“The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.” Psalm 103:6
Hi! This past week was a busy week in Haiti for international politicians. On Monday March 9th, the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki-Moon and Bill Clinton arrived at the airport. Along Airport Road there were protesting people hoping to catch a glimpse of them. There were a lot of signs saying different things. One sign started out as “Aba Satan” which is translated in English as “down with Satan”. I don’t know whom the people identified as being Satan but the sign also mentioned a request for agricultural programs for the “paysans” (peasants). A lot of people were Lavalas supporters who wanted these politicians to help bring Aristide back to Haiti. There was a common sign and chant mentioned by these people. “Ban Ki-Moon, Ban Aristide”. Ban Ki-Moon pronounced phonetically is the Creole expression for “Give who?” “Ban Aristide” means “Give Aristide”. The people were asking the UN leader and Bill Clinton to bring back Aristide to Haiti. Circulation on airport road was difficult during the time leading up to the arrival of these politicians but afterwards things became normal. They left the next day and then the team from the UN Security Council arrived for a visit of a few days. On Friday afternoon I picked up Gordon Lewis, who is the director of Mission of T.E.A.R.S. and Andy who is from Virginia at the airport. Gordon was here in Haiti to meet with me and orphanages that Mission of T.E.A.R.S. works or may work with. On Sunday afternoon we were driving on Delmas and there was a procession of Canadian Embassy vehicles being escorted by the Haitian police and followed behind by the UN heading to the Canadian Embassy, which is located on the Delmas road. Beverley Oda, who is the Minister of International Coooperation, was in this procession of diplomatic vehicles. She is here from March 15th to the 18th. She will be meeting with Haitian government officials and development partners as a lead-up to the upcoming International Donor’s Conference on Haiti to be held in April. Canada has provided a lot of assistance to Haiti in the past.
It would be good if assistance could be provided to dredging and rebuilding the large drainage canal that runs through Cite Soleil. The section from Airport Road to Rte. Nationale #1 is made of cement and is open and drains clear. Once this canal reaches Cite Soleil though the canal is full and is not constructed of cement but just a channel dug in the dirt. We had a heavy rain downpour Saturday evening. All the rainwater drains through the cement canal and then overflows once it reaches the canal in Cite Soleil. The people living in the Ti-Ayiti section of Cite Soleil had to flee to higher ground. They live next to this plugged canal. 2 children didn’t make it and died. We met with one of the families when we were in Cite Soleil on Sunday afternoon. The mother was sitting on the floor of a tin hut. Talking with her I found out that she is a Christian and is an active church member. This faith is giving her strength now. The uncle explained that everyone was scrambling to move the children away from the running waters but somehow her 2 ½ year old girl was forgotten. One family member assumed the other had taken her. The uncle took a photo out of his wallet showing this girl dressed in her Sunday best. Ti-Ayiti is located at the back of Cite Soleil on the shoreline. The family could not find her body. She was probably washed out to sea. I assured the mother that her daughter is not lost. She is now with the Lord in heaven and as a Christian she will be seeing her daughter again. The family of the other mother who lost her child to the waters sent the mother out to the countryside to be with other family members. The people living in Ti-Ayiti don’t want to live where they are but they have nowhere else to go and are surviving by keeping an eye out for the rains. When the rains come they need to seek shelter in another area until they stop. Pray that one of the development projects being planned and decided will be repairing and improving the canal running through Cite Soleil to the sea. Pray for the people of Ti-Ayiti who need to keep an eye open for the overflowing canal every time there is a heavy rainstorm.
On Monday, Gordon hosted a meeting here at Coram Deo with other missionaries who work with handicapped children and also with the directors of Christian Horizons. This is the first visit of Christian Horizons to Haiti and they are doing an exploratory visit to determine how they can best serve here in Haiti. They are a large mission that works in several countries serving the needs of the handicapped. Pray for their efforts as they discuss and hopefully establish a project here in Haiti. Both Gordon and Andy and the people from Christian Horizons departed this morning.
A military hospital ship from the American Navy, USNS Comfort will be coming to Haiti in April to do operations. We sent in several applications of people who are on our medical search list to the Ministry of Health. They will forward 500 cases to the hospital ship and then surgeons will pick the surgical candidates. Pray for the preparations that are taking place.
Sheri of Christian Light Ministries has a young girl from Gonaives living in her orphanage. She has found medical care for her at a Shriners Hospital in the United States. We are helping out with the paperwork. We are trying to get her “extrait archives” from the archives. In Haiti the birth certificate needs to be followed by this extract in order to be considered legal. The archives are having trouble in giving us this extract because they are having trouble locating the register. Pray the extract will be done and we can then apply for a passport for her.
The people of Paulna’s village did a good thing this past week. An 8-year-old boy was kidnapped in Mariani and the kidnapper brought him out to the village of Bonnett. The kidnapper went to the “hougan” (witchdoctor) and asked him to house the child until a ransom is paid. The “hougan” asked to be paid a large sum of money to do this. Maybe the kidnapper didn’t want to give him much money because the witchdoctor then announced to the people that there was a kidnapper amongst them. The people held onto the kidnapper until the police came and the boy ended up back with his family the same day he was kidnapped. This all happened near the house of an aunt of Paulna’s. It’s good to hear about happy endings!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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