Hi everyone,

It seems there is a little more to the protests in Haiti than we first thought. Obviously, there are the price increases; no one we know or work with can meet these increases. They are also affecting ministries like ours in how they do day to day business.

But a recent article in Time, written by Ciara Nugent on June 24, says the protests are fueled by a report delivered to the Haitian senate by official auditors that at least 2 billion dollars are missing.

For decades, Haiti has purchased its crude oil from Venezuela. These purchases were made generally on credit, with deferred payments up to 25 years. Haiti uses the oil to operate its generators to produce electricity, which gives you an idea how far behind their infrastructure is.

The money saved buying it on credit rather than on the open market (which they couldn’t afford) was supposed to be used on roads, schools, hospitals, etc. Now it’s missing.

Even though the report came out prior to the new president being elected, Haitians are still blaming him for being a part of it. The protesters say they will not stop until he and others resign.

So…we may be in for a long summer and fall.

Because of the delays experienced from the protests, our school year will end the first of July and certificates will be handed out July 15. This year we have 35 students who have qualified to take the government test to go on to the 7th grade. This tells us two things: (1) the teachers are doing an excellent job with what they have, and (2) the children want to learn.

Those of you who support the schools or help them in any way, like the nutrition programs which are tied to the schools, are directly responsible for the successes of the teachers and children.

On another note, we would like you to remember Beaubrun and his family. His oldest brother died recently, and we aren’t sure how this will affect his mother. The brother lived with her and has taken care of her since their Dad died several years ago.

As always, thank you for helping our friends in Haiti and for your prayers.

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.