Feeding the hungry in Haiti: Canadian soldiers and sailors provide security for World Food Program

By Captain Mark Peebles

Jacmel, Haiti - On this sultry Monday afternoon, 18 soldiers from the Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) trudged up a dirt alley to the Pinchinant soccer stadium, now a tent city for thousands of people left homeless by the January 12 earthquake. With pickets, thumpers and rope in hand, they were on a humanitarian mission — crowd control for a World Food Program feeding station at the stadium.

Disasters bring desperation in their wake, and that’s why the DART includes a Defence & Security Platoon. In stifling heat and humidity, surrounded by throngs of hungry, thirsty people who have lost everything, they handled the task well.

World Food Program workers set up at the stadium on January 13, when neighbourhood residents began building shelters there. Every day since then, they have served up two meals a day: high-energy biscuits in the morning and freshly cooked rice and beans in the afternoon. Today, they had 5,750 people to feed — including 386 children under the age of five.

Feeding that many hungry people takes more than food. As soon as the first Canadian Forces members arrived in Jacmel — sailors from HMCS Halifax and DART personnel — they were asked to help with the daunting task of ensuring that humanitarian efforts are not overwhelmed by desperation. Since January 21, soldiers have brought their weapons and tools up the alley to the stadium to provide meal-time security. Sailors also take part in this task, but not today.

For Ms. Elizabeth Sipple of the World Food Program, the CF members’ contribution is crucial.

“It’s very important to have security at these food distribution sites,” she said. “Not that I think that (the people who are fed) are violent or out of control, but sometimes just having (a military) presence instils calm.”

While local volunteers cooked rice and beans over wood fires in massive pots propped up on rocks and cinder blocks, the DART soldiers pounded pickets into the ground and wound ropes around them to cordon off the cooking area. With more rope and pickets, they made a chute to funnel people to the serving line. When they finished, it looked like the concession area at a big rock festival.

Lieutenant Allistair Galbraith of the 2nd Regiment, Royal Canadian Horse Artillery, in Petawawa pointed out that the normal role of Defence & Security Platoon is to protect DART operations and equipment, not the activities of humanitarian organizations.

“It’s not something we normally do, but we’re the only force in the area capable of doing it. They asked for it and we were available so here we are,” he said.

While the cooks worked, people started to emerge from under the tarps, bedsheets and pieces of cardboard that shelter them on what used to be the soccer pitch. Children went into the chute first, with local volunteers and members of the Scouting movement handling crowd control while the soldiers ensured that people joined the line at the end and respected the cordon.

Children would try to sneak past the ropes, only to be gently escorted back by the attentive soldiers. Although the procession was generally orderly, the soldiers had to hold some people back to keep them from overwhelming the volunteers.

“They’re a pushy, hungry crowd,” said Gunner Richard Pross of 2 RCHA. “They’re still working on trusting that this will work.”

The dinner rush reached its peak when the adults followed the children into the chute. The sun poked through the clouds to add to the heat of the cook fires. The forecast for that day was in the 30’s, with a Humidex reading of 40 degrees.

“The heat takes its toll on you,” said Lt. Galbraith. “You’re sweating for four hours and it’s constantly ‘step back’, ‘move back’. The smoke and heat get to you.”

Five o’clock rolled by and many people still stood in line when the cooks ran out of food. There was a brief moment of uncertainty and heightened tension, and then the crowd dispersed.

The World Food Program distribution operation at the stadium is now a routine tasking for both the DART Defence & Security Platoon and force protection personnel from HMCS Halifax. The soldiers on the job this Monday were happy to help.

“I feel like we’re doing something proactive here. I’ve never done something like this before,” said Gnr Pross. “I can say that I’ve gone to a poor country and helped people who needed it.”

Capt Mark Peebles is a Public Affairs Officer from 8 Wing Trenton deployed with the DART on Operation HESTIA.