It has taken me a while to start this post as I really don't know where to start. As I pulled up this site, it occurred to me that the last post was many months ago and was also during a time of protesting in Haiti. There are several reasons for my silence and it's more than I can explain now. The next question is "Why Post Now?". The answer is that many of you are seeing news reports and hearing of the civil unrest and protesting that has been occurring in Haiti and are wondering about our safely and security.
The short answer is that we are safe and secure in Bonne Fin for now. We have not seen any protests in our local area and the hospital has been operating normally. The biggest impact on us has been the inability to travel freely to Les Cayes for supplies due to road blocks as well as the inability of our hospital staff to travel freely between Port-au-Prince (PAP) and Cavaillon. This is due to the roads being blocked in multiple places and the violent protests in PAP. Because of these issues, we sent a medical work team home early last week and we have canceled our work team and some visitors for this week. The US Embassy in Haiti has raised the Travel Advisory to Level 4 - Do Not Travel to Haiti and we do not plan to have any teams or visitors come until the Travel Advisory is lowered.
There are many news reports out there and most of them overdramatize the political situation. I found one this morning that seems fairly accurate. Here is a link if you would like to learn more about the causes of the current political climate:
Some mission organizations have evacuated missionaries, but at this point, we are comfortable with being here and continuing with our mission work. The hospital and the local community in Bonne Fin have been operating normally with a few shortages. This past weekend, the opposition groups that have been protesting took a rest, the roads opened up some and most people were able to get food and supplies. For now, the local community does not appear to be in desperation and we are very comfortable with being here. If the roadblocks continue and it becomes difficult for the local community to get food and supplies, we could be put in a more difficult situation and we will start to evacuate. We are in contact with Haitian nationals and other missionaries throughout the company and we are working with HarvestCall (our sending organization) leadership to plan and have options if evacuation is needed. Our prayer is that evacuation will not be necessary, but we will not hesitate to keep our family and the other missionaries in Bonne Fin safe.
Today we are hearing varied reports that there are roadblocks again, but overall, most of the reports tell us that traffic is resuming, some stores and gas stations are open and the country appears to be returning to normal. That said, we still consider the situation to be very fluid and we will continue to monitor closely and check in with our contacts throughout Haiti.
As always, your prayers are needed and appreciated.
The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. Nahum 1:7
Komori, praying for you all! May the Lord be with you and give you wisdom and peace!
ReplyDeleteMichelle