“The Roadmap for U.S. Leadership to End Global Hunger is a comprehensive strategy that encompasses the spectrum of anti-hunger efforts, from food and interventions to agricultural programs that help small-scale farmers. It was authored by six of the leading U.S. international humanitarian organizations and has been endorsed by more than 30 aid agencies.”

That’s an excerpt from a guest column by George McGovern and Tony Hall, published in the Des Moines Register. See the full story here.

ReliefWeb notes this story on a World Food Program voucher operation in Burkina Faso. CRS is a partner in the operation:

WFP today launched its first food voucher operation in Africa, deploying a new tool to address hunger in an urban environment where food is available, but beyond the reach of many because of the impact of high food prices.
(more…)

Lane Bunkers, CRS’ country representative for Ethiopia, shares the impact of the global economic crisis on the destitute and dying.

CRS provides food to the 17 centers run by the Missionaries of Charity in Ethiopia. This food support enables the Sisters to feed 40,000 of Ethiopia’s neediest each year. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

In the five months that my family and I have made our home in Ethiopia, I have visited the Missionaries of Charity’s Home for the Destitute and Dying in the capital of Addis Ababa on numerous occasions. Each time I visit, I experience the same two feelings.

The first feeling is joy, which comes over me as soon as I am greeted by Sister Janeke and Sister Amrit. With their infectious smiles and constant good nature, you can’t help but feel a sense of contented calm in their presence. After a volley of inquiries about each other’s health and families, the sisters often call over Sister Catalina, who is from Romania. I lived there from 1997 to 1999, so I greet her in my rusty Romanian, and we share a laugh in her native language. Even though I am very aware that people are dying all around the Sisters, I cherish this moment of levity and celebration before we move further into the center. 
(more…)

Debbie DeVoe, CRS regional information officer in East Africa, reports on the devastating impact of drought and high food prices in Kenya.

Although food is available in local shops, many Kenyans simply can’t afford to buy any. CRS vouchers are enabling the neediest families to purchase two to three weeks worth of supplies.. Photo by Debbie DeVoe/CRS

Finally, food and fuel prices are starting to drop across the globe. But in many countries these price drops have yet to reach the average person trying to survive during these hard times. And in East Africa, where drought is desiccating fields across the region, some families have no food stocks left and no idea where their next meal will come from.

This was the case last week for Virginia Nzyoka and her household of 12. Virginia, at 28 years old, lives with her husband and their five children. She also takes care of four young relatives who are now orphans, as well as her disabled grandfather.
(more…)

Photojournalist David Snyder is reporting from Haiti for CRS. In his first post from Gonaives, he notes the sheer devastation brought by recent storms and the help that’s finding it’s way to the people who need it most.

Gonaives, Haiti: I was traveling with CRS in Asia through early September and saw the news headlines on September 8 about Hurricane Ike, and its effect on Haiti. Now, less than three weeks later, I am in Haiti to see CRS efforts in the wake of the storm, which devastated the island nation. Particularly hard hit was the northern city of Gonaives. It is not my first time here. In 2004, Hurricane Jeanne also devastated Gonaives, and I was here with CRS to document that response as well. From what I have seen so far, Ike has been far more devastating. The entire city is covered in deep mud – more than 2.5 million cubic meters of it – dumped into the city by the hillsides that surround it on three sides, all of which have been completely deforested. Everywhere, people are working with simple tools to clean their homes out, filling the already narrow streets with mountains of black mud. One UN staff member estimates that it would take 200 trucks, working seven days a week, a full year to remove all of the mud from the city. And there are nowhere near that many trucks here.

The Cathedral in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti is currently sheltering up to 200 people in its upper level. Mud and waters from hurricane Ike flooded the church, but the upper level managed to stay dry. Photo by Greg Elder/CRS

I went out today to see a CRS food distribution at the Missionaries of Charity compound. CRS has been working through the sisters there, as well as through partner Caritas Haiti, to distribute family ration kits of staples like rice, beans, sugar, dried fish, and bottled water. Today’s distribution reached 500 families – about 2,500 people – part of the 1,500 such kits CRS has delivered so far. Over the years I have seen many such distributions, and I am always amazed by how much organization goes into each one. Beneficiaries are always pre-registered, selected through assessments to affected communities. Once registered, a family member – usually a woman – is given a paper coupon and told to arrive at the distribution site on a given day. When she arrives – like today, for example, at the Missionaries of Charity compound – she is let in with a small group. Their names are called in turn, and each beneficiary turns in a coupon before receiving rations, sometimes moving from station to station to receive different elements of the overall kit. As one group receives their ration, another is let into the compound, and the process repeats itself – for seven hours, today. It sounds simple. But in the midst of the anxiety, frustration, and anger that often follow disasters, such organization is essential not only to make sure those most in need are reached quickly and effectively, but also for security. Everyone must see that the process is fair and equal, that no one who is not registered is receiving food, and that those who are receiving food are in fact the most needy members of the community. It is delicate and tiring work, particularly in the heat and devastation of Haiti today.

I will head out this week to see other CRS projects. Emergencies like this have their own sort of energy, and things often take shape very quickly as needs arise or priorities shift. Right now, those priorities are food and water. CRS also plans some cash-for-work projects next week, helping locals earn money they can use to buy what they need, and bring some semblance of normality back to their lives after the trauma of the past few weeks.

October’s CRS Briefing’s theme is Harvest of Hope.

CRS President Ken Hackett’s letter outlines the current global food crisis. In feature stories from Burkina Faso, Haiti and Ethiopia, you’ll meet people who daily feel the pain of rising food prices.

Are rising food prices causing you to change the way you eat? Crimping your budget for other things?

We’d like to know how food costs have affected you, if at all. Don’t hesitate to add your thoughts about the Briefing stories.

The question: How have increased food prices affected you?

Here’s the latest update from CRS’ program manager for Haiti, Greg Elder. He’s working with emergency responders and helping to keep us informed on conditions following massive storm damage.

Gonaivies, Haiti: There’s more rain on the horizon, but for us it’s still work as usual. People are used to storms coming and going during hurricane season. The U.S. embassy has sent out warnings about flash flooding, but you don’t hear a lot of people talking about it. It’s not something being broadcast on the news. Rather than worrying about future disasters, everyone is more focused on our current efforts in the aftermath of Gustav and Hanna.

A woman surveys some of the destruction in the Cathedral in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti. The Cathedral is currently sheltering up to 200 people in its upper level. Photo by Greg Elder/CRS

CRS has a contingency plan in place in case the rain exacerbates the situation. We work in tandem with the civil protection communities started by the Haitian government to help mitigate disasters. They are trained to inform people about when the storms are coming, where to find shelter, and are stocked with prepositioned supplies.

We’re moving ahead full steam. There’s really no time to waste when responding to these last few storms. There are still areas with standing water. There’s a sense of nervousness, because certain Haitian communities can’t afford any more flooding. No one is sure how much rain these storms will drop. If it’s a big downpour it could affect (relief) access, especially to Gonaives. We’ve just finished a temporary bridge, which has allowed us to travel there by land. Rains would be a huge setback and force us to return sending supplies via helicopter.

There are still some areas of Haiti that remain inaccessible, especially in the tip of the southern peninsula. Roads have been washed out, destroyed along the coast in numerous places. Dozens of towns, coastal ones, but also others in the rainforest or perched in the mountainous terrain are extremely hard to get to. Makeshift roads have cropped up and people are making do by living off the land, their remaining crops and fruit trees. There is small-scale commerce taking place, by street vendors coming and going from town-to-town on foot. Inaccessibility is not a death sentence, but it does mean the people in those regions have to suffer longer.

Catholic Relief Services workers pick up supplies to be distributed in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti. Aid workers ship food and supplies by boat and air when roads are inaccessible. Photo by Greg Elder/CRS

Today CRS is traveling by helicopter with the Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance (OFDA) and U.S. military personnel to survey the damage and help with response in hard to reach areas. Helicopters are flying in to the central part of the country as we try and determine Haiti’s greatest needs.

The most important aspect of our work is getting food and water to hungry and thirsty people. Saving lives, helping people day-by-day until they get back on their feet, that’s our priority. We’ve started our cash-for-work program and have undertaken the task of clearing away debris and helping to reopen roads. Slowly, if the rains subside, we’ll be able to get Haiti back on its feet.

Catholic News Service reports that Pope Benedict XVI urged world leaders to tackle poverty with courage, even in the face of the current global financial crisis.

“On the occasion of this important meeting … I want to renew my invitation to adopt and implement with courage the measures needed to eradicate extreme poverty, hunger, ignorance and the scourge of pandemics, which strike above all the most vulnerable,” he said.

The news service reports that the pope said he recognized that honoring commitments to development aid will require “sacrifice at this difficult economic moment in the world.”

CRS writer Kai T. Hill is in Miami reporting on local efforts to help Haiti and Cuba following a series of storms that battered the island nations.

My visit to relief and collection efforts in Miami began on Sunday at Saint James parish in North Miami.

Before leaving CRS headquarters in Baltimore I learned that Monsignor Jean Pierre, pastor of this prominent, largely Haitian parish, was in Haiti and would be getting back on Sunday. While in Haiti, he met with CRS country representative for Haiti, Bill Canny, and was able to tour some of the affected cities such as Jacmel and Cabaret. In addition to providing food, water and survival supplies to families in the hardest hit areas, CRS has obtained a warehouse in Port-Au-Prince to help Haiti’s bishops store incoming donated goods.

Catholic Relief Services workers pick up supplies to be distributed in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti. Aid workers are shipping food and supplies by boat and air, as the roads leading up to the city remain inaccesible. Photo by Greg Elder/CRS

“A lot of people are still living in mud, scared to go into their homes, some are still living on their rooftops, We have to keep being in solidarity with them,” says Msgr. Pierre above the bustling sound of volunteers packing donated goods that range from clothes to baby strollers and cans of beans and rice to cases of bottled water stacked several feet high.

Thus far the parish has sent about four or five 40,000 pound shipping containers to the Port of Miami to be shipped to Haiti. It’s one thing to see the fallout of disaster on television but last week Msgr. Pierre had a chance to see Haiti’s devastation first hand.

In the community of Caberet, Haiti he says “People are still in shock. It was a heartbreaking lesson to hear their stories as they have lost a child, they have lost a parent because they could not swim. But the storms happened at night so most of the people were sleeping. Most of the people who have died were children because they could not run, they could not hide.”

I’d never met Msgr. Pierre in person and figured that I would have to dodge between parishioners after Mass to introduce myself and borrow a few minutes of his time. When I pulled up in the church’s side lot a man wearing casual clothing greeted me. I told him that I was looking for Monsignor Jean Pierre. He smiled whimsically and told me that I was looking at him. He was not how I had pictured a monsignor. It was just in May that I sought his guidance for a CRS web article on the Archdiocese of Miami’s efforts to raise money for CRS and send goods to Haiti. Although his parish is one of the most prominent in South Florida’s Haitian community, he also encouraged me to visit Notre Dame D’ Haiti a ways south.

Today, the floods from three successive hurricanes have become the latest affliction to Haiti. Msgr. Pierre was eager to talk about his recent trip, South Florida’s collection efforts and how CRS is helping hurricane-affected families recover.

One of the most important things families things need now are building materials.”I’ve seen so many families homes there, I think that’s an urgent need. I would encourage people to donate so that we can get people back on their feet.”

CRS’ program manager for Haiti, Greg Elder, is reporting from Gonaives.

The Haitian city of Gonaives is still only reachable by air and water. I sailed along the coastline with five other CRS staffers in an old fishing boat navigated by diving instructor well known in Port-au-Prince. Its insides had been stripped and there was plenty of room for supplies and the food provisions we carried in our bags to last us the 5-10 days we’d be in the field. It was a two-hour boat ride through debris littered water -empty bottles, trash, and pieces of wood stirred up by the hurricanes.

The Cathedral in the port city of Gonaives, Haiti, is currently sheltering up to 200 people in its upper level. Mud and waters from hurricane Ike flooded the church, but the upper level managed to stay dry. Photo by Greg Elder/CRS

The port of Gonaives was teeming with activity. There was a U.S. freighter with three landing crafts, those had been released and were taking supplies in to the city. Six helicopters flew overhead, carrying more supplies -including ours- from Port-au-Prince to Gonaives.

My first impression as I surveyed the city was of the very tall mountains devoid of any trees or grass. There was no foliage in sight: only rock and dirt. It was so barren, and it was very hot because there is hardly any shade. Mud caked buildings lined the Gonaives streets. People were scooping out bucketfuls of water or shoveling through the 3-4 feet of mud that Ike and Hanna had dumped into their homes. Overturned vehicles were everywhere, also cars and trucks that had either gotten stuck in the mud or had tried to cross while the water was rising.

The need is tremendous. As we drove through the streets people would see the CRS logo and run up to our truck with outstretched hands pleading for help. Every food distribution done by the World Food Program (WFP), for example, is guarded by U.N. troops. If a truck pulls up with food, people will chase it. They’ll follow it. One night, out of safety concerns, we left our truck parked by the police station. The next morning we had to walk through a wave of people. At least a 1,000 had gathered thinking there was going to be a food distribution. We had to maneuver our way out from the crowd with the help of the police.