A Bermudian heading an orphanage in Haiti has pleaded for help from the public as the country descends into mayhem.

Philip Rego said that he had tried his best to keep his organisation, Feed My Lamb Ministry, afloat amid years of instability.

But he admitted that, as gang warfare and civil unrest tears the country apart, he was finding it increasingly difficult to bring in the supplies he needed.

Mr Rego added that many of his staff and the children struggled with the trauma of witnessing horrific violence on a daily basis.

He said: “We’ve had people chopped up and burnt in the street – and the children see that every day.

“We had children who would sit in the corner and cry to the wall because they have no mother, no father, they have a pain in their stomach because they have had no food and they’re sick.”

Mr Rego added: “The teachers can’t come to school because of violence in the street.

“They have no freedom – you can’t say ‘I’m going to send my children out to get rice and beans’ because when they are there, no one’s going outside the house.

“Everyone has kind of given up. They don’t move without prayer, but you would never think prayers were even heard in that country because there’s so much violence.”

Mr Rego moved to Haiti in 2008 after retiring from his previous job as a landscaper.

Motivated by a desire to help and the feeling of being “too young not to do nothing”, he moved to the area for what was intended to be a quick mission trip.

However, Mr Rego said that his time in Haiti quickly taught him the difference between “hungry and starving”, and he felt the need to stay longer and do what he could to help.

“Hungry is ‘I need a little more cheese on my macaroni and cheese’ or ‘I wish my chicken leg was a little browner’,” he said. “But when you see kids eating soil and chewing on rocks, or parasites running around their eyes, you see a big difference.”

Mr Rego said that he taught his community improved agricultural skills to boost their crop yields and better feed themselves.

He later helped to build an orphanage in the town of Montrose, about 70 kilometres from the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, which helps to care for vulnerable children and put them through school.

Mr Rego in particular noted one student. Despite his struggles with her, he helped her graduate high school and university and she became a doctor who now helps at the orphanage she grew up in.

Despite the help and the family bonds he made, Mr Rego said that the mission was not spared from the effects of unrest.

He said Haiti’s economic problems went as far to its founding, from punitive debts imposed by France when slavery was abolished that tanked the country’s economy, to decades of corrupt leaders siphoning national funds for themselves.

Mr Rego said that, this time around, the country struggled with clashes between the corrupt government system and gangs of angry locals.

“There’s no law and order,” he said. “I’ve seen it myself, where policemen are shot, stripped and burnt in the street.”

He added: “The gangsters are taking over the island and they’re the ones who are dictating everything, from the price of food to where the money in the bank goes.

“In Haiti, a 2x4 could be $12 today and tomorrow it could be $24.

“If a bag of rice is $17 today, tomorrow it’s $50. There’s no structure.

“They go to towns where there’s only one way in and one way out and they block it, cause confusion, and tell you ‘if you want to pass you’ve got to pay’.

“These guys only want money and control.”

Mr Rego said that his charity had largely been spared from the worst of the intimidation because of the work they had done throughout the community.

But he added that they still faced problems securing resources.

Mr Rego explained: “I know one gentleman here in Bermuda who donated $25,000 worth of batteries for the solar system; it took almost two years to get them there just to keep them safe.”

The children and staff are exposed to violence, particularly aimed at loved ones.

He said: “One of my leader’s wives had her father stoned, shot, and set on fire right in the street. She hasn’t gotten over that.

“To them, killing is nothing.”

Mr Rego urged the people of Bermuda to donate in any way they could, whether that involved donating cash and supplies to Feed My Lamb of sponsoring a child.

He said: “Any little bit helps.”