The Desolation of Haiti, pt. 1.

The Citadel

Welcome to the beginning of the Haiti mission blog series. To better understand the circumstance of this Island nation you will need a brief history.
The Island of Hispaniola (which Haiti now occupies 1/3 of) was discovered by Columbus in 1492. The native Arawak Indians were exterminated to make way for Spanish settlers within 25 years. In the early 17th century the French established a settlement on the western coast of the island, and in 1697 Spain ceded the west third to France, thus establishing the colony of Haiti.
Forestry and sugar cane, worked on the backs of millions of African slaves soon made Haiti one of the Caribbeans' wealthiest spots. In the late 18th century, Haiti's nearly half million slaves revolted under Toussaint L'ouverture and after many years of bitter fighting ejected the French and became the first black republic to declare it's independence. The date was 1804.

Seaport of Cap Haitian, second largest city in Haiti.

This is the history you will read according to the CIA World Factbook, and most of western history. While it is true, it is not the complete story as known by the Haitian people and the missionaries who work and live among them. Western culture has little room for the supernatural in enlightened thought and so fails to understand the plight of this poorest of nations. In the battle for independence from the French the African Slaves sought an ally, they turned to the idols and demons of Voodoo brought from their native Africa,and the power of the Devil to aid them to victory. To this end a pact was made between the slave population seeking freedom, and the Evil one. The new found country of Haiti would serve the Devil for 200 years in exchange for their release from the tyranny of the French. To seal this deal, 3000 human sacrifices were made at The Citadel (pictured above) on a mountain overlooking Cap Haitian, a northern seaport.
A well maintained street in Cap Haitian.

The Devil delivered. Independence was soon after won, the French were ousted and Haiti began it's two century debt payment to evil and corruption. Since it's establishment as a sovereign nation Haiti has never know peace or prosperity. The influence of spiritual decay is evident in even the heavily guarded and walled compounds of the relatively wealthy as the odor of rotting trash in near 100 degree F. heat wafts by. There are little or no government services of any kind, and other than a precious few mission clinics scattered throughout the country medical care is a scarce and often times a lethal proposition. To put this into some small perspective, Dr. Gavin McClintock of the Bethesda Medical Clinic, (the top rated in the nation) located in the OMS compound where we stayed related a tragic yet common event. A young mother and her dead newborn were found in a small house in town. The infant died on a dirt floor of umbilical hemorrhage shortly after birth. The new mother did not know to tie off the umbilicus, nor did she have the clean scissors and thread to do the job. The sterile kit to do this costs a little under 50 cents US.
Malnourished animals and refuse, breeding disease are a commonplace.

Disease, a harsh and rampant neighbor is born and bred in the open sewer trenches that line the streets next to homes, shops, and marketplaces. Among these are Malaria, carried by mosquitoes breeding in stagnate polluted water that abounds in both city and rural areas due to lack of structural planning. Dengi fever, an often fatal debilitating disease related to Malaria and also carried by mosquitoes, Yellow fever, Tetanus, Typhus, and a great host of parasites and other more common infectious agents. AIDS, is also a factor here. It is estimated by the World Health Organization that possibly 1 in 4 of the nearly 6 million Haitian people are infected, and with little or no education or government program in place to deal with the crisis the forecast for control of further infection is grim.
A typical food market on the roadside.


A main thoroughfare in the City of Cap Haitian.

The average house in Haiti is small. Sometimes constructed of poor grade concrete blocks and salvaged corrugated steel, more often of scrap wood and plastics they are not usually larger than 10 feet by 12 feet, and are with few exceptions without running water, bathrooms, or electricity. At one time as many as 16 adults and children may reside in a domicile, taking turns sleeping in shifts on straw, wood pallets or the dirt floor. In the cities of Cap Haitian and Port-Au Prince structures are built of low grade, iron reinforced concrete blocks, sometimes 4 or 5 stories high. There is no building code, no safety standard, and collapse resulting in death and injury are a consequence. Electric service is sporadic and unreliable. Most people obtain electricity by cutting through the insulation of high voltage lines that are connected to the compounds of the wealthy and the missionaries, and adding their own sometimes uninsulated and usually inadequate gauge wires to get power to their houses and shops. These are hazards for adults as well as children.
Streets are seldom maintained, travel is always precarious.


Without sanitation services, refuse is piled in the streets, sometimes burned.


A bridge over an inlet, waterfront in Haiti is toxic, polluted and a dangerous place to live.

By these images it is easy to see the ravages of poverty, the condition of a society with little or no structure of law and the inevitable downward spiral of the human condition without the hope of redemption. This is the result of evil in it's most simple and pure form. The Devil will always get his due, and the nation of Haiti is the proof.


A vehicle is a luxury most Haitians do not know. The 'Tap-Tap' (so named because when you want to get off you tap the vehicle to alert the driver to stop) is the second most common form of transportation after the foot. There are no seat belts, and loss of limb and life are a very real and frequent risk.

In the year 2004 the debt to the Devil was paid in full. Yet today three years later human sacrifices in Voodoo rituals are not uncommon, almost daily bodies are found mutilated in rural and mountain ritual Voodoo sites. In 2006 the interim president Boniface Alexandre rededicated Haiti as a nation to God. The long recovery of Haiti as a viable country, and the spiritual rebirth of it's people has begun but faces a legion of challenges. The predominant culture of Voodoo infused Catholicism is strongly ingrained in the adult population and in Haiti's cultural history. The restoration of the countryside from deforestation and erosion will take decades, and the sanitation issues of the urban centers will cost millions that the government and some of it's corrupted factions don't care, or don't have to spend. Violent gangs control most of the streets, commerce, and illegal drug trade, holding the rest of the population in fear. Many who see this scenario will close their eyes and feel the hopelessness of a nation of people lost, but the dedicated in Christ Jesus see a fertile field of souls ripe for the harvest. Over the next few weeks and possibly months I will continue to assault your sensibilities, and prod your Christian ethic to pray, feel and consider the soul of Haiti and her people, as well as our own. For all their poverty and disease they are brought closer to the need of Jesus for salvation, something we in our clean and grossly wealthy society place too little importance on past noon on Sunday.

In love in Christ Jesus, Mike.