“For the word of the Lord is right and true; He is faithful in all He does. The Lord loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of His unfailing love.” Psalm 33:4,5
Hi! It’s been a busy few weeks. For Christians, Christmas is a time to remember the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ but for others it means something else. In Haiti, criminal activity increases as criminals prepare for a festive Christmas and New Years. In order for them to celebrate they need money and resort to stealing to get it. We had our second experience a couple of weeks ago with the “Judas Gang”. While we were at church 3 thieves tried to break into the house again but this time they didn’t succeed. After the first break-in, I asked Lukner if he could be there with the gatekeeper on Sunday mornings so that the gatekeeper wouldn’t be by himself in the yard. I also gave them a couple of machetes to protect themselves with. Around 10:00am the Judas gang entered into the yard by climbing the low wall on the side of our property. The gatekeeper heard a thud when one of them landed and got up to see what the noise was. He asked the thief what he was doing in the yard and the thief reached into his knapsack and pulled out a knife and he then started approaching the gatekeeper. The gatekeeper raised his machete in defense and Lukner came running from the back. When the thief saw this he turned and ran to the back wall and climbed over it. Because there is broken glass along the top of the wall he got injured. 2 of the thieves ran by the Delmas 31 market area. The thief dropped his knapsack there which was later found. Inside it was a hacksaw. Some people did grab them thinking they were thieves but these guys talked their way out of being caught by saying that they were running away from a gambling discussion. The 3rd guy jumped over the barrier at the front of the property and ran down the street. We give the Lord thanks that the workers here at the house didn’t get hurt and that the computer my dad brought with him didn’t get stolen. The 1st and 2nd break-ins are related and we now know all the details of what happened and the identities of those involved. Pray for the police investigation and that I can get my computer back. Pray also for the preparations of a work team that is coming to Haiti to make the wall higher and to make the yard more “thief-proof”. This will most likely be done in February 2008.
Workers from the mayor’s office caused some problems on our street corner too. One morning they came and started smashing the tables of the food vendors on the corner. The people got angry and in return smashed the windshield of the vehicle the mayor’s workers drove. A friend of Lukner’s has a small display stand and he asked if he could keep it in the yard until the problems were over. I charged him rent of a couple of batteries that I needed for the clock. After a while things calmed down and the next day the food vendors were back in place!
On December 13th Emerson Simplice gets his cleft lip/reconstructive surgery. Keep him and the doctors in prayer. It will be great to see his new face!
Pharah Simeon is a hydrocephalus baby that may be getting the opportunity to travel to the United States for brain surgery. Her head circumference is now around 80 cm but she can hold a baby bottle and drink by herself. Pray things can be set up for her.
This past week a couple of babies died. Sammie Bernier, the spina bifida baby operated on from the recent hydrocephalus surgeries died. The shunt failed. A young mother came to our gate a couple of weeks ago with a tiny baby. His name was Fritzlo and he was 2 months old and very skinny. I asked Dorothy if she could look after him. Her ministry is to help babies in need. After medical testing was done it was determined that the baby was in kidney failure. The Lord called him home on Saturday morning.
Junior Pierre, a 14 year old street kid came by our gate a couple of weeks ago. He was at the gate the time I was bringing Manu and Jacob to school and he didn’t say anything. He followed behind us on the walk to school and after we arrived at school I turned and asked him why he was following us. He had his hands tucked inside his pockets. He said that he was sick and then showed me his hands. They were not in good shape. Ed, a missionary doctor came and saw him and he arranged for a dermatologist to see him. It was then that we found out that he had Norwegian crusted scabies. He has had this now for 2 years without medical treatment and it was very advanced. Now he is getting a medicated skin cream on his hands and most of the crusts have fallen off. He now is starting to get use of his fingers again and is thankful for this. He is living with us for the the next while. He is also thankful to be off the streets. His home for the last few years was the street behind the television station on Delmas. After his mother died noone else in his extended family would take him in so he has been left to fend for himself on the streets of Port-au-Prince the last few years. Originally he is from Cap Haitien. He is also illiterate because he has never been to school. Pray for his medical treatment and that a home can be found for him.
The next round of hydrocephalus evaluations will most likely be in January. We already have 9 children registered in these next evaluations. Pray for the preparations being made.
In 2000 a Global Campaign for Education was made by all the countries of the world. The goal is that by the year 2015 every child has access to an education. At this midway point a progress report was made and unfortunately Haiti is in last place out of 178 countries with a score of 2 out of 100. The bottom 5 nations are Haiti, Somalia, Guinea-Bissau, Micronesia and the Central African Republic. The top 5 developing countries are Mauritius, Latvia, Uruguay, Hungary and Slovakia. Now that the security situation in Haiti is improving maybe better efforts can now be made to develop the education system of the country’s children.
This week a new electoral council has been put into place by the president. An election of 1/3 of the senate seats was supposed to be held in November 2007. Problems with the electoral council caused the temporary postponing of these elections. These problems were because other council members accused the president, secretary and treasurer of the council of embezzling funds and plotting to have a fellow member killed. With the new electoral council in place the senatorial election plans can now proceed.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good day!
Karen Bultje
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