Meds & Food for Kids
The Peacemaker’s Voice in Haiti
March 15, 2024
Contact: Maggie Probert, Meds & Food for Kids, 314-630-2119
Remenson Tenor
Chief Operations Officer, Meds and Food for Kids
Cap Haitien, Haiti
Remenson Tenor, a Haitian, leads a team of nearly 90 Haitians who annually produce more than 400 metric tons of emergency life-saving Ready-to-Use-Therapeutic-Foods to save the lives of starving children in Haiti and 17 other countries.
His team at the non-profit Meds and Food works with local clinics to train nurses and families about nutrition for their malnourished children and works with small farmers to help them increase the quantity and quality of their crops to feed their families and their communities.
Despite the challenges and because of the urgent need, this local team provided emergency treatments to more than 100,000 malnourished Haitians last year.
The factory team has continued to operate and work with international humanitarian agencies through the violence. UNICEF and others depend more heavily than ever on Meds and Food for Kids for the production and distribution of the ready-to-use therapeutic foods that children need throughout Haiti (and the world). However, the violence has closed access in many parts of Haiti.
Today 562 people die every day from starvation and half of all young Haitian children are severely malnourished and at imminent risk of death. Over 15,000 people have been displaced (Port-au-Prince and its neighboring cities) since the surge of gang violence from February 29, 2024, to date and many of them are living on the streets, with relatives, or in temporary shelters.
STATEMENT
“We, the people of Haiti, call on the US Congress and the international community to release the promised funds now to support efforts to restore peace and to provide humanitarian corridors for free movement around the country. The people of Haiti need to be heard. We want peace and support so that Haitians can rebuild the country.
It will take time and resources. The international community must respect the sovereignty of Haiti and the wishes of the Haitian people. The world supported Haiti after the 2010 earthquake to rebuild its infrastructure. Now help us rebuild a civil society and democracy.
With a sustainable plan for peace, we will rebuild.”