Overcomers

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 12^th head of state to do so.

street barricade

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.

 

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.

student's home: cinderblock and tin roof with curtain "door"

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.

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

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8VoUYtx0kw

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/.

Staff. “Outbreak: 10 of the Worst Pandemics in History.” MPH Online, www.mphonline.org/worst-pandemics-in-history/.