Food Distribution During A Pandemic

Mary is the grandmother of Kervens, a 12-year-old boy I have in my caseload. Since the day Kervens entered our Child Advocacy program, Mary has prayed for me and for Restavek Freedom. She is so thankful and praises God when Kervens comes home with food from the program.

During the pandemic, the situation of Mary and her grandson was very difficult about food.  The grandmother does not have a job, and she could not go anywhere and nobody came to see her. Sometimes she would only drink water and salt, and gave Kervens permission to go to the neighbors, hoping he could get something to eat there. But sometimes he got nothing.

As RF saw the need to give children food during the pandemic, I invited Kervens to come meet me at his school to receive his package. For safety, his grandmother never let him walk by himself, so she came with him. First, I had a little meeting with them to educate them about COVID-19, and the importance of hygiene. Mary ‘s face was sad that day. But when she saw that I had a bag of food so heavy she had to help Kervens carry it, her face changed to joy.

Afterward she called me separately and said:  “Mr. Frantso I wanted to explain something to you. For almost one month I had nothing to cook and we go days without food. I had only 15 gourdes and I hid it for first aid in case we were unwell. But in the afternoon, I saw we could die, so I bought half cup of sugar, and I mixed it with water and salt and we drank it so we didn’t starve.”

“But today I will cook because you sent food for us,” said Kervens’ grandmother, “and we will not go to the bed starving. I believe that I will manage to survive another day.  God sees what you are doing for Kervens and I, and I will never stop praying for you.”

Frantso, Child Advocate

Children like Kervens are starving in Haiti as COVID-19 ravages the economy. For just $25, you can feed a child and their household for a week.