In 1975 we heard about chronic famine in Haiti and a massive hurricane in Honduras and joined with the Mennonite Central Committee to ship several tons of emergency relief food to those countries.
Hurricane Fifi, one of the costliest hurricanes in history, had skimmed along the northern coast of Honduras killing 8000 people. Twenty-four inches of rain fell in thirty-six hours, swelling rivers that flooded poor villages, small towns, and banana plantations. Most of the fishing fleet was destroyed along with half the food crops. The Ulua River became a vast lake twenty miles wide.
That same year a famine in the northwest of Haiti, caused by drought and soil erosion, placed 300,000 people at risk of starvation. Much of the food sent by other international aid organizations wound up for sale in the markets.