Haiti: Sweet, Nutritious Porridge Keeps Kids Happy

Haiti: Sweet, Nutritious Porridge Keeps Kids Happy

Written by David Orr, Public Information Officer for Haiti

Children camped out on a football field in Jacmel enjoy their daily bowl of porridge from WFP.
On the sidelines of the Pinchinat football field, now home to the largest group of displaced people in Jacmel, there are broad smiles and giggles as children join the breakfast line.

As well as one hot meal each day, WFP is providing about 2,000 children in the city with an extra nutritional boost through servings of porridge made from corn-soya blend – a maize-based flour fortified with vitamins and minerals.

A sweet start

“They love the porridge,” says Hazem El Zein, head of WFP’s program in Jacmel. “We make sure there’s plenty of sugar in it, they like it sweet.”

Many of the youngsters sit on old school benches salvaged from the nearby school .The breakfast of porridge is in addition to the delivery of a daily hot meal of beans and rice to 24,000 people across the city.

In Jacmel, WFP was operational in record time after the earthquake. About 3,500 fortified biscuits were handed out at the airfield on the evening of the earthquake which killed hundreds and left at least 15,000 people homeless.

Kitchens across Jacmel

There are now 33 field kitchens operating across Jacmel, one near each assembly point where displaced people have settled.

“The children are the first to be served when the afternoon meal is ready,” says Hazem. “Then come the women, the elderly and the young men.”

The food distributions are organized by the local authorities, local aid groups, a troop of scouts and the Canadian military, who oversee the area’s medical, water, sanitation and security needs. United Nations police and members of the local Sri Lankan battalion assist with security at the distributions.

WFP is also feeding hospital patients and residents of orphanages in Jacmel, and stocks of rice and beans for WFP’s pre-existing school meals program are being diverted to the affected inhabitants of outlying areas.