Our Lord loves the people of Haiti. Brothers and sisters, please pray for them. The tragic situation of gang warfare, which has been worsening month by month since July 2021 with the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moise, has now reached new levels of chaos, violence, and disarray. 80% of the capital city is now controlled by criminal groups. Schools and businesses are closed. Hospitals are overwhelmed. Police stations have been torched and the police are desperate for help.

On March 2, the gangs stormed two of the largest prisons, freeing 4,000 criminals, and two days later, they attacked the airport, suspending all flights in and out. Currently there is no functioning government. Prime Minister Ariel Henry has been in Kenya negotiating the deployment of 1000 peacekeepers. On March 5, his flight home was diverted to Puerto Rico as all flights had been suspended. Now he has been shut out of the country. The gangs want Henry gone and tried to assassinate him in January. Over the night of March 9, the US military airlifted nonessential embassy staff out of the country in an overnight evacuation.

From Suzanne and Gerry McCord, who are in close contact with our brothers and sisters on the island of La Gonâve, where our sister church, St. Jean-Baptiste, is located:

While the Lord has protected the island from the day-to-day violence and chaos on the mainland, the most recent violence continues to impact the lack of or extremely high cost for all basic supplies needed by our church communities on La Gonâve. For example, it costs $25.00+ per gallon of gas if you can find it. Gasoline is needed for transportation as well as generators since the electricity is often off.

Some of our friends from La Gonâve are now living on the mainland. Below is a prayer request I received last week from a priest-in-charge of a church and school in Port-au-Prince. He has a wife and a young daughter.

‘Please, pray for the Haitian people, for them to be calm, for some people can’t find their families. Many people lost their houses and left their neighborhoods. Some sleep in the streets in the rain. Pregnant women and infants are not spared. More than 40 police stations, schools and hospitals are burned. Right now, I have parents, students and staff at my school who are struggling. They are orphans, and call me––I am helpless. Pray that God will speak a word for us, so that the violence, the murder, the rape, the killing, this war can stop. Poverty is increasing. Pray for us and the rest will come from all people with good hearts and good will to help this portion of God’s people. Pray for us.’

Prayers and extra financial support are needed. Donations can be sent to Suzanne and Gerry McCord at 742 Lakenheath Dr., Mt Pleasant, SC 29464, with checks made out to Haitian Island Ministries.