AbroadBread for Haiti

Croix-de-Bouquets is located on the outskirts of the Haitian capital. The Scalabrinian Fathers Mission is located in the Lilavois district, comprising a population of about 100,000 people, mostly peasants, who were living in severe deprivation before the earthquake. They are large families with unemployed adults who still live in mud huts and metal sheets and suffer from malnutrition. They do not have financial resources to go to the doctor or send their children to school, and the only free school and clinic in the neighborhood are those of the Scalabrinian Fathers who also provide a canteen service for students. In this context of extreme poverty and social exclusion, young people and women, but especially children, are the component of the highest-risk population in terms of health and nutrition.

Marcegaglia Foundation and a network of Italian entrepreneurs and institutions have decided to contribute  improving the deprivation of the Croix de Bouquest population with Future4Haiti (F4H), a broad-based project aimed at accompanying Haitians to self-sufficiency through the transfer of skills, know-how and the creation of a network of micro-enterprises. The entire project is managed locally by the Fondazione Haitienne pour le Réguelation et le Développement (FHRD) with the support of the Scalabrinian Agency for Cooperation and Development (ASCS) and the collaboration of the municipality of Croix de Bouquet.

Within the F4H, the Marcegaglia Foundation supports Bread for Haiti: a bakery has been created to meet the immediate needs of people, improving the nutrition and living conditions of the Croix de Bouquet community as well as the entire ASCS mission. Haitian staff – 5 men and 5 women – have been selected for vocational training, both in production and in business management.