As many of you are aware, we've had some challenges in the Bonne Fin area in recent weeks. Joan & I have been communicating updates on the situation with our family & friends using various other methods, but we feel like it may be simplest to just use our blog as a central location for future updates.
I'll give just a quick update regarding the issues that we're facing here in the past couple weeks as some of you may not be aware. In recent months, things at the hospital were going quite well. We've been blessed with good collaboration with our workforce and have seen our patient counts steadily increase. As I look back on the recent months, I'm grateful for the gains that we've made and thankful for a smooth stretch of sailing!
A couple weeks ago, that smooth stretch of water ended and we hit some rough seas. Some members of the local community started setting up road blocks and "demonstrating." Unfortunately, this is not that uncommon here in Haiti and it's often done when Haitians have major disagreements or anger over political issues or people. It seems that most of the time, these roadblocks occur due to disagreements between the Haitian people and the government. In this instance, the demonstrations were directed at the hospital.
Initially, we were unaware of the reason for roadblocks, but we soon found out the reasons for the manifestations: electricity for the community, jobs at the hospital, and problems related to specific Haitians in leadership roles at the hospital.
There have been several meetings recently between us, government leaders, and representatives from the community (the people blocking the roads). The most recent meeting took place yesterday (Friday) & involved all of the key parties: hospital admin, govt. leaders, MEBSH leadership and representatives from the community. There were some positives that came from the meeting. The governmental officials and MEBSH leadership were supportive of the hospital admin. and were reasonable. All of the governmental officials spoke in support of finding solutions in a peaceful manner (ie. without manifestations.) Yet, at the end of the day, we didn't make as much progress as we would've liked and the plan of action was less than ideal. There were several from the community that "tainted" the meeting with false statements and strong emotions. Unfortunate!
One specific person targeted by the community is our Haitian HR manager. He returned to work yesterday for the first time in 2 weeks. He was met with some resistance from the community and it didn't go as smooth as we had hoped. He's a key employee and kind of my right hand man. Much of the focus has been on him during the past few weeks simply due to the fact that he's Haitian and not American. He's getting blamed for issues and decisions that were not his. So, please pray for him. His name is Jean Pheguens Pierre.
We know that many of you have been praying specifically for us and this mission in recent days. Those prayers have been felt and we humbly ask that you continue to support us in prayer. It's a great encouragement for me to picture specific people on their knees praying to our creator God to walk with us through these challenges.
Some specific prayer requests that come to mind include:
1. Continue to pray for a peaceful & reasonable resolution to the issue of electricity for the community.
2. Pray for our leadership team at the hospital that's working on these issues on a daily basis (David Z, Lee K., Sheila M., Rick A. & myself). Pray that the Holy Spirit could guide us each day and that we could feel God's presence and strength in spite of challenging circumstances.
3. Pray for those that oppose us ......that their hearts could be changed according to God's plan. It's hard for me to pray for those that make my life miserable, but Jesus taught us that principle in the sermon on the mount. Matthew 5:44 says ...Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;"
4. Pray for the safety of Mr. Pheguens who is taking the brunt of the threats.
5. Pray for the leaders of Haiti. The outlook seems pretty bleak for this country. I pray that leaders who fear God would rise up and make a difference in this country. For those interested in an update on the political challenges in Haiti including the struggle to find a President, read this article:
Thanks to each of you prayer warriors that have been supporting us in prayer. Please continue to pray.
Kurt
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