CORAM DEO HAITI UPDATE – DECEMBER 4, 2016
“He shall judge between the nations, and rebuke many people; they shall
beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation
shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.
(Isaiah 2:4)
The preliminary election results
were released early Tuesday morning. Early Monday morning I awoke to the smell
of burning tires on Delmas 31. It was a reminder that an important decision
would be made that day by the CEP election authorities. The people wanted an
answer as to who their new president would be. We had school on Monday. In some
areas of the city there was gunfire. A couple of our students who live in the
Delmas 18 area said that Sunday night there was a lot of gunfire. The streets
were safe enough for them in the morning that they made the trip to come to
school. It shows how much an education
means to them. No results were released during the day but the city was nervous.
Stores and businesses shut down early in anticipation of potential problems.
Night fell and still no news. First we heard the results might be given at
7:00pm and then 8:00pm. By 10:00pm I lost interest in waiting for the news and
went to bed J One
of the presidential candidates brought
some sheets and laid it out on the conference table that was set up for
the CEP press conference. He told the reporters that he would not leave until
the results were given and then laid down on the conference table for a nap J Our neighbourhood was
quiet. Finally the election results were given at midnight. I had a good nights’
sleep without hearing any shooting or smelling burning tires. The Haitian
police were out in force providing security on the streets. Jovenel Moise of
the PHTK party is the new president of Haiti according to the preliminary
results. The other candidates are crying foul and contesting the election
claiming fraud. 10% of all the voting tally sheets were set aside for
irregularities. The country in general is calm but in Port-au-Prince there have
been some problems this week with protests.
We had no school on Tuesday as
people were concerned about protests. In the Lasaline area of the city people
were protesting and there was a heavy police presence. In response to the
burning tires and rock throwing the police were shooting a lot of tear gas.
People were overcome by tear gas and the people say that a baby died from the
effects of the tear gas. Some people were overcome and were carried away.
Mothers and their children evacuated the area and sought shelter in the Cite
Soleil/Rte 9 area. Handicapped people who were not fast enough to run away were
caught up in the police action. A man had a foot injury from a projectile.
During the week the losing political party supporters demonstrated in the
streets and attempted to walk up Delmas to reach Petionville and the CEP
headquarters. Police used tear gas and water cannon to block them at the Delmas
48 area. In anger people smashed windows of vehicles that were caught in the
protest. Pray for peace on the streets and that the people accept Jovenel Moise
as the new president of Haiti. He is known for having established a large
banana plantation and this experience will be needed to help rebuild the
agriculture in the South part of the country.
The situation with gang fighting
caused a sad week for some people that I know. Zulus’ sister was killed in
retribution for the 2 people that Zulu’s brother killed in gang fighting. His
sister was only 18-years-old and a young mother of a 6-month-old child. Now
this young baby will grow up without knowing his mother. His sister was
strangled. The family buried her in the countryside. Now Zulu is trying to get
his mother out of Cite Soleil. Please pray for Zulu’s family. Fighting isn’t
the answer. It is sad that peace is difficult to have here in Haiti.
Joel and Jeff live with their
family in a section of Cite Soleil called Village La Repatriers. On Tuesday
gangs were fighting in the area and 12 people were killed. The hatred and
violence was terrible. Not only did people kill but they also burnt the bodies by
using a tire. Joel came by the house on Friday and things had settled down in
their area. We help the family each week with food and pay the school tuition
for Joel and Jeff. Pray for safety for both of them and for their families. The
place where there is a hand pump well and a gathering place for people became a
place for killing. Pray for the people involved that they see that fighting
doesn’t accomplish anything other than loss of life and hurt.
Adeline was able to go up to
Mirebalais on Tuesday to her appointment for a surgery to remove the protruding
bone from her upper arm. It was so busy at the hospital that they didn’t even
get seen. They stayed the night there and saw a surgeon the next day. He
apologized that they couldn’t do the surgery because of all the accident case
surgeries they needed to do. Adeline was sent home with an appointment to come
back on December 14th. It is frustrating because the bone is still
protruding from her arm and I am worried about infection. We are going to try
this week at Medecins Sans Frontieres to see if they can help her. We don’t
have the financial resources to be able to seek care at other hospitals.
Mirebalais does surgeries for free .Pray that Adeline gets the surgery she
needs to fix her arm bone and that she doesn’t lose her arm.
Jeff, who had the large abscess
on his face had surgery on his face and he goes for wound care every couple of
days to pack the hole in his face as it heals/drains.
Troy Price and Michelet blessed
us with making some window screens for my bedroom. They are mounted on the
outside between the steel bars and the window. Now I can relax at night in my
room and watch some tv without keeping an eye out for flying cockroaches that
come in through the window and sometimes hit my face J We also got a couple of
replacement covers made for the water reservoir and drainage reservoir tanks.
We also did some work in the living room/exercise room/pharmacy improving the
security of the cabinets and repairing a rusty cabinet.
Duct tape is great for quick
fixes! Amos took Kimosabe Jr. (Ford Ranger) to Bernard Mevs Hospital this week
and while he was parked out front a vehicle backed up and broke the cover on
the side mirror. Amos came home with the broken cover and the guys put the
cover back on and taped it in place with duct tape.
We have a small tv set that
wouldn’t turn on anymore. The guys took it apart and found the 2 wires used to
turn on the tv and brought them outside of the television cover. Now we have a
hotwire television set! You just touch the 2 wires together and the tv turns on
J
Our generator is not working
well. The power ebbs and surges and we need to get it fixed. Next week we are
going to get it serviced and hopefully it will be a cheap fix. On Tuesday we
didn’t have any electricity. We usually have electricity from 6:00am to 4:00pm.
The E-power plant said that they had an accident. A tractor trailer backed up
into some equipment damaging the circuits. We rely on our solar panels and the
generator for backup power sources. The invertor batteries will need to be
replaced in the next year. Please pray for funding to be able to buy new
batteries.
The teachers are planning the 2nd
quarter exams for the students. We have 133 students in classes from 1ere AF to
9eme AF. Next week we will start photocopying the exams.
We were blessed this week with 72
cases of Feed My Starving Children Manna packs J
We received a double distribution this month for the months of November and
December. We rented a truck to pick up the food. We are thankful that Love A
Child helps us out each month with food. With this food we can help ourselves
and the community with a nutritious meal J
Please keep the work of Love A Child and Feed My Starving Children in prayer.
They help feed a lot of people here in Haiti in different areas of the country.
I love serving God here in Haiti
and to try and help the Haitian people. The prayer of St. Francis of Assisi is
how I want to serve God.
St. Francis of Assisi Peace Prayer
Lord, make
me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.
Amen.
That is all
the news for today. Have a blessed week J
Karen Bultje,
Coram Deo
For donations please send to:
Mission of T.E.A.R.S,
Suite 504, 50 Gervais Drive,
Toronto, Ontario,
M3C 1Z3
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