Friday, April 11, 2008

haiti update - april 11, 2008

“Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.” James 1:2,3

Hi! This has been a busy week trying to stay out of trouble! The security situation in Haiti is not very good right now. A lot has happened this week but God has been there with His protection on those of us here at Coram Deo. You’ll see how after you finish reading this update.
There have been roving gangs going through the downtown area for the last while causing trouble for those selling on the street and those who have shops. Last Friday afternoon Lukner visited a couple of the parents we know who make their living as a vendor on the street. Angelo Lafortune’s mother (the boy who had brain tumor surgery in the United States) and Christella Marcelin’s mother (heart problem) both have their booths close by. There was a commotion and people started to run down the street. Lukner stood aside and tried to figure out why people were running. He wanted to know what he needed to run away from first. There was the sound of a gunshot and the man standing near him spun around and dropped dead at Lukner’s feet. Lukner then moved out of the area. Later we contacted Angelo’s mother and asked how she was and she described what happened after Lukner left the area. She saw men with guns coming down the street and she layed on the ground on her stomach behind her stall until they passed. She then packed her stuff up and left. Pray for people like Angelo’s mother. They are doing what they can to support their families. The next day she was back at her same stall. The Haitian people are very courageous and determined.
The food price protests that started in Les Cayes spread to other areas of the country and especially to Port-au-Prince this week. Tuesday morning large groups of protesters all over the city set up barricades and burning tires. It started in the Carrefour area and then the downtown area. It was supposed to be a peaceful protest with people protesting against the high food prices and asking the government to do something about it but it quickly spiraled out of control. In front of the National Palace downtown, protesters broke one of the barriers to the grounds and were about to enter but the UN and Haitian police fired tear gas and rubber bullets into the crowd to keep them back. Cars were burned, windows of vehicles were smashed and businesses were looted and damaged by these groups of protesters. Later in the morning the rest of the city joined in. People on our street set up barricades and started to burn tires. We raced to pick up the children from school before things started to get worse. A crowd of protesters walked up Delmas 31 to join up with the rest of the protesters on main Delmas. Because of all these barricades and burning tires vehicle traffic couldn’t get around and those who tried sometimes got broken windshields. No public transportation was running and all traffic was on foot. Dieuna Philippe is a hydrocephalus baby who will be traveling to the United States for surgery as soon as we can finish her visa paperwork. We took her to see Ed to get a doctors letter and then helped the family try to get back home. Because Dieuna’s head is heavy we took turns carrying her up the street. When we got to main Delmas and saw that there were no tap-taps on the roads we continued walking. We passed some burning tires and lots of people. I figured that people wouldn’t bother us because it was obvious we were carrying a sick baby. I did wish though that I didn’t have white skin because some people did make some unfriendly comments. We finally made it down to the Delmas 2 area and I told the family that now they could go the rest of the way to Cite Soleil on their own. The people on the street were getting more hostile the further down we went and I thought it would be best to turn at Delmas 2. I was with Junior and from Delmas 2 we turned right and took the road that the people call “Piste”. There were less people on this road but there was a group of about a dozen young men standing by the road. As I walked past one asked for money. I told him that I didn’t have any. Another one was holding a metal bar. As I walked by one of them said out loud in English that he was going to kill me. I pretended that I took what he said as a joke and laughed and told them that I am here to help sick children and not to cause problems and kept walking. I did say a prayer though asking God not to let them do anything. As soon as I finished with the prayer there was a loud voice from a man walking on the opposite side of the road. He said to this group of guys in Creole that “ They are coming to kill you all, you bunch of thieves!” He repeated this a couple of times and all of a sudden the whole group took off sprinting at full speed across the open field. In the distance were a couple of motorcycle policemen. I don’t believe in luck and see this as God’s protective mercies. I wanted to laugh when I saw the thieves run away but I tried my best not too. These guys talked tough but they ran away like a bunch of scared rabbits! We made it back home on foot with no further incidents. On Delmas and other areas protests turned into riots and many businesses had windows damaged by rocks that were thrown and also were looted or just damaged. The protests and riots occurred again on Wednesday with more of the same problems. Thursday things were calmer. We drove around in the morning to try and find a gas station that was open because the pick-up was starting to get low on fuel but everything in our area was closed. I am going to try again today to find an open gas station this morning. President Preval made a speech on Wednesday and I am not sure this has helped but things are not as bad as they were. 17 of the senators have signed a petition asking for the prime minister Alexis to resign. They have given him 24 hours to do this. I think if he doesn’t that there will probably be more protests again. The people don’t understand that the food prices are high all over the world. I don’t know how the government is going to get out of this situation. Pray for the people of Haiti at this time. Schools have been closed since Wednesday and will only open up again when it is safe for children to be walking on the streets. The US Embassy is closed until the situation improves so this prevents us from processing medical visa applications.
Another event happened early this morning. Around 1:30am thieves entered our yard. I heard a couple of noises but couldn’t figure what the sound was. I later found out that they were trying to steal our solar panels on the roof. I heard the dog barking but he wasn’t barking too frantically, just persistently. Dogs on the street were barking as well. I then heard a footstep by my window and jumped out of bed to wake up the guys. We couldn’t turn any of the lights on as the invertor had already died and there was no electricity. We were able to make out people in the yard though and they were 3 in number. The guys went running outside with their machetes and chased them out of the yard but the thieves had already removed 4 solar panels from the roof. From the street the thieves threw rocks back into the yard. We called the police and they came fairly quickly and looked through the yard and then they patrolled the area for a bit but they didn’t find them. One of the thieves left his sandals behind and he had big feet. They were about a size 12. They came over the wall in the same place as the last couple of break-ins. One of the thieves was small. I believe that 2 of them were the same ones who stole my computer but there is not much I can do about it. The police don’t want to proceed against them. Pray for these thieves that their hearts would be changed. I know that God already knows who they are. Pray also that funding can be raised so that we can expense funds to improve our security and also replace the invertor batteries and now repair the solar panel system. It has been a very difficult time funding wise the last few months but God has a plan. I focus on helping the people here in Haiti one person at a time. More doors than ever before have opened for children to get care overseas and donations of food on a regular basis allow us to continue to both feed ourselves and also some hungry people who come to our gates from the community. We at Coram Deo especially sense His protection on us during these difficult times. We work by faith to help those in need and to give them hope in Christ.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good weekend!

Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

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