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April 13, 2008 Bon swa from Haiti, Hope this finds folks firm and blessed. If you don't read anything else in this newsletter, please PRAY FOR HAITI. I am writing this with the hope of being able to get to an Internet connection and send this out tomorrow. It will be my first trip out since last Sunday night. Haiti has been chaotic and apocalyptic the last few days. You can get lots more info by Googling Haiti in the news. Until last week many good things had been accomplished here and it seemed that Haiti was on the way to some serious improvement. Many roads and bridges have been built. The kidnapping problem had gone down drastically. We had several teams come and go with great joy. The days of roadblocks, rioting, burning tires, and looting seemed relegated to the past. The main problem has been the soaring prices of everything needed to sustain life here. The hunger problem has been hitting high water marks. There is a LOT of genuine suffering. There have been several areas where people have resorted to eating mud cakes mixed with spices. We have continued our feeding programs but it has been sapping our budget. A new word has been introduced into the Creole vernacular. "Klorox". The word has always been the word for "bleach" in Creole. It is named after the brand we have in America. Now it stands for burning hunger. It speaks of a fire that burns in an empty stomach. As of last Monday, most of the country decided to go on strike. They estimate around 15,000 demonstrators right here in Ti Goave. The gathering was indeed massive and fearful to behold. Roads were blocked in all directions. Burning tire barricades sent black columns of smoke skyward (though the mass of people in the street was enough to shut everything down without the tires). There was some confusion at first. These massive protests are a joining of many groups together. They do not speak with one voice but there is a rage moving through the crowd like electricity. As more and more people gather, it's like watching a hurricane forming. Wondering how bad it will be and where it's going to go. As they began to fuse into one, a savage beast is born, looking for whatever it can devour. It is a hungry beast. To control this huge crowd, there was a pickup truck with 4 or 5 Haitian police on the back. The UN soldiers all stayed in their base about a mile and a half from here. It was proclaimed ahead of time that the "manifestation" would be pacific. As the hoards grew, it became evident that this many people could not come together without trouble. They attacked the mayor's office and chased after anybody daring to be out selling. Schools all had to shut because the rowdier elements of the mob were going around to schools and bombarding them with rocks if they did not send their students out to join the protest. The beast got rowdier. Some folks got the bright idea to blame the high price of food and gas on the Sri Lankan soldiers in their base. Armed with rocks and a few small guns, a chunk of the mob decided to go down and attack the base. Rocks rained like hail on the camp. Finally after much patience the Sri Lankans responded. We were sitting here at the house listening to the fireworks. It went on and on. The mob tried throwing Molotov cocktails over the walls of the camp to set it ablaze.. The massive rounds of bullets we heard were mostly fired into the air to try in vain to disperse the mob. Rocks continued to rain down on the camp. Finally tear gas was fired into the chaos. People began running. It was over for Monday but it was obvious that the mob would be back. The roads to everywhere remained blocked Tuesday morning. Nobody even tried to go to school. Businesses remained closed. The mob was in strong form Tuesday morning. At one point they came down our street chanting and screaming. We had to stay in the house and watch through the windows as they went by. They beast does not take kindly to those who do not come and join it. I looked for faces that I recognized in the flood of people as they passed. There were a few, but once they become part of the beast, they lose their identity at least until the storm passes. We even had to be careful at night to keep down any laughter or sounds of any kind of joy coming out of the Happy House. Should the wrong people be going by at night and here laughter, they would take that as an insult and a sign that we are not yet miserable enough. The air is full of flammable fumes and any little thing could set a spark in our direction. So, Tuesday afternoon, another mob decided to go after the Sri Lankans again. The stupidity of this makes me marvel. I don't know how many soldiers are on the base there, but I've heard around 150 or so. They are well armed. They can call helicopters in for support. They have some big guns. Turns out, that getting some of those big guns was what some in the mob had in mind. Aside from the fact the main weapons of the mob are rocks, rage, and ignorance against all these guns, the fact is that attacking the Sri Lankans has nothing to do with the protest against expensive rice. Around 3:00 Tuesday afternoon, the fireworks started again. Much more than the day before. The mob wanted to storm the base. It was like listening to a war movie. The firing went on and on. Must have been a few hundred rounds. It was like popcorn. We had a house full of kids just listening with fear and amazement. We knew by the amount of bullets that today's attack was worse than the day before. The leaders of the mob wanted some Haitians to be shot and killed by the "foreigners" to help galvanize the people even more. They wanted some "martyrs". The martyrs would not be the planners and leaders of the chaos. They just needed some not too bright folks that were just going out for the amusement and ended up in the wrong place at the wrong time. The attack went on and people were trying to get through the gate of the camp. Finally there was no choice but to stop shooting into the air. The guns were lowered and bullets began piercing flesh instead of tree branches. Amazingly only 5 people were reported wounded. Some very seriously. One ten year old boy was shot. He was shot while trying to take a rifle away from one of the soldiers. After blood was spilled, the mob began coming to it's senses and people began running away from the bullets, (though many had made brave declarations that they were not afraid of bullets). We figured this was a make or break day. If the people felt sorry for the men that had been wounded and decided to rally around them, there would surely be much more chaos and blood the next day. Fortunately, a lot of people were upset that some rogue leaders led an unarmed mob to go pick a fight with an armed military company. Why hadn't they told the kids to leave the battle? What did all this really have to do with the high price of food? What kind of 10 year old kid risks his life to get his hands on automatic weapons? If he's that bad now, what will he be doing when he's 19? These were the type comments that followed. Soon accusations and divisions began to surface in the original mob. Most people began to be outspoken and say that they were not demonstrating against the UN but against the high cost of living. Also they wanted to keep violence out of the protest. Some rogue names were named as the leaders of the group that went to attack the base. Some mob leaders said that they had been "infiltrated" by "vagabonds". There was some fighting between some groups. There are some old and deep political divisions here in Haiti and in Ti Goave. Wednesday, all roads remain blocked and schools closed, but the mob was breaking down. Still some smaller groups here and there. We are only getting a few hours of electricity because they say before long the gas will run out. We only have two gas stations in Ti Goave. They finally opened Sat morning and mobs swarmed for what little gas there was. One of the focuses of the people's rage was the prime minister of the country and he was asked to resign as of Saturday. Also a plan has been put into place to bring down the price of rice by lowering some ridiculous import fees. Saturday and Sunday were mostly calm. The roads are open. I doubt anybody will send their kids to school tomorrow until we see what happens. While I am writing mostly about Ti Goave, there was rioting all over the country. Even places that rarely have political troubles were making the news. There was a lot of curious stuff cloaked in some of the protests. Some 27 gas stations were burned down in PAP. One mob actually tried to attack the Haitian palace earlier in the week. The UN troops fended them off. There have been several deaths and massive amounts of property damage around the country, particularly in PAP. A restaurant that we used to eat at from time to time in PAP was totally ransacked. Several businesses were looted. Some of this was just groups of thieves taking advantage of all the chaos and knowing they could pull off some stuff. The burning of 27 gas stations really has people wondering and talking. There seems to be a conscience effort to destabilize the country. Burning down 27 gas stations does not help bring the price of gas down. Along with all the legitimate protests, there seems to be another force at work. There were a lot of protests that started off about food and ended up targeting the UN and yelling for them to go home. There is no chance at all of the Haitian police being able to keep any kind of law and order without the UN at this point. Last I knew there were about 4,000 police in this country of 8,000,000. They are a relatively new force. If the UN were to really leave, the country would descend into total chaos. Who wants that? That's the million dollar question right now. I don't think it's a force big enough to carry out a coup or they wouldn't have tried to piggy back their objectives with the mobs protesting "lavi che", expensive cost of living. Well, I'm typing all of this and have no idea when I'll get to send this out. There is still a lot of confusion swirling around here. Needless to say it has been very stressful for our sphere of friends and for most of the country. A LOT of people are hurting bad. Even here at the house Francette and Jaklin both seem to be battling with Malaria. We are waiting for test results from the doctor. I'm not feeling real good myself. I would be lying to say this hasn't been a VERY stressful week and we don't know when or how it's going to end. Needless to say I have been finding my comfort in the Lord. When I dwell on the chaos, it's overwhelming. This is some of the worst stuff I've seen in my years here. It all happened so fast. Alfred was just here and went back in peace. After we dropped him off at the airport, we bought some things that we can only get in PAP. We ate at a little restaurant that we like. It's gone now. Some of the stores we used to go to have been burned down.. Manno has a weary look on his face. Reynold is very somber. Edna is taking it all in stride :0) So, please be praying for Haiti. I still have hope. The Lord can definitely bring good out of this mess. How? I can't see the great big picture here, but I have been nothing if not amazed at the way the Lord works things out over and over and I trust Him that He will keep me till my part is done. And I do know this, I do not belong to the beast. My life is hidden with Christ. Some things in the Bible become so much more meaningful while the fire rages around us. We find out what we really believe. I lift UP mine eyes to the hills from whence cometh my help. I want my life to count in the big picture. Everything here is temporary. The grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of our God shall stand forever. To live is Christ, to die is gain. Yes, I take much comfort in these scriptures. Lord willing, I'll get more news out later in the week. Bon Dieu beni nou! fre Ed