Rory Carroll reports from Haiti:
At first sight the business resembles a thriving pottery. In a dusty courtyard women mould clay and water into hundreds of little platters and lay them out to harden under the Caribbean sun. The craftsmanship is rough and the finished products are uneven. But customers do not object. This is Cité Soleil, Haiti’s most notorious slum, and these platters are not to hold food. They are food.
Brittle and gritty – and as revolting as they sound – these are “mud cakes”. For years they have been consumed by impoverished pregnant women seeking calcium, a risky and medically unproven supplement, but now the cakes have become a staple for entire families. It is not for the taste and nutrition – smidgins of salt and margarine do not disguise what is essentially dirt, and the Guardian can testify that the aftertaste lingers – but because they are the cheapest and increasingly only way to fill bellies.
Here’s another report. Except note that both of these articles are from 2008, before the earthquake.
Since that time, obviously, the physical devastation will have reduced the country’s ability to grow, harvest, and distribute food. It will also have reduced people’s ability to earn a living and purchase imported food. And this was a population already living on the brink of starvation, with no margin for error. Under the circumstances, aid is vital but it’s emigration that offers the best hope for most Haitians. If developed countries really care about helping, they’ll change their policies and make it possible for more Haitians to move.