Musician Wyclef Jean kicks off programme to extend food to Haiti's poor.

PORT AU PRINCE, HAITI (JUNE 19, 2008) REUTERS -
Hip hop musician Wyclef Jean traveled to his native Haiti to help
feed the poor as the food crisis deepens. 
    After kicking off a soccer match among children from the Cite Soleil
slum, Jean visited a vaccination clinic and explained the importance of the
programme. 
    "If we had started this programme from the beginning, when the
kids were younger, they would have never caught some diseases," he said.
"Especially in Cite Soleil where the environment is very critical, it's
very important that people be vaccinated."  
    In 2005, Jean founded the Yele Haiti Foundation to help poor children,
especially those in Cite Soleil. 
    With the food crisis deepening, Jean urged Haitians not to resort to
looting and violence when they protest. 
    "Yes, you can take to the streets and protest the rising price of
food to go down but you shouldn't loot," he said. "It diminishes the
value of the work I'm trying to do. It looks bad to the international
community and they'll lose respect for the work we're trying to do." 
    His organization is partnering with the World Food Programme to raise
additional money to increase food to the poor. 
    World Food Programme Executive Director Amamadou Mbaya said the two
organizations were partnering to raise 48 million dollars within the next six
months to serve more of Haiti's poor. 
    "The food crisis is not in Haiti alone; it is worldwide. But the
only country that has lost a government is Haiti; the only country that has
had such violent protests is Haiti," he said. "The Kombit People's
Movement will mobilize 48 million dollars and I have the pleasure of
announcing that tomorrow, we will begin to distribute food to over 50,000
families and has a value of one million dollars in a 48 million dollar budget
and Wyclef will inaugurate the project."
    In April, the government of Prime Minister Jacques Edouard fell after
more than a week of riots over food prices which killed at least 5 people,

    The poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, Haiti is home to 9
million people most of whom earn less than $2 a day.