WCK establishes kitchens across Haiti amid unrest
World Central Kitchen and our partners on the ground in Haiti served our first plates of food to families impacted by ongoing unrest just over a week ago. Since then, we have established a network of kitchens to support displaced families and other vulnerable populations impacted by the violence that has gripped the nation. Alongside Hôpital Albert Schweitzer (HAS) and Health through Walls, we have provided more than 50,000 meals.
Social and political unrest in Haiti has escalated over the past months, compounding an existing humanitarian crisis. Now, gang violence is widespread in Port-au-Prince, the nation’s capital. Thousands of families have been displaced across the country and supply chain disruptions have left highly vulnerable communities without reliable access to food.
Our team first responded to the crisis alongside HAS, a trusted partner helmed by WCK board member Jean Marc deMatteis, in mid March. We began cooking for patients in healthcare facilities and established a network of community kitchens to support families throughout the Artibonite region.
In one week, we built a network of 12 WCK-HAS community kitchens that are quickly scaling to cook almost 10,000 meals daily. Our teams on the ground are seeing children bear the brunt of the unrest and noted that they account for more than half of meal recipients at meal distribution sites.
As we always do, WCK is working shoulder to shoulder with the communities we serve to ensure people get the support they need. To boost the local economy, we are sourcing ingredients from local farms and have employed woman food vendors to lead our kitchens. The ongoing crisis makes it a challenge for these women to run their food businesses. So, we are paying them to provide meals for free. They are cooking nourishing local favorites like rice with bean purée and vegetable stew.
This network of community kitchens allows us to reach rural, mountainous communities. At the same time, we are working to establish a kitchen in Port-au-Prince where the worst of the violence is occurring.
WCK’s origins trace back to Haiti when José cooked alongside displaced families following the devastating 2010 earthquake. Since then, we have responded to four crises in the country, including a hurricane, earthquake, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
This remains a quickly evolving situation. Our Relief Team and our partners are working to identify more pockets of need. You can sign up to our newsletter to receive more information and follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook for real time updates.
