On behalf of the Board and Staff of Soaring Unlimited Haiti, I’m thankful to be able to report to you that things have improved at least to some extent in Northern Haiti since earlier in March and throughout most of February 2024.
Sustaining Critical Services
The Soaring Clinic was open pretty much the entire month of March, after closures we experienced in February due to staff being unable to travel from Cap Haitien to the rural area where we operate our medical facilities. There were days when they could not safely navigate around the roadblocks accompanied by violent protesting. But our ever-resilient Soaring Staff always manages to do their best to keep things going! We now routinely serve more than 100 patients daily at our regular clinic.
The Women’s Health & Birth Center has remained open throughout, but at times the Midwife Rotation has had to be adjusted when they could not safely travel in and out, so that we could continue to support women giving birth. One thing’s for sure, babies are born no matter what turmoil my be occurring! We are proud and pleased to have had 140 births in our first year of operation! We did re-up security measures to protect the staff who are on campus 24/7 and especially to protect the facilities—particularly our investment in the new building that Central UMC was so instrumental in funding.
Recent Major Challenges in Haiti
I have finally been able to get funds into the country again as of last week, after several weeks of the banks being closed which prevented our staff from having access to our money wires from the US. We continue to fully financially support our staff, facilities, and programs—and Central’s ongoing missions funding is critical to sustaining this, for which we are so grateful!
Schools also reopened in March after shutdowns in February. And with the re-opening of the banks, we have now been able to pay the Spring tuition for our 64 sponsored students this year, keeping that program on track.
Missionary Flights International had not flown into Haiti from Florida for several weeks earlier in March, but also resumed this past week. For the time being, however, they will be cutting their flight schedule to one time weekly from the regular twice-a-week, as they continue to monitor conditions. We utilize our membership with MFI to ship cargo into Haiti consisting of in-kind donations we receive.
Continuing Concerns in the North
The issues that are still primary concerns in Northern Haiti continue to be access to gasoline and diesel fuel and the high prices when it can be found for purchase on the street, and electricity—I had to send in funds for a back-up manual pump for the water on the medical campus. Yet, we are comparatively fortunate in the North, as much of the rest of the nation—especially in and around the Capital of Port au Prince—remain in chaos due to extreme gang/cartel violence, political upheaval, and lack of food and medical care. The humanitarian crisis in many parts of Haiti is as critically similar to situations we hear much more about in the news, such as in Ukraine or Gaza.
While our staff and property have remained safe and secure—and our facilities largely open—the overall access to healthcare in the country is extremely challenging as has increasingly been the case in recent years. Soaring is part of the Haiti Health Network (HHN), a coalition of clinics, hospitals, and other healthcare services all around the country. As Soaring’s Director, I attend HHN’s twice-monthly Zoom calls with many others like us who are operating medical facilities in-country. Many call in from their locations in the US, and some also participate from on-the-ground in Haiti where they are hunkered down and can give us additional direct insight into what is happening in their areas of the country. Their stories of attacks on medical facilities, staff, and transports—and the impact of that on access to medical care in the areas of the country where there is much greater violence and gang activity—are horrendous. There are many people being injured and killed and property destroyed.
I’ve also been involved with the HHN task force on advocacy, and participated in calls with officials from the UN and the US State Dept. HHN has been a major player for the past few years now in the work to inform and advise officials at the highest levels about the impact of the violent unrest on healthcare in Haiti.
New Level of Political Crisis
The status of the Haitian national government is also still in major flux, with the resignation of the Prime Minister in exile in the Caribbean, the tenuous status of an interim governing council named last week, and the continuing uncertainty of whether UN troops led by Kenya will enter the country.
The latest round of unrest in the North started around the historically politically-charged date in Haiti of Feb. 7, which has been a timeframe focused upon for protesting perennially. The main purpose of protests this year in February was demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Instead, while he did leave the country, his purpose was to visit Kenya and try to finalize the details of the UN plan that has been discussed for nearly two years to send troops led by Kenya to quell the violence being perpetrated by gangs and cartels in Haiti. Apparently, he thought if he achieved that, it would help secure his position. But instead, when he tried to come back into the country, he was not able to do so and ended up in exile in Puerto Rico. He was blocked from flying into the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince, and Soaring’s folks in Cap Haitien were very concerned that major protesting would break out if he tried to enter via the Cap Haitien airport. But he was unable to do so, blocked by the Dominican Republic closing their airspace.
The other Caribbean countries called a Summit Meeting about Haiti which was held in Jamaica last month, and was attended by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as well as representatives from France, Canada, and Brazil. External international pressure was put on the Haiti PM to resign, adding to the internal pressure within Haiti, and he has done so. A governing council is being formed to try and help stabilize the country until elections can be planned and conducted.
Increasing Chaos & Violence in Haiti
And once PM Henry had been out of the country, the whole protest initiative against him in Haiti expanded into another huge further takeover by the cartels, including the huge prison break where they let thousands of gang members out, and the takeover of both the port and the airport in Port-au-Prince. They also stormed the Presidential Palace but were not successful in taking that over. And attacks were rampant including such atrocities as burning down the home of the police chief in the Capital. The biggest fears in Cap Haitien during all that, were that gang members who had been rounded up by the Haiti National Police in Cap and sent to the prison in Port au Prince would return to the North to wreak havoc.
The cartels also tried to break into and take over banks in the Capital, and since that’s where most of the banks are headquartered, they also shut them down in Cap Haitien which is what led to us being unable to get funds into Haiti for more than two weeks. And he skyrocketing fuel prices are the result of the gangs preventing gasoline and diesel from being dispersed around the country in tanker trucks when it comes into the main port in ships at the Capital.
Soaring’s Special Circumstances
Soaring’s In-Country Haitian Director, Hanania Orelus, is married to the Police Chief of Cap Haitien, and this has continued to be a huge benefit to Soaring, as he is able to help Hanania provide us with the most up-to-date and behind-the-scenes security information in Haiti And although my trips to Haiti are fewer and further between the past couple years, when I have gone in (3 times in the past year), they assign me an armed police escort for safety and security. I also now travel in whenever I can with a group and stay with them at the Mont Joli Hotel for security reasons. Soaring gave up our Mission House a year a half ago because no one was ever staying in it anymore. I had just made a trip to Haiti in January of this year, and feel fortunate to have gotten in and out of the country before the unrest began again in February.
As things continue to be fraught in Haiti, we at Soaring covet your prayers for the safety of our staff and their families, the security of our facilities, and for the lives of all Haitians—especially those we serve through our programs and projects. We could not sustain our critical operations—especially amidst such chaos and uncertainty—without key supporters like those of you at Central UMC. Your prayers, encouragement, assistance, and support in the form of time, energy, enthusiasm, talents, and financial gifts, are irreplaceable and I am deeply grateful! You are needed now more than ever in Haiti
~Prayers & Peace,
Pastor Laura
(Photos courtesy of Pastor Laura)
Rebecca Deaton says
May God bless you in your ministry to these good people, too often at the mercy of their circumstances.