Haitian musings...

Have been in Haiti for a week, and beginning to get to grips with things a little. Although every day is different, there is a basic pattern to follow. The days start early – about 5.15AM – with a personal time of prayer and worship. I am finding it hard to find somewhere quiet, but recognise that being left alone is not the object, but being with God is! And God is in other people as well as where I think he should be!

I am trying to read from the Psalms, and then from Joshua and Luke, and was encouraged by a verse from Psalm 4 this morning – “You have put gladness in my heart more than when their grain and wine abound. I will lie down and sleep in peace; for you alone, O Lord, make me lie down in safety.”

I have had moments of anxiety thinking about the earthquake, and what it must have been like to have been trapped like so many of the victims earlier this year. (I am not “good” in confined spaces, or not being able to move) and yet have to realise that with God there is both perfect freedom and a protection that transcends what is offered by anything else in the world.

When Port-au-Prince was damaged in January about 300,000 people were killed, and they are still digging bodies out of the rubble. Though Cap Haitian was largely unaffected by the earthquake this time, the effects have been felt in other ways. Many of the local people had relatives and friends killed, wounded or left homeless. One of the local doctors lost several members of his family, as he came from a village that was near to the epicentre. But the damage to individuals runs deeper. I was talking to a church member whose wife and three daughters now all live in the United States, and are too frightened to return for fear of further earth tremours. He has chosen to live and minister in Haiti, seeing his family only occasionally, when they can find the money to meet.

Cap Haitian was last affected by a major earthquake in 1842 and at that time 5000 were killed, being about 50% of the population. The earthquake rumour-mongers are suggesting that another is due in Cap anytime... Given that the population is now conservatively given at 500,000, and that the streets are narrower than those in Port, and that the standard of building construction is substantially lower it is easy to imagine the possible outcome should a quake of similar magnitude strike...

Stories and rumours abound in this environment – stories condemning one set of rescue teams for being too hasty in amputation, and others wondering when all the promised aid is going to make a difference, and even some convinced that if all the aid given was divided evenly amongst the population, every Haitian would get US$2000, so where is it? The population is inherently religious – with a massive percentage attending church, and yet so quickly can little incidents get out of hand: bottles are thrown, knives are used and gunshot wounds not unusual. Just this week I have been involved in theatre with 1 gunshot injury and one stabbing, (there were more) and we heard how two bystanders were stoned to death in a “mini” riot.

I want to write more about this, but at the moment just can’t get my head around it all.