Eva DeHart of For Haiti with Love says, “When I asked Roseline, she said, as far as she’s concerned, it doesn’t seem to make that much difference. The only thing is, nobody’s demanding any paperwork. So she figures once there’s a government in place that want to get all their paperwork back caught up, and she’ll have to do all of that again.”

Gangs

The leadership vacuum means more power for Haiti’s gangs. They have run rampant in the country since President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in July 2021. Canada and the U.S. have both sent armored vehicles to Haiti in an attempt to help the police against the gangs.

Dehart says, “I think everybody in Haiti has their own security. So you have to double down and ensure everybody has fences and gates. You make sure you don’t let anybody in that you don’t know.”

“Cap Hatien, where we work, has a pretty good handle on who they let into the city.”

Haiti also faces a fuel shortage and a cholera outbreak.

For Haiti with Love treats burn victims for free, sharing the love of Jesus with them. You can support this work or learn more here. DeHart says, “The burn supplies for the burn clinic are very expensive, and nobody gives us the pharmaceutical places used to donate. They don’t anymore.”

The header photo shows Haiti’s flag. (Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons)

Christmas party

On Christmas Day, For Haiti with Love brings hundreds of kids together for a party.  Because of the poverty, many Haitians don’t celebrate Christmas, says Eva Dehart, so their party doesn’t interfere with family celebrations. “We get about 500 kids invited to our headquarters and ensure they get a full meal. So they leave with their tummies full, and they each get at least one new gift.”

FHWL staff tells kids that the gifts symbolize God’s gift to us. They take the opportunity to talk about the birth of Jesus, His death and resurrection, and His continuing work in the world.

DeHart says they invite children from the poorest families. “Because they don’t get anything. This is a way to make them feel special. When you’re at the bottom of the poverty list, and you watch everybody else getting all of the benefits of society, so to speak, and your parents are poor, you just get passed over for everything.”

“This is a chance to have a party for those children only. The well-gooders can have their own party.”

Pray many children will experience the love of Jesus through this celebration.

FHWL typically has a fundraiser for the event in August. They weren’t able to hold the dinner this year, but DeHart says, “People sent notes that they missed having the party. They consider it a reunion with people they wouldn’t normally cross paths with otherwise. And with those lovely notes, they went ahead and sent the checks. So we ended up with the same budget for the party we normally have. God is good.”

The header photo shows For Haiti with Love serving Christmas Dinner in Haiti. (Photo courtesy FHWL)

On Jan. 12, 2010, a catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck 15 miles west of Port-au-Prince, the country’s capital.   The disaster affected an estimated three million people and killed hundreds of thousands. Ten years and billions of dollars of aid later, there’s little noticeable improvement.

What happened to the money?

Officers from the Haitian National Police arrive to secure the Justice Palace in Port-au-Prince. A deadly earthquake on 12 January left much of Haiti’s capital in ruins.
14/Jan/2010. Port-au-Prince, Haiti. UN Photo/Logan Abassi. www.un.org/av/photo/

Eva DeHart of For Haiti With Love voices what is a common belief in Haiti. “The major part of the funds that went in to correct those problems were (skimmed) off, and Haiti never got them. So they never had the resources to do the rebuilding.”  She’s quick to add, “That’s not a Haitian government corruption when it comes to the money that was given, and says Haitians blame some of the foundations and NGOs for misappropriation.

Tent cities faded away around the edges, so doesn’t that mean some reconstruction efforts succeeded? DeHart explains that repairs came “…privately, and by mission groups that were already down there working in the area who just doubled up on their fundraising to fix their area of destruction. ”

Landmark buildings like the Notre Dame l’Assomption cathedral and the presidential palace are still in ruins. “What was destroyed, the people who originally had it, if they came up with the funds, it has been fixed. Otherwise, (it) probably never will be.” DeHart went on to say that “Port au Prince will always look like it had a major earthquake. It’s functioning around what it can’t fix.” A quarter-million homes and 30,000 commercial buildings that collapsed or were severely damaged remain shells.

The other side, revealed

2010 earthquake damage
(Photo credit Smithsonian American Art Museum via Flickr/cc)

The rubble stands as a testament to the poverty of the nation, but also the resilience of the people. In the hours after the quake struck, someone organized the evacuation of survivors on buses.   For Haiti With Love runs a burn clinic, among other ministry projects.  DeHart says their ministry team, headquartered in Cap Haitien (in the north) “handled a lot of people who were brought up with injuries.”

Over the next few days, the buses kept coming, but there was no plan to help them in Cap Haitien. “They were in shock from the earthquake, and they had no place to go home. They just brought them up north and let them out and took the buses back down for more people.”

Folks in Cap Haitien rose to meet the need, remembers DeHart. “Some of them had relatives up there. Others just found people who were compassionate enough to take them in.  The ones that were injured, they brought up to the clinic, and we treated them until they were able to function again, and they were off back into the population.”

Gospel seeds planted in Haiti

For Haiti With Love readies supplies. (Photo courtesy For Haiti With Love)

It was one of the bright spots in a story filled with darkness and grief.  Although you might expect that the streets of Cap Haitien were full of homeless survivors, DeHart says that didn’t happen.   Cap Haitien became a healing point in the story. She says that many of those who opened their homes were followers of Christ. “It shows the heart of compassion of even the poorest of the poor, to see a situation where someone has lost their home and absolutely everything; you take what little you’ve got, and you spread it just a little bit thinner, and you make someone comfortable.”

Many anniversary stories focus on Haiti’s recovery failure; others focus on the restoration that began with a cup of cold water in Jesus’ name.   DeHart says those were seeds planted. “It was just a loving setting that kept people from being homeless and gave them hope in a situation where they had just had all hope destroyed.” Keep praying as ministries like For Haiti With Love strive to bring the hope of Christ to Haiti. Pray as they do more with limited funds; in spite of the challenges, pray for wisdom and creativity as they find ways to advance the Gospel. Pray for transformation.

(Photo credit Flickr/CC/UN Photo/Marco Dormino)