As the pickup truck with Benson and 3 others of the RMI staff pulled up to
the roadblock a couple of hours from the RMI office it was evident that they
were not going to get to the sister churches they had planned on visiting that
day. There was a large crowd at the front of the long line of
vehicles and trucks that had been blocked from continuing on their
way. It was evident this roadblock had been started early that
morning. The rocks and tree trunks across the road were very
effective. After a while, Benson decided that it was time to turn
around and head back home. He knew he was not going any further
today.
That
was 10 months ago. That was the beginning of the political issues
that have continued to plague Haiti since that time. Ever since then
the political situation has been getting, as they say in Haiti, “hotter and
hotter”. Roadblocks, political demonstrations, and more have become
the norm for the country, even more so the last several months. This
has caused great turmoil, strife, and suffering all over Haiti. No
community has been unaffected.
The
roadblocks and demonstrations have caused a shutdown in business as deliveries
cannot be made especially out into the country
areas. Businesses are being shut down all over Haiti as
employees cannot get to work, factories cannot get their contracts produced
resulting in lost business, amid many other issues. Fuel has become
a major issue as delivery trucks cannot deliver fuel anywhere. Gas
stations are out of fuel or are simply not open due to the potential for
violence. The lack of fuel has become a huge issue all over Haiti at
this time and is, ironically, causing even more demonstrations, which is making
the shortages even worse. Electricity is non-existent.
Since
February, these issues have caused most mission organizations in Haiti to have
to cancel their teams. This has meant that several hundred teams
that would have been all over Haiti, including RMI’s teams, were not able to
help, encourage, and engage with the Haitian people. The hundreds of
thousands of dollars of aid and funding that would have helped all those local
economies were lost or delayed. The Gospel that would have been
preached by these teams hand in hand with our Haitian brothers and sisters was
lost. Many organizations are facing grave financial losses that
could result in the layoff of hundreds of staff around the
country. All this has dramatically affected the Haitian churches and
their communities in negative ways.
The
lack of travel, deliveries, and the shutdown of all basic services is producing
a humanitarian crisis. The UN last week stated that 38% of the
entire population of Haiti is experiencing food scarcity. This is
official speak for “hunger or extreme hunger”. So many all over
Haiti have not been able to make money, get their goods to market, or just have
run out of food with no idea as to when it will be available. This
is the same in South Haiti. Not only is the scarcity an issue, but the cost in
many areas for the food available has risen by 500% or more. So many
of our Haitian churches are sharing that there is great hunger in their areas,
especially in the far rural areas being the worst off.
Not
only are these issues impacting the Haitians in so many dreadful ways, but RMI
has also suffered a huge impact as well. The greatest impact has
been the 22 canceled teams that have not been able to engage with their
brothers and sisters in Christ, to encourage them, or participate in sharing the
Gospel together into their community. The loss of relationship is
one of the great ministry losses of this year.
RMI
Haiti's office is open as much as possible as long as it is safe to do
so. They are taking a number of measures to keep our staff and properties
safe as well. Ministry is hampered but the safety of everyone is our top
priority. The missionary families are feeling good about continuing to
stay where they are. Occasionally they're able to get to town to
replenish their food and household needs and they often work from home.
Hope
for Kidz schools haven't been exempt from the impacts of the political
unrest. Schools have been forced to close on days when protesters are
active in the area. The safety and advancement of our students are
critical to all of us. Therefore, we continue to monitor the schools for
attendance and lesson scheduling as often as possible and when it is safe for
our staff to travel into the affected areas.
Churches,
principals and parents are rising up to voice their desire to see schools
remain open and affected students are doing their best to stay current with
their studies. Schools are working to make up lost days. It's
encouraging that so much of the population is pressing for peace so that
schools can remain open.
The
general Haitian population is getting very tired of being kept at home, away
from work and school. As we said, parents want their kids back in
school! Many are venturing out to try to live some semblance of normal
life. There are glimpses of light as stores open, and fuel is able to
make its way out to Cayes and to the mission center. These are good
signs, ones that we pray continues.
Pray
for the financial provision for RMI. The loss of teams also means the
loss of one of the main sources of income for our Haiti Operational
Budget. We rely on those funds for our staff salaries as well as many
other things in the day-to-day operations of the ministry.
RMI
just happens to be in the middle of our annual food drive with our boxes of 216
prepared meals at the lowest cost of the year. Pray that our US
churches can use this to provide for the needy in their Haitian partner
communities.
Beyond
praying for the financial provision for RMI, please pray for the political
situation. Without getting into a lot of detail, the opposition
wants the President to resign, and the President so far is not interested in
that option. There is beginning to be more international pressure to
get this resolved but so far there are no good options. Our
prayer is that this will get resolved by the middle of December so we can
assure our Spring teams all is well and they will be able to get to embrace
their brothers and sisters in their partner churches. Also, pray for
the “food scarcity” issues being suffered by so many in south
Haiti. Thank you for your love and care for your Haitian brothers
and sisters as well as RMI’s staff and ministries.
