Stuart Leiderman leiderman@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: leiderma fwd: fleeing haiti: a look through missionaries'
glasses, or when compassion is conditional
Worth reading from today, story of an ambitious foreign outpost in the
southern peninsula, and its Canadian missionaries' struggle against
lawlessness, infrastructure, corruption and "voodoo." Will they see the
"bois" from the trees? Who saved who? "We continune to move forward
with the vision...God has given us."
https://www.haitiarise.org/ourstory
= = = = = = =
https://www.yorktonthisweek.com/regional-news/missionary-couple-from-weyburn-airlifted-out-of-haiti-1.23999943
Missionary couple from Weyburn airlifted out of Haiti
Greg Nikkel / Weyburn Review
November 7, 2019 07:27 AM
For the second time in less than a year, Weyburn couple Wade and Marilyn
Fitzpatrick were forced to flee the island nation of Haiti, due to the
level of anarchy and violence which has made it unsafe for them to
continue ministering there any longer.
The couple work for the mission Haiti Arise for six months of the year
at their compound, which is located in the town of Grand Goave, located
65 km west of Port-au-Prince, the capital city.
They had been forced to leave in mid-February over the violent protests
against President Jovenel Moise, and they had to leave again for the
same reasons, with the situation deteriorating badly in recent weeks,
after spending about a month at their compound working on various
projects.
“We got to Port-au-Prince airport on Sept. 26, and found nobody could
pick us up because the roads were blocked,” explained Wade in an
interview on Sunday, noting there is really only one main highway that
runs through Haiti.
Besides the Fitzpatricks, there was also a family of six who had planned
to spend a year as a family working with Haiti Arise, with a medical
team scheduled to come in on Oct. 1. The group hunkered down in a hotel
for three days as they tried to figure out how to get to Grand Goave,
and they arranged for a community ambulance to come get them as at that
time ambulances could still get through the roadblocks.
In “normal” times, the 65-km trip would take about two to three
hours, depending on traffic, but with the roadblocks and piles of
burning tires, “it’s dangerous. We were in a bad spot.”
The ambulance came and gave the group a ride, but with wires on many of
the roads, the differential in the ambulance was damaged and leaking
fluids, and they had to stop and search for fluids so the ambulance
could keep going.
The group was eventually able to make it to their compound, but found
that most everything was shut down, including all of the schools. This
included their own schools, although their medical clinic was able to
continue operating.
With the unrest and uncertainty over everything, the medical teams
scheduled to come in were cancelled, along with two general teams that
were to travel in. This was a big blow to Haiti Arise, as these teams
often are able to bring in many supplies from Canada and the U.S. that
can’t be readily or cheaply bought in Haiti, including medical
supplies.
“We started stockpiling diesel, because if you run out of diesel, you
can’t operate anything,” said Wade, noting that he and Marilyn
worked on projects around the compound that needed doing, and they did
this for about three weeks.
The mission’s administrator then told them they really should leave
Haiti for their own safety, while they still could leave.
They began to make arrangements to hire a helicopter, since there was no
overland way to get to the airport, but the lines for the Internet were
cut around this time, making communications difficult. The arrangements
for a helicopter involved contacting their office in the U.S. and
ensuring payment got to them before the helicopter could come get them.
It took eight days to finalize this arrangement, but eventually they
were able to get out, but not before Marilyn and the mother of the
family both contracted typhoid. Marilyn’s case was not as severe, and
with antibiotics that were on hand at the medical clinic, she recovered
from this infection in about a week’s time.
The family of six, meanwhile, are still in Fort Lauderdale, Flo., where
the mother is in hospital recovering from her case of typhoid.
The anger in the streets has continued to mount against the president,
said Wade, but he said recently he refuses to leave office as he still
has two years left in his term. Meantime, many people are starving and
are dying, and the streets are getting more and more dangerous as people
get more desperate.
“The feeling in Haiti has completely changed. It’s not just the
protests, there’s a growing sense of lawlessness there. Someone could
block a bridge or a road to get money from people, and the police are
powerless to stop it,” he said, noting there are gangs involved in the
lawless behaviour also.
At Haiti Arise, some of the Haitian-run aspects of the ministry are
still going, such as the church and the work of rescuing children and
keeping them safe, although construction projects are on hold due to an
inability to secure supplies.
“This is a spiritual deal, in my view. There’s deep corruption, and
voodoo is very deeply entrenched. In the midst of that, evangelical
churches are doing quite well, and they’re being driven to pray,”
said Wade, adding that people’s small businesses are having to close
because they have no way of getting supplies any more.
The Fitzpatricks don’t know when or if they will be able to return to
work with Haiti Arise, as it all depends how the country pulls out of
this situation. Wade commented that it may come to a point where they
will have to look for other work to do elsewhere.
YORKTON THIS WEEK
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