place. When I first visited this area several years ago my eyes, nose and heart could not comprehend what was before me as I walked on narrow paths between corrugated tin make-shift one-room homes to get to the church and school. Once inside the church and school there was peace, hope and life. The children were safe, at least for a few hours and were fed as well. The church and school were like a beautiful flower growing out of the squalor.

This entire scenario points to a larger issue - the Global Food Crisis. This becomes complex with inequalities in food prices, farm subsidies and food aid that then reduces the price of the local farmers’ goods and affects population and biofuel growth, and the list continues.

Professor Robert Watson, Director of the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development which is an intergovernmental body involving more than 400 scientists and 30 governments recently said, "We need to enhance rural livelihoods where most of the poor live on one or two dollars a day."

While there is no place to grow food in Cité Soleil, we simply must assure that they have the resources to purchase it. We are working in areas in Haiti where we are assisting the people in recovering the overused soil by planting crops that put back nitrogen into the soil. The joy that is being expressed when the earth begins to bear the food that is so desperately needed is contagious.

When Jesus talked about feeding the hungry, he also meant the dignity that comes for the hungry to have the opportunity to learn and the resources to feed themselves.

I invite you to partner with us in "feeding a hungry world" through our rural development programs that bring seeds, tools, animals, and water to those in need. At the same time we need the funds for food aid for children in our urban schools who hopefully will have productive lives because malnutrition will not hinder their educational pursuits.

Joining with you in bringing Hope,

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Jo Anne Lyon
Founder & CEO