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MISSIONS IN HAITI
David, Alicia, Davy and Hannah Lloyd
E-mail lloydsinhaiti@msn.com
Greetings in the name of
Jesus!
As you probably know, the past few weeks have been
extremely volatile here in Haiti.
Tension has been building ever since President Jean-Bertrand Aristide
was re-elected in 2000. Aristide lost
popularity because he failed to improve life for Haiti’s poor while his aides
lived lavish lifestyles reportedly fueled by drug trafficking. Aristide fled
the country February 28, when rebels prepared for a final push on the capital
and the United States and France urged him to step down.
Just before Aristide’s departure, violence
here in Port-au-Prince escalated to the point that we became very concerned for
the safety of our children. We decided that it would be best for Alicia, Davy
and Hannah to return to the United States until things cooled down. I remain
here in Port-au-Prince with our 12 Haitian children. By the next day, February
25th, we would not have been able to get to the airport due to
burning roadblocks that were set up all over Port-au-Prince. President
Aristide’s supporters built the roadblocks in an effort to slow the movement of
rebel forces into Port-au-Prince. Aristide’s people also used the roadblocks to
hijack vehicles at gunpoint. Motorists
were robbed of cash, cell phones and anything else of value. In some instances,
the motorist’s vehicles were taken from them. With very few police to contend
with, people were taking justice into their own hands. I stayed inside our
compound here at House of Compassion for several days as news of wholesale
looting, violence and executions on the streets of Port-au-Prince made travel
outside extremely dangerous. To give
you an idea how bad the looting is, even the hospital here in Port-au-Prince
was ransacked!
Through
it all, the Lord kept his hand upon the House of Compassion—Praise his name!
The day after President Aristide left Haiti, peacekeeping forces from the U.S., France, Canada and other nations arrived and things began settling down, but things are still far from normal, even for Haiti. Just today, a crowd of Aristide supporters estimated at more than 10,000 marched on the U.S. Embassy here in Port-au-Prince chanting, “long live Aristide” and “down with George Bush”! Aristide supporters also called President Bush a terrorist. Heavily armed U.S. troops watched from the embassy rooftop as the crowd marched past. So far our Marines have met little or no resistance, but some Aristide supporters are threatening to attack our troops in operations patterned after the guerilla actions that our soldiers face daily in Iraq. Haiti’s future looks very bleak. This country needs a leader who will work hard to help the Haitian people by building schools, creating jobs and cleaning up the drug trafficking and lawlessness. This would allow the Haitian people to build a better life for themselves and their families.
The main purpose of this letter is to let
you know that Missions in Haiti is intact and that our work here is ongoing.
With our Lord’s help, we plan to continue all of our projects including our
church in the provinces just as soon as conditions permit. I am really looking
forward to Alicia, Davy and Hannah’s return, they are planning to come back to
their “adopted home” just as soon as conditions permit and American Airlines
resumes service to Haiti (as of Friday, March 05, American has not resumed
service to PAP).
We received a large number of phone calls
and e-mail letters during the past several days inquiring about this work and
about our safety. We really appreciate your concern for us and we know that a
large number of you have been praying for us and for Haiti. Please don’t
stop praying, the needs here are much greater than ever before. Haiti needs
Jesus more than anything else!
Thanks again for all that you do for us.
Without your prayers and support our work here would be impossible.