“People are afraid to leave their houses, even to go shopping for food and other essentials. Add in the devastation from earthquakes and frequent hurricanes, which in turn spawns landslides from the water rushing down the mountains, and the people are left in a constant state of despair.”
Where is this disaster-wracked place of suffering? It is the Caribbean nation of Haiti, which is in effect run by violent gangs. The government has collapsed and neither police nor army seem able to intervene.
The gangs murder, rape and kidnap on a vast scale. A growing feature is the kidnapping of church leaders and of Christians found in church buildings. On 12 February, three Christians were kidnapped from Sunday worship at First Baptist Church in Port-au-Prince, the capital. This came just five days after the abduction of a church minister.
Haitian Christians worship in the open air after a terrible earthquake in 2010 – just one of the many humanitarian disasters that have afflicted Haiti
A health and hunger emergency
Almost half the population face acute hunger. Safe drinking water is desperately scarce. If you dig a well in overcrowded Port-au-Prince, the contaminated soil makes its water dangerous.
A cholera outbreak which began in October last year has infected 13,000 people and killed more than 450. Medical services are scarce because the gangs make it difficult for clinics and hospitals to function.
A Christian channel for your gifts
If you would like to help, Barnabas Aid can channel your gift through local churches and Christian ministries on the ground in Haiti. Our project partners in the US fly supplies to Haiti, landing at remote airstrips, where local Christians quickly collect the items for onward distribution. This is more costly than sending by ship, but necessary because the sea-ports are controlled by gangs.
A dirt landing strip in Haiti, where planes can bring in supplies of food and medical aid without gangs seizing it
Your gift could purchase tinned foods, dried potato fortified with nutrients, wheelchairs, crutches, nebulisers and inhalers, bandages, sterile wipes, antiseptic creams or other medical supplies.
It could also be used to buy aviation fuel, pay for customs clearance or buy rice within Haiti for distribution through the churches.
If the Lord leads, you, please give. Above all pray for this desperate country, forgotten by the international media. Pray that Haiti’s many Christians will be a source of hope and peace.
