Christians in Haiti Worry About Release of Kidnapped Missionaries

By amazon Saturday, November 20, 2021 Comment Edit

How the 17 Christian Aid Ministries captives are eventually freed could elevate the risks faced by local believers and American workers.

As months of routine violence and kidnapping take their toll in Haiti, some residents have resorted to humor.

“The average person lives with fear and trembling,” said Edner Jeanty, executive director of Barnabas Christian Leadership Center in the capital city, Port-au-Prince. “Many joke that the life expectancy of Haitians is now 24 hours, renewed every morning.”

For many, the dark humor hits too close to home—literally. A month after the kidnapping of 17 American and Canadian missionaries drew international attention and scrutiny once again to the Caribbean island nation, little has changed for residents of the greater Port-au-Prince area. A gang-inflicted fuel shortage has made daily life all but impossible. And those who go out face kidnapping and violence, whether directed at them or as bystanders.

Amid the interlocking security and fuel crises, attendance has plummeted at Haitian churches and some congregations have ceased evening services. Recently, a debate broke out after several pastors encouraged attendees to bring machetes with them to church.

“It is a Haitian drama, but in reality, it is a culmination of years of neglect, abuse, and pillage by a small group of national leaders with the complacency of the international community,” said Edouard Lassegue, Compassion International’s vice president of the Latin America and Caribbean region.

“While I do not want to condone these acts of violence, I do not want to see them as isolated events. They are a brutal reaction to decades of abuse,” he said. “These very gangsters were once paid by key individuals from the economic and political sectors of Haitian society, and now these men have turned their guns against ...