Fighting Hunger, Fueling Education: Ginny’s Story
“When I’m hungry, it usually gives me a stomach ache,” said 10-year-old Ginny.
Ginny used to sit through class with a stomach ache on many school days. Her parents could rarely afford to send her to school with lunch money, and she doesn’t always eat breakfast at home. Still, even at 10 years old, Ginny sees and appreciates all that her parents do for her.
Her mother runs a small business, but is often sick, and her father does small-scale farming. Ginny and her family live in Haiti, a country going through strife, civil unrest, and frequent gang violence. The number of food-insecure people has more than tripled since 2016. Half the population — 5.7 million Haitians — don’t have enough to eat.
People are suffering, and children are the most vulnerable.
“Many children are trying to learn while hungry,” said one of Convoy’s team members in Haiti.
That’s why Convoy of Hope feeds more than 125,000 children in Haiti every school day, including Ginny.
“The food provided by Convoy at school helps us a lot. Not only does it give us energy to learn, it’s not necessary for my parents to give me money for eating when I go to school,” Ginny said.
Convoy’s Children’s Feeding program often takes a financial strain off of parents — Ginny’s parents have three children to feed.
“Even if I don’t eat at home in the morning before I come to school, I’ll eat at school,” Ginny said. “When I get home, I don’t need to eat right away. I can do all my activities without any problems because I ate at school.”
For Ginny, the meals she receives at school not only fill her stomach, but also give her the chance to focus on learning and simply enjoy being a kid. She wants to be a teacher when she grows up, so she works hard in school and can learn more because she’s not focused on her hunger pains.
“I would like to take this opportunity, on behalf of the other students, to say thank you very much to Convoy of Hope for the food that it allows me to get at school,” Ginny said.
A simple meal at school is changing Ginny’s life. And with every child fed, hope grows stronger across Haiti.
