Shutdown again

 Here we go again.  Payi lok. Payi femen. Shut down. 

You have all experienced lockdown but this, this is different. 

Payi lok in 2018/19 was all about getting the president to step down, it was about politicians paying members of the public to protest, it was about others taking advantage by setting up road blocks and make a little money to try to feed their family.  It didn't ever work so they (whoever they are) killed the president instead. 

And since then, well since then things have just gotten progressively worse.  Kidnappings are up 300% since July and include a group of Americans and one Canadian kidnapped in Port au Prince now 9 days ago.  I can't stop thinking about the mother of the 5 children kidnapped with her 8 month old baby and 3 year and other kids being held hostage, trying to take care of her children and having no idea what the outcome may be.  Please don't get me wrong their lives are not any more valuable than the lives of the hundreds and hundreds of Haitians who have been kidnapped this year.  I just don't know if any of them have babies involved. 

The fuel crisis has hit an all time low.  Today fuel is extremely scarce and anything anyone can find is only on the black market, its probably got something added to it to make it stretch and the price ranges from $15 - $30 (US) a gallon.  The normal price is $2.50.  Yesterday as we walked to church down the road we saw very very few vehicles on the road.  The church had no diesel for its generator so there was no sound system.  The very few vehicles on the road are charging up to 5 times the normal price to go anywhere.  Hospitals all over the country and are warning that they will have to close if they do not get fuel for generators ASAP.  No electricity means no oxygen concentrators, no surgeries, no emergency C sections, no lights for treating patients after dark and no refrigeration for vaccines and other medicines.  There is no doubt people will lose their lives over the lack of fuel.  

Fuel comes into the country at the Port in the capital city in Port au Prince.  From there is it distributed to petrol stations throughout Haiti.  But in the last few months many of the truck drivers have refused to drive through certain areas without armed police because of gang activity. Today they are on strike, too many of them have been kidnapped or even killed just for doing their job.   There is fuel in the country but the gangs are asking the government for 50million gourdes ($500,000 US)  to let it through. So the whole country is at a standstill waiting to see what will happen. 

Then there is government.  Haiti now has no president but a prime minister who, by the way is being investigated for his role in the assassination of President Moise.  Elections for a new president have been postponed indefinitely.   I will say no more.  

All of this having a massive knock on effect on everything.  The price of food keeps going up and up.  Today schools are closed for who knows how long. The mobile phone service is being affected in some areas as the companies depend on diesel for their generators to function, soon it will start to affect internet service. 

So what is going on today?

Today is the start of payi femen.  Its various unions calling for a strike and asking the population to protest against the fuel crisis, the instability, the insecurity and kidnappings.  Protests are scheduled most of the week and maybe into next week.  We don't know.  But the people of Haiti have many many many reasons to protest. 

Maybe I have said it before, I probably thought it before but Haiti really is a breaking point now.  You can feel the tension, the hopelessness and the desperation.  The other sad thing is what you hear on the news, or what you hear about kidnappings and violence those people are really in the minority ruining the lives of everyday people and destroying the future for their children. 

The issues are complex and complicated and I don't think anybody knows the solution, especially long term. But something which will ease the immediate problem is deliveries of fuel and lots of it. Since we got back in August I have got fuel at the pump once.  All other time someone has had to queue for hours to fill up the tank.  When fuel is delivered many people buy it in cannisters then sell it for double or triple the price.  It has become a business.  So when fuel does come there needs to be a lot of it and it needs to be distributed properly.  

Secondly - the root of all of these current problems is insecurity.  The country is being run by gangs who are controlling what and who goes in and out of the capital city.  People living in Port au Prince where the majority of the kidnappings happen describe leaving their home like a game of Russian roulette, you don't know if you will make it home alive.  

I know many of you are now thinking, what on earth are you doing there?  We live over 100 miles away from where most of the problems are.  Today we are safe at Emmaus, we lived on a walled campus with 24 hour security and most of our electricity comes from solar panels greatly decreasing the need we have for diesel for the generators. We have a freezer full of food which no one else in our community has so we will sit tight, stay at home until well first until we get fuel for the vehicles then when it is safe to go out.  In general we don't go anywhere outside of the clinic and school anyway which are both in the same area.  I stayed home today with the boys as there is no school.  I phoned Dr Rodney who told me we had very very few patients at Bethesda and only staff members who live within walking distance were able to come.  Likely this will be the case for the next few days. 

Emmaus on the other hand, well Emmaus is pretty much functioning as normal apart from some staff members being unable to get here.  Emmaus has a massive advantage because most of our students live here in the dorms.  Many of them stayed for the weekend and others arrived early on Sunday to make sure they could be here for the week.  Bill taught this morning and did have some missing from his class because it is almost impossible to find transportation. This week we have 4 masters classes going on, a lot of the students were able to make it here yesterday and they will stay for the week but for those who didn't Bill, as the IT guy then had to get all 4 teachers connected onto zoom between 11.30 (He was teaching until 11.30) and 12 only to realize Emmaus only has one paid zoom account.  I know it sounds like a simple fix.  Trust me when I say nothing is simple in Haiti.  They got the class done but its needs to be better for tomorrow.  He is currently sitting behind me trying to work out a better system for tomorrow only the internet is being ridiculously slow so its taking a long time. 

Back to the question in point....we returned to Haiti after being away in order to finish up our time here and be able to leave well and that's what we hope to do.  Anyway that's another post. 

Don't be worried about us. 

This post is not about us but about the people of Haiti who cannot see a future, who are trying to feed their children but its seemingly impossible, who are just trying to survive while their country falls apart around them and they have no way out. 

But do pray. 

I can't see that we can do anything else. 

- Pray for fuel to be released and distributed across the country 

- Pray for those currently being held hostage by kidnappers, both Haitians and foreigners. 

- Pray for intervention for the insecurity problem caused by gangs 

- Pray for deliverance for Haiti.