HISTORY of HAITI

Capital:  Port-au-Prince

Currency:  Haitian gourde 

Language:  French Language, Haitian Creole French Language

Government:  Unitary state, Semi-presidential system, Republic

Religion: Roman Catholic 80%, Protestant 16% (Baptist 10%, Pentecostal 4%, Adventist 1%, other 1%), none 1%, other 3% (Islam, Bahá'í Faith, Judaism).

Relational Comparison

	Haiti	Colorado
Population	10.17 Million	5.18 Million
Life expectancy	62.06 years	79.92 years

Haiti occupies the western three-eighths of the island Hispaniola.  For most of the country’s history its Haitian people have struggled.  The country has had stretches of devastation and its current conditions are among the worst it has experienced.  The severe poverty and civil unrest that oppresses the country today culminates from decades of governmental corruption and environmental disasters.

            Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere that has won its independence by a successful slavery revolt—in 1804.  Its freedom was gained by true unity and a common vision for a free people, but long after, the country would continue to suffer from violent control by a succession of dictators.  Within the past 200 years the country has undergone 32 different coups of which are forceful overthrows of the government.  The most recent revolt was in 2004 and the result of the revolt was the exile of their ruthless president Aristide.  Their current president and prime minister have been in office since their 2011 election.

            Among Haiti’s governmental struggles, the country and its people have been severely damaged by hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes.  In 2004, the north coast of Haiti was brushed by a hurricane leaving 3,006 dead from the resulting flooding and mudslides.  In 2008, Haiti was hit by one tropical storm and three hurricanes all of which amounted to 331 dead and 800,000 in need of humanitarian need.  In 2010, a 7.0 magnitude earthquake shook Haiti leaving tens of thousands dead and roughly 1.6 million homeless; approximately the same population as the city of Denver, Colorado Springs, Aurora, Fort Collins, and Lakewood combined.

            The devastation from both inside and outside Haiti has led to the country’s current standing in the corruption perceptions index, positioned in the bottom 20 most corrupt nations in the world (an improvement from their 2006 ranking of last).  This current state of poverty and corruption brings people to a loss of words.  In Haiti 78% of the citizens are below the poverty line, receiving $2 or less a day.  This has forced many families in the country to give their children to the wealthy, foremost the wealthiest 1% who receive 47.8% of the nations income.  This is when a Haitian child becomes as a “child domestic worker”.  The poverty stricken parents give their children away in hopes that they will be taken care of and given an education.  In this process, many Haitian children are not given pay or education and become victims of abuse, both physically and sexually, instead.  The wealthier few are the ones with the ultimate say in this process and 80% of the children that become domestic workers are female.  The United Nations considers this a “modern-day form of slavery.”

            Where there is ruin, like in Haiti, the world becomes hopeless and when there is no hope, there will be no action.  Faced with this outlook, one must focus beyond the temporal physical state and seek for hope in the eternal spiritual state.  From a spiritual starting point one will find true hope and true life that goes beyond the present and beyond this world.  The only way to walk by that of which is unseen requires faith.  The faith in Haiti is accordingly predominantly Roman Catholic—although such a faith is proclaimed, is it lived? Do they just confess it because it is what their country knows, or do they truly believe in it so much so that they would die for it?  More recently, within the past decade, there has been a growing following of Voodoo, a practice comprised of traditional elements from Africa, Europe, and the Taino Indians.  This is not just practiced by those who do not confess a religion but it is also practiced by those who do.

No matter where we would go in the world, we will find a variety of beliefs, as is the case in Haiti, but not to the same level of physical poverty that we find in Haiti.  It is a place of much frustration and confusion because of their current state.  Furthermore, what we must recognize is that we are all human; no matter where we go, we will encounter much physical struggle—we will either seek for a hope in something eternal or rebel making our hearts even harder.  It is evident to many of the Haitian people that no hope can be found in the world.  What we find in Haiti is a great physical struggle; those who keep their faith in the face of opposition will have an incontrovertible truth written upon their hearts. 

May those who are EPIC offer themselves up as living sacrifices before, during, and after our trip to Haiti.  May we offer a hope, share in a true joy, and embody an unfelt peace that only comes from the Father in Heaven. The Father whose face we have seen in our merciful savior, Jesus Christ.  While in Haiti we will visit orphans and widows in their afflictions and all else who desire true healing.  We will clothe them and feed them. To those who are and will be called by the Father’s voice, will be clothed in righteousness and fed by every word that proceeds from God.

The world is for those who desire to have it but the Father is for those who don’t belong to it.