Coronavirus, or COVID-19, is paralyzing the world. Nation after
nation has been infected to the point that this small-time virus first spotted
in China is now a global pandemic. As of Thursday, March 19, Haiti joined the
ranks of infected. Two confirmed cases of coronavirus prompted President Moise
to follow suit with other infected countries and declare a national state of
emergency. The airports have been shut down to commercial travel; those with
tickets out are uncertain if they’ll be able to leave.
While saddened to hear of corona’s confirmed arrival in
Haiti, I was not surprised. Haiti has been victim to every category of disaster
since her “founding” in 1492. For such a small country, this Caribbean island
is globally famous, or infamous. In Haiti’s past twenty years there have been seven
devastating hurricanes, bouts of deadly flooding and mudslides, and the infamous
earthquake of 2010 followed by the cholera epidemic. Droughts and erosion have
ruined arable land and left farmers empty-handed and the population hungry;
military coups, gang warfare, corrupt politicians and officials (including
aid-workers) have bloodied the streets and absconded with funds. Of the 58 heads
of state, 23 were overthrown. The current president, Jovenel Moise, has been
under fire since his inauguration in January 2017. If able to complete his term,
Moise will be the 12th head of state to do so.
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| street barricade |
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| Protest in Port au Prince, fall 2019 (photo credit: Karen Bultje) |
In just my three years living in Haiti and working at CAP our
community experienced some of these political protests. Police retaliation that
included stones and bottles thrown, bullets fired, and gas canisters released. Gang
warfare and police retaliation. Road barricades of cinderblocks, tree limbs,
and burning tires guarded by armed patrols. Complete country lockdown “peyi
lòk” which closed schools and businesses so money and food became even
scarcer. Resultant cases of severe malnutrition, spread of illnesses and
maladies including parasites, fungus, and fevers. Hurricane Matthew with
flooding and landslides followed by the resultant cholera scare and food
shortage. Burns and wounds from motorcycles or cook fires, festering infection,
and broken bones such as required hospitalization and daily dressing. Severe
asthma attacks and hypertension requiring emergency intervention. Rampant
stomach flu, fevers, conjunctivitis, ringworm and scabies. Malaria, typhoid,
and dengue fever. Infected teeth and abscesses requiring dental work performed
without anesthesia. Surgeries and complications. Stillborn babies born at home.
Sunken-eyed malnourished infants. Misunderstood and untreated physical and
emotional trauma. Abuse, abandonment, and mental illness tearing families apart.
Death and too many funerals.
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| after Hurricane Matthew |
Now that President Moise has declared the state of
emergency, schools will close. Again. Over the past year Haitian schools have
been closed more than they have been open, due mainly to the political
protests. Since January, however, many schools have been successfully
functioning, including our beloved Christian Academy of Petit Gôave. At CAP and
many other mission schools around the country, students not only receive education
but a nutritious meal, clean water, and as-needed health-attention. School is also
the safest and most comfortable space many of the children know. Closing school
means increased hardship for the students and their families, the staff and
their families, and local business owners. And, of course, those of us who love
CAP and all the CAP Family are saddened, wondering why, once again, Haiti never
seems to catch a break. We weep for those children who will be so much hungrier
without their daily school food. These are children without a spacious home to
which they can retreat; they have no furnished bedrooms or living rooms, no
internet, no Netflix, no shelves stacked with books, no kitchen tables set with
crafts, no backyards in which to play. Most of them don’t have indoor
bathrooms, running water, or toilet paper. Soap and clean water may be rare.
Houses are often crowded and everything is shared, including germs mikwob.
While for most of us “quarantine” at home is merely inconvenient, for the
average Haitian it means suffering and possibly endangerment.
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| student's home: cinderblock and tin roof with curtain "door" |
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| student's home: scraps of tin, plywood, mostly tarp; tarp "door" |
This is a strange time. A frightening time.
Some think these are the End Times, that the Apocalypse is
nigh. I don’t know. Even in the strange and frightening book of Revelation
(titled “Apocalypse” in French) God does not reveal when the End Times
will occur. We are not meant to know the exact date of the Last Days, but
rather to be ready always, prepared to face the End at any moment. That’s a
heavy responsibility. One I would fear much more were I not certain my own Last
Day will send me home to Heaven. Regardless, these days are strange:
unpredictable and unforeseen. Before a blizzard we stock up on milk, bread, and
eggs. Before a hurricane we batten down the hatches. Before “Flu Season” we get
our flu shots.
Coronavirus is something new, and new things scare us. But
fear is not fortuitous. Panic is not productive. Hoarding is not helpful. Let
us be rational. Fear is a liar. Do not be ruled by fear. My best advice is to
turn to Jesus, to dust off that old Bible or download a Bible app so you can do
some reading. (You have time now.) Time to read, time to reflect, time to pray.
Although no longer living in Haiti or working at CAP, privileged
to love with my hands and feet, face to face and arm in arm with the gorgeous
children, staff, and Ti Goave community, I still love with my heart and voice. I
still pray. I pray God’s Word back to Him* on behalf of myself, my loved ones,
and the world, thankful that time and distance do not limit Him. Neither does
the size of the problem. And I remember what God has overcome before this.
God has been there through the worst pandemics in history,
including the deadliest Bubonic Plague of the mid 1300s when upwards of 100
million people were killed. He did not permit our annihilation then, and He
will not permit it now. And He is here to give us peace in the face of the
unknown. I do not fear this “pestilence that stalks in the darkness, nor the
plague that destroys at midday” (Psalm 91:6) because God is supreme. He is both
the Creator who designed our bodies and knows the layout of our very atoms, and
He is the Great Physician capable of curing all ills. He is also our Father who
cares for us, knows every hair on our head (Luke 12:7) and values us even more
than the magnificent stars (Psalm 8). Thus I believe God will not allow
coronavirus to destroy us, and He will bring Haiti through this latest crisis
as He has brought her through every crisis since the enslavement and genocide
of her native people beginning in 1492.*
Haiti is not hopeless. Again and again Haitians have risen
from the ashes. They are resilient,
determined, long-suffering. They are inspiring, beautiful, hospitable. Instead
of expecting aid from an unsuccessful government, Haitians have adapted and
developed unique systems of business, healthcare, foster care, and justice. They
are overcomers.
“Overcomer” is a powerful song by Christian artist Mandisa released
in 2013. Inspired mainly by a friend battling breast-cancer, Mandisa wrote the
song to remind us that no matter how seemingly insurmountable the obstacles, or
the pain, we can overcome when God is on our side. The video chronicles the fight
for health of several real people, people who faced fearful circumstances and
did not give up. Their courage was limitless because it came from God. God, who
raises the dead, God who created everything from nothing, God who stays when
everyone else has quit us, gives us power when we ask for it. Gives us courage
and peace. He is still in charge, even though the world seems to have gone
crazy. I have such blessed assurance knowing God is in control so I don’t have
to be. Assurance that melts my fears with the snow and grows my determination with
the Mayflowers. I can overcome depression and anxiety, suicidal darkness and
self-harm; Haiti, and we, can overcome the newest disaster of COVID-19 national
emergency, because God already has overcome all of it.
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| Just a few members of God's beautiful CAP community with and through whom He has done miracles |
*Some of the Bible verses I pray regularly: Psalm 91 and
140; Matthew 6:9-13; John 14:12-14, 27, 21:15-17; Romans 8:28-39; Galatians 6:9-10;
Ephesians 3:14-21, 6:10-18; Philippians 4:6-7; Hebrews 12:1-2, 10-12
*By the year 1592, 100 years after Columbus landed on Hispañola
and Spanish settlers/conquistadors began enslaving the native Taíno
people, there were only 200 natives left on the island. Researchers contest
estimations of the original Taíno population, but there were probably
more than one hundred thousand. Philippe Girard, author of Haiti: The
Tumultuous History—From Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation, estimates
there were originally 500,000.
“Overcomer” by Mandisa music video link
Works Cited
@elizabethjdias, Elizabeth
Dias. “Gabby Giffords and Robin Roberts Star in Top Christian Music Video.” Time,
Time, 11 Sept. 2013,
nation.time.com/2013/09/11/gabby-giffords-and-robin-roberts-star-in-top-christian-music-video/.
Brockell, Gillian. “Here
Are the Indigenous People Christopher Columbus and His Men Could Not
Annihilate.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 14 Oct. 2019,
www.washingtonpost.com/history/2019/10/14/here-are-indigenous-people-christopher-columbus-his-men-could-not-annihilate/.
Charles, Jacqueline. “Haiti
Confirms Coronavirus in Country, Closes Airports to All Commercial Flights.” Miamiherald,
Miami Herald, 20 Mar. 2020,
www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article241362616.html.
Gallagher, James.
“Coronavirus: How Close Are We to a Vaccine or Drug?” BBC News, BBC, 20
Mar. 2020, www.bbc.com/news/health-51665497.
Girard, Philippe R. Haiti
the Tumultuous History: from Pearl of the Caribbean to Broken Nation.
Palgrave Macmillan, 2010.
Heinl, Robert Debs, et al. Written
in Blood: the Story of the Haitian People, 1492-1995. University Press of
America, 2005.
“The History of Natural
Disasters in Haiti - UFondwa-USA, Inc.” UFondwa, 23 Feb. 2018,
ufondwa.org/history-natural-disasters-haiti.
The Holy Bible, New
International Version. Zondervan Bible Publishers, 1984.
LePan, Nicolas. “A Visual
History of Pandemics.” World Economic Forum, 2020,
www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/03/a-visual-history-of-pandemics/.
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Worst Pandemics in History.” MPH Online,
www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/.
