Category: News (Page 41 of 100)

Hi everyone,

I guess we have come full circle in Haiti – things get bad, the U.N. comes in, things settle down – the U.N. leaves, things get bad again. All because of politics. This has been a continuing cycle for the nearly 25 years we have been working there.

Haiti has almost always had to borrow money from other countries or the World Monetary Fund to function. Almost everything they have needs to be imported: rice, gas, diesel, cars, food, lumber … everything you can think of. As a result, the cost is much higher than we pay
here.

Their government has always needed to subsidize those things to make them affordable, or more affordable. The new government wants to drop those subsidies; as a result, things like cooking oil went up to $11 a gallon, not to mention $6 a gallon gas. In doing that, the government saves the money spent on the subsidies and can use it on other projects the country needs.

But the people aren’t having it, and if you make just $3 a day – on average – I guess we can understand why there are protests in the streets. You can see both sides of the argument, but it seems there could be a different way to go about it … by both sides.

Every day the Embassy sends out security alerts about where its safe to go or not safe to go. Most of the unsafe areas are strategic spots, so any roadblock will shut everything down. If you are going out of town, you may get out, but then may not be able to get back home and vice-versa.

Unfortunately, this also affects things like the schools and nutrition programs of every ministry in Haiti. The schools close to keep the school kids off the streets, and the rising cost affects the programs. The budgets prepared a year ago do not reflect today’s higher prices.

Normally school would end the second week of June, but who knows this year? They may not get much of a summer vacation. Since only one of our schools is in town, those in villages north of Port Au Prince are not often affected by protests. But the price increases are country-wide and affect everyone.

With June comes the start of hurricane season so let’s pray at least this is a quiet season. Thank you for helping our friends there and keeping them in your prayers.

Things are pretty much the same as they were in Haiti — bad timing for Easter, as far as the food goes. The Easter meal is a big deal if they can afford it. Haitians never eat meat on Good Friday and that’s a tradition for Catholics and Protestants alike. If they can afford it, they eat fish, not only because “it’s good for you.” There is a old Haitian belief that if you eat meat on Good Friday it will turn to blood, a belief linked to the fact Jesus bled and died on Good Friday.

This year, the the price increases in food and cooking needs affected areas where we work much more than the bigger cities like Port Au Prince. In the rural areas people get by on what they have or by bartering, which is big in Haiti. Thanks in part to our last letter, several on you donated more than usual, and some who give once a year gave more. That helped with everything in our programs; all the extra went to keep the nutrition programs operating.

One other Haitian custom is Rara bands. These are groups of men dressed in colorful clothing and costumes who march through the streets playing from Good Friday through Easter. I can remember hearing my first one – had no clue what it was except a whole lot of noise coming down the street towards where I was. I peeked out a window until I saw it was a band, then couldn’t get close enough quick enough.

Easter is also the time when most schools, including ours, have their spring break. That usually lasts 2 weeks unless something else happens to delay the start, such as the continuing political problems.

May brings us Mother’s Day in Haiti as well as the U.S. In Haiti, it’s always the last Sunday in May, but they call it Mother’s Day month, and always have a special service in church for the Moms. They also have the tradition to wear a flower to honor your Mother – red if she is living and either purple or white to honor a Mother that has passed.

We appreciate everyone for helping offset the increases we have seen this year and for all your prayers. We hope you had a great Easter (it was 80 and sunny in St. Louis) and hope all the Moms have a great Mother’s Day.