(ANS - Port-au-Prince) - Mercedes-Benz has contributed financially to the project "Food for Haiti", designed to meet the nutritional needs of children affected by the earthquake of 2010. This disaster killed 300,000 people and has left a serious impact - among other places - in the two districts where the project will take place: La Saline and Cite Soleil.

The project aims to improve the nutrition of 135 children aged between three and nine, belonging to the two largest slums in Port-au-Prince (La Saline and Cite Soleil). They attend the Small Schools of Father Bohnen (OPEPB), a network of 50 small schools that the Salesians have been administering in Haiti since 1954 to educate the most vulnerable children.

Most of thefamilies of these children were already poor and lost everything in the earthquake, including the ability to feed their children and send them to school. Many of these children suffer from acute malnutrition. Their families are out of work. They have no resources and at times cannot even provide a daily meal. Many of them suffer from health problems related to malnutrition, such as mental retardation, stunted growth, a lack of antibodies, tuberculosis, skin diseases, bronchitis and other ailments.

The project is based on the idea that in order to study and learn, children need first of all to have their basic food needs met. Therefore, they need nutritional support, providing daily breakfast and a hot lunch. For most of them, school is the only place where they can have a daily meal.  Providing food for the children, as well as being a way of guaranteeing their right to adequate food, is an essential condition for children to grow, develop and flourish in school. It also serves as an incentive for families to send their children to school, since parents often do not understand the importance of education for the future of their children.

Improving the nutritional level of children will also help to reduce levels of malnutrition and diseases related to it, will encourage learning and cognitive abilities of children and increase their chances of staying longer in the education system. It will allow children, finally, to socialize and develop relationships with their peers, a process important for their rehabilitation and normalization after the psychological trauma of the earthquake.

Published 30/10/2014