Strife in Haiti Complicates Missions; Some Ministries Forced to Pull Out
by Jenni Parker and Allie Martin
March 1, 2004
(AgapePress) - The volatile situation in Haiti has prompted some ministries to pull its staffers and their families out of the war-torn country, while others have elected to keep their people in place for now and continue efforts to assist the Haitian people amid political chaos.On February 29 Haiti's President Jean Bertrand Aristide resigned and sought temporary asylum in the Central African Republic. The United Nations has agreed to send a multinational force to Haiti to help restore order, while troops from Canada, France and the United States were immediately deployed to the region. Boniface Alexandre, Haiti's supreme court chief justice, was installed as the nation's interim president it remains to e seen whether rebel forces will support this new government, even temporarily.
Associated Press reports that missionaries still in Haiti are trying to keep safely away from marauding looters now that the bloody rebellion has driven President Jean-Bertrand Aristide from power. Philip Maher of World Vision is in Haiti's capital of Port-au-Prince.
Maher told AP it has been difficult to get to World Vision's roughly 80 projects, which serve 300,000 needy Haitians. The streets of the capital are blocked by armed men, who provide cover as looters kick in the doors of banks and stores, smashing security gates, attacking and ransacking police stations and government buildings, until the authorities arrive and open fire. In many places dead bodies line the streets.
Mission Aviation Fellowship (MAF) is one of the ministries that has been providing support for missionaries working in the interior of Haiti. Escalating political unrest in the war-torn nation had only recently forced the removal of the pilots' dependents to safety; and since February 28, the remaining MAF staff and aircraft have been evacuated as well.
Denis Fulton, a spokesman for MAF, had told American Family Radio that the ministry would keep its pilots in Haiti for as long as possible. But he also said they would evacuate their pilots "if the situation continues to worsen" since, "We don't want to leave the men in harm's way." The aircraft were ferried to Florida, and MAF is monitoring and re-evaluating the situation in Haiti. MAF's program manager Greg Ryle and regional director Dave Fyock will be working on a plan for re-entry into the country and the resumption of services when the political situation has stabilized.
Fulton says the current crisis in Haiti may force some of the indigenous Christian leadership to move forward more quickly in the process of assuming greater independence. "There are some fantastic Haitian Christian believers there," he says, "and this is an opportunity for them to take another step of growth -- especially as some mission co-workers pull out."
The MAF representative asks believers in the U.S. to pray for their Haitian brothers and sisters, who will have to pick up the slack as foreign missionaries depart. "There's some very capable leadership within the national church," Fulton says. "Just pray that they will be able to be the witness that God will give them the opportunity to be to those around them."
Meanwhile, a worker with Compassion International in Haiti says the recent strife has adversely affected the ministry's programs. Compassion assists more than 30,000 children in this poorest of nations in the Western Hemisphere, where more than 80 percent of the natives live in abject poverty. But sadly, violence and instability in Haiti have forced most of Compassion International's student centers to temporarily shut their doors.
Compassion International's area director, Edouard Lassegue, helps coordinate ministry programs for the area in and around Port-au-Prince, the site of the most intense civil unrest. He says the fighting is sowing terror among the needy children served by the ministry.
The director says the Haitians are caught in a virtual crossfire. "On both ends you are a victim of groups of people who are mad and who do not hesitate to use violence to accomplish their ends. So I would say, overall, fear is how I would characterize the reaction of the children at this point," he says.
But Lassegue says Christians in America can help by praying in specific ways for Haiti. "Pray for the safety of the population," he says. "Second, we are still praying for godly leadership in this country -- people who can stand up with the fear of God. Pray also for the Church, that we may continue to keep our eyes upon God."
Compassion International has worked in Haiti since 1968. Mission Aviation Fellowship has served the missions community and the people of Haiti since 1986. And World Vision recently celebrated 25 years of ministry in the impoverished nation, with three main areas of intervention: long-term development, emergency relief and promoting justice.
