Unrest continues to grow in the streets of Port-au-Prince halting life and the everyday activities of people already struggling to survive. While the number of kidnappings has decreased, the terror people face has morphed into a new form. The rising insecurity from gang violence has caused so many to be displaced abandoning their own homes because of the constant bullet showers. These families have had no other choice but to seek safety in public arenas while armed gangsters take refuge in their once peaceful communities. What can the people do when they can no longer count on the Police to uphold law and order? Nothing but shelter in place. The capital is under seige and everyday we walk past corpses on the streets. No institutions are currently functioning in the country, including the Police and Judicial system; none can do anything to counter this darkness.
Along with these threats of physical and political insecurity, no one can forget the growing threat of food insecurity in Haiti. The people are living in hunger and misery along with an excessive cost of living, which results in the decline of their already thin buying power. There aren't enough means to purchase even the essential items that are needed to basically survive. What makes all of this worse, is that it is happening while COVID-19 has begun to make its presence greater again across the country. Hospitals in heavily populated areas are already beyond capacity and do not have the space or infrastructure to accept any other patients suffering from the pandemic's symptoms. The lack of response from government agencies has left the population to fend for itself - again.
All of the insecurity has caused Lambi significant delays in the evaluation phase of projects, both old and new. The pressure grows even more now while the country lives in constant fear. Although life is not moving the way it should be, the demands are still flowing in for partnerships with grassroots organizations. Although it has been difficult to get to project sites, Lambi was able to launch 4 new Environmental projects during the first quarter of 2021. Our Regional monitors have worked tirelessly to make contact with several organizations that were under investigation to work with the Lambi Fund. The evaluations were delayed due to the lack of safety, but were completed nonetheless.
The alternative credit project that we partnered with OPK (Oganizasyon Peyizan Kalabat) on, providing them with a 750,000 Haitian gourdes (htg) fund has been quite fruitful. The amount of members that have benefited from this fund continues to grow with 202 benefitting from the merchant credit and 43 benefitting from the planters credit. The organization has already brought in a profit of 308,700 htg and reimbursed Lambi Fund 268,250 htg leaving them with 40,450 htg. Altogether they have 790,450 htg available to continue to circulate throughout their members.
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