Food for the Poorest

Above, Briel Levielle and Ketland Maignan record the names of the elderly men and women of Fond des Blancs who arrived from all sections of the commune this past week to receive a month's worth of dry rice and beans from the members of Mesanje de Lamou (literally, "messengers of love"), a group of lay Catholics that has organized to provide a safety net of gravely needed social services to Fond des Blancs' eldest and most vulnerable citizens using a network of community members surveying their neighbors' needs. While St. Boniface Hospital still provides food for pregnant women, malnourished children, and those on antiretroviral AIDS treatment and tuberculosis medications, it will now transport the donations from Food for the Poor in Port-au-Prince for the Catholic Church-based group, which hopes to ease the community's demand on the hospital for food. Below, the elderly or those sent in the place of elderly citizens unable to walk, load the rations into sacks to carry home.