Nelda Jean Michel, 8, lives in Cite Soleil, Haiti, and engages in a constant battle to stay alive.

The little girl clutched her whimpering brother as she stood inside her family’s dingy shack in Cite Soleil, Haiti’s largest slum. Water bubbled in the tin pot where a single cup of rice slowly cooked. The rice was all Nelda and her two younger siblings had to eat.

Tears slowly trickled down her cheeks as Nelda confessed, “When I see my brother and sister crying for food, I feel like I don’t have any hope.”

Nelda Jean Michel, 8, lives in Cite Soleil, Haiti. Approximately 300,000 people live here — the poor, desperate and hungry. Cite Soleil’s residents struggle daily. Food prices have nearly doubled in the past year — a crushing blow to those who live on less than $2 a day.

Starvation is rampant in this poverty-stricken area. To ease the pain of empty stomachs, some desperately hungry residents resort to eating mud “cookies” made from salt, bouillon and dirt. Upon seeing strangers, children rub their bellies and cry out, “Mwen grangou,” which means, “I’m hungry” in Creole.

There is no sanitation, little electricity, and no running water. Canals containing raw sewage and garbage overflow into people’s shanties during heavy rainstorms. The area’s residents are trapped by poverty, tormented by frequent violence and shut out of opportunities afforded to others.

This is life in Cite Soleil, where little girls must endure hunger’s burning agony. Unlike American children, Nelda doesn’t play soccer, complain about homework or giggle with friends. Instead, she engages in a constant battle to stay alive.

She relies on prayer as a constant source of strength. “I pray a lot because God gives me strength,” Nelda says. “When I pray, I say, ‘God, protect me so I can get out of here and have a better life.’”

Throughout Latin America and the Caribbean, children like Nelda go hungry and pray for a better life. Please reach out to help Nelda and other children like her. You can help answer the cries of hungry children by providing lifesaving food.

Share Christ’s love by feeding hungry, desperate children through your gift today. In doing so, you’ll do more than provide food; you’ll give children in need hope for a better tomorrow.