Food crisis in Haiti

A pupil enjoys what may be his only meal of the day: a nutritious combination of rice, beans and sauce provided by Mary's Meals at his school in Cite Soleil. These are staple foods in Haiti but the rice and beans are all imported from the US. Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

The Haitian slum of Cite Soleil is poverty at its least picturesque, says Ruth Black, a director of the charity. She compared what she saw last month to "500,000 people living on a rubbish dump at the edge of the sea". Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow /PR

Schoolchildren in the village of Brunette. Rural areas look more picaresque but here the signs of chronic hunger and malnutrition were distressingly obvious, Black said. Children had pinched faces and swollen bellies. "After the weekend the children arrive on Monday and some of them are fainting from hunger" their teacher told her. Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

Monique, a mother of five, bakes biscuits from clay mixed with a little margarine and sugar on a public playing field. The "mud cakes", once a perceived source of minerals for pregnant women, are now eaten widely to stave off hunger pangs. Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

Women queue for food handouts, carrying any containers they can find. Every two months women and families in the most desperate need are invited to collect emergency rations from the schools. Black said: "It may not be text book aid delivery, but there is no doubt about these people’s desperation. They watched nervously as the one in front received her portion of food hoping there would be enough for them too." Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

Homes in the Haitian slum are cobbled together from tin panels. 80% unemployment, gang violence, and a history of conflict make the slum a near no-go zone and the area has been largely abandoned by aid agencies, police and security forces. Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

Hunger is acute in Haiti and rising world food prices are making it worse, but small contributions can make a big difference. Since last year seven schools in the country have been providing a daily meal to their 5,000-odd pupils thanks to the Mary’s Meals programme. Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR

A boy plays on the beach of Cite Soleil, finding escape from the poverty around him. He made his kite from sticks and plastic carrier bags giving it a gloriously generous tail. Black said: "It leaves me with great hope. Despite the deprivation he faces on all sides this little boy dreamed of flying a kite. We are called to see beyond the ugliness." Photograph: Magnus MacFarlane Barrow/PR