“In the past God overlooked such ignorance, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent. For he has set a day when he will judge the world with justice by the man he has appointed. He has given proof of this to all men by raising him from the dead.” Acts 17:30,31
Hi! This morning the children were all excited. The dog had just gotten a hold of a chicken that made the mistake of coming into our yard. It was a nice plump Haitian chicken and it was now dead. I was happy and told the kids that God had just provided us with some meat to go with our Easter meal. The kids were happy and Junior asked for money to buy some beans and other stuff to cook with the chicken. The adults here though frowned at the idea of eating this chicken. They told me that a Christian should not eat the neighbors chicken. I reminded them about the last couple of cats that we had. Once these cats strayed over the wall they never came back (cats are a real delicacy here in Haiti). If the neighbors ate our cat why can’t we eat their chicken because the chicken was now dead anyway? I left to go to the hospital to visit Iliodor and Austin and when I got back Manu gave me the bad news. He said that he threw the chicken over the wall. I asked him why did you throw away our Easter dinner and he said that the adults here at Coram Deo made him do it! I asked Marie about the money that was meant to buy the beans and other stuff to go with the chicken and she said that she bought the beans and some fish to go with it instead! Lukner didn’t like this explanation and he was able to recover the chicken from behind the neighbor’s wall. Now he and his family are going to enjoy this blessing of Easter chicken!
It is also traditional at this time of year for children to fly kites. This morning we bought some hand-made Haitian kites on the street. The children are now “souping up” their kites with some added features that they are making.
Good Friday is a holiday here in Haiti. Christians remember this day as God’s gift to us of His son Jesus Christ who died for our sins on the cross. The voodoo people celebrate Jesus death on the cross on this day. But for Christians there is an Easter where Jesus rises from the dead and the voodoo people have no ceremony for that day. Pray for Haiti that the country as a whole turns to the Lord and to the truth.
Yesterday afternoon Manu was all excited because he had found a bat at the side of the house. It had flown into the side of the wall and was now lying on the ground stunned. I always have heard the expression “blind as a bat” and knew these animals had some sort of sonar to fly around but something was wrong with this bat. For it to be flying in the daytime and then to hit the wall shows that it was probably sick. Bats can carry rabies so the older guys killed it. It was good though that the kids could actually see up-close what a bat looks like.
We give the Lord thanks that Naphtalie Bazile had her hydrocephalus surgery on Tuesday. She is doing well and her head circumference has already gone down 1.5 cm. The host family sent some pictures and her mother is happy to see how well she is doing.
This week we also got the passport for Dieunette Lormintus, the baby with the encephalocele behind the head. We have an appointment next Wednesday at the US Consulate to request a medical visa. God willing she will be able to travel to the USA for surgery as well.
Dieune Philippe is the next hydrocephalus baby who is in line to travel to the USA for hydrocephalus surgery. Her passport is ready and we are just waiting for the hospital papers so that we can request a medical visa for her as well.
Iliodor and Austin both didn’t get their surgeries at General Hospital this week. Pray an operating room time can open up for them. Austin especially is suffering. He spends most of the day on his knees, as it is too painful to lie in bed.
Jn. Eddy Alexandre wrote his rheto exam re-writes again. He is determined to pass these state exams. If he does he will obtain his secondary school diploma. He is very determined to do all he can to improve his lot in life. Pray for him and his studies.
The electric company EDH is giving us a lot more electricity now. We have been getting electricity the last couple of weeks the entire day and even had one day when we had 24 hours of electricity!
Kidnapping is an on-going problem here in Haiti. On March 14th the police conducted an operation on Delmas 31 at a house on Rue Charmant (which is a couple of blocks from where we live). They freed 2 kidnapped children and arrested a couple of men. A young girl of 2 years of age that had been kidnapped on Delmas 41, March 6th and a young 5-year-old boy who had been kidnapped on Delmas 31, March 12th were found. The kids were kept in something like a small blocked depot. The wall around the property was high with barbed wire on the top. The arrested individuals supplied the police with more information and another police operation took place on March 15th further up Delmas 33 at a policeman’s residence. Inside this house were found several passports, bankbooks, official seals and other stuff. They arrested this bad cop, handcuffed him and put him in the back of the police car. The only problem was that this guy somehow managed to drive off with the police car and this car was later found crashed on Canape Vert with no sign of the bad cop. Now the 3 policemen who were supposed to be guarding him are detained pending an investigation. Looks like there are more policemen involved with this kidnapping. Corruption is a problem in Haiti and the police department is working to remove bad cops from the force. Since 2005, 500 policemen have been removed from the police force. The police are also reporting that 30% of all kidnappings are not really kidnappings at all but involve families trying to get money from family or others. Last week a police operation was conducted in Cite Soleil and a 17-year-old girl who claimed she was kidnapped was found. She had planned this kidnapping herself in order for her and her friends to get some money. She was staying at a friend’s house in Cite Soleil when the police came calling. Pray the practice of kidnapping comes to an end.
That’s all the news for today. Have a blessed Easter!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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