Day 23

Two hot meals for a schoolchild in Haiti

A growling stomach disturbs learning!

Making a big difference in Haiti with a warm meal

Heiko Seeger, managing director of nph Germany, was astonished: "Where do all the young people go with their books at this time of day?" A group of young Haitians had repeatedly crossed his path one evening when he was out with employees of the Haitian St. Luke Foundation in the capital Port-au-Prince. "Are there so many evening schools here?" he asked his companions. "No," was the answer. "They are students looking for light. They have no electricity in their simple homes, so they study under street lamps. And because the power keeps going out in certain streets, you see them wandering around every evening looking for a working lamp." Heiko Seeger often tells this story to illustrate the everyday adversities young people in Haiti face when they want to learn something in order to escape the cycle of poverty. But electricity is by far not the most pressing problem for the poorest of the poor in Haiti. Hunger is an even greater problem.

need

Feeding school children in Haiti’s slums.

activity

The Haitian aid organization St. Luke Foundation prepares a healthy, warm meal for all students in schools every day.

Measurable performance

Number of school meals that could be provided to the children.

Result

Fewer days of absence due to illness and better grade averages. More students successfully complete primary school.

Systemically relevant impact

More students are qualifying for demanding jobs. This has a positive long-term impact on Haiti's development.

background

Most of us associate the Caribbean with holiday feelings: sun, beach and sea. For the majority of Haitians, however, the reality is very different. As residents of one of the poorest countries in the world, they struggle to survive every day. More than half of the population lives below the poverty line and therefore in extremely difficult and undignified conditions. Many parents cannot even feed their children, and paying for school is out of the question for them.

Some young Haitians who grew up in the nph children's village St. Hélène did not want to accept this situation. Over 15 years ago they became active and began to organize free schooling for the children of poor families under the name St. Luke Team. They have since officially registered their organization as a foundation. The St. Luke Foundation now runs 29 primary schools in the middle of urban and rural slums. There are currently around 10,000 students who learn there for free. But what if their stomachs are rumbling?! The majority of schoolchildren suffer from undernourishment and malnutrition. Hunger affects their ability to concentrate and learn. The children also lack the resistance to infections and other diseases that are common in the slums. They often get sick and are then unable to go to school.

Cité Soleil, Ouest Department, Port-au-Prince

The good deed

To help children become healthier and learn better, the St. Luke Foundation provides hot meals for students in its schools every day. Its aim is to be able to do this in all of its schools as soon as possible. The meals - mostly rice with beans or other vegetables - are prepared with fresh ingredients directly in the school. A kitchen or cooking area is set up in the schools concerned and unemployed mothers are employed as kitchen staff, thus creating additional jobs.

Some young Haitians who grew up in the nph children's village St. Hélène did not want to accept this situation. Over 15 years ago they became active and began to organize free schooling for the children of poor families under the name St. Luke Team. They have since officially registered their organization as a foundation. The St. Luke Foundation now runs 29 primary schools in the middle of urban and rural slums. There are currently around 10,000 students who learn there for free. But what if their stomachs are rumbling?! The majority of schoolchildren suffer from undernourishment and malnutrition. Hunger affects their ability to concentrate and learn. The children also lack the resistance to infections and other diseases that are common in the slums. They often get sick and are then unable to go to school.