The Safety of Haiti

Haiti has been the hot topic around this area for the last week because several people we know have gone over to serve there in whatever capacity is needed. I love that! It seems that Haiti has struggled so much since the devastating blow it received. There is little that can be done but to serve. I am grateful to be surrounded by compassionate people who choose to give of their time and money so freely to help the poorest of the poor. In regard to adoption from Haiti, a fraud threat has surfaced. Recently, a church who served in Haiti found that much of what they were in the form of food and clothing to a particular orphanage was disappearing before it… [more]

Continued from Part One... Troops on tour? The threat from the criminal gangs is the main reason why the United Nations force of 7,000 soldiers from many different countries is staying on in Haiti for another year. They are the only ones with the weapons and the logistical backup to be able to take on the criminals and win. So far, though, their success has been strictly limited. Recently one patrol was caught out when their armoured vehicle broke down in Cite Soleil - or Sun City - the ironically named vast, dark slum down near the capital's seafront. The UN contingent apparently ran off, leaving their armoured vehicle and its heavy machine-guns to the crooks. The United Nations was then forced into embarrassing negotiations just to get their own weapons back. My own slender… [more]

Here is a fascinating article that I came across about the safety in Haiti: Trying to stay safe in Haiti As the United Nations decides to keep its peacekeepers in Haiti for another 12 months, Nick Caistor travels to the country to find out how dangerous the situation is for himself. Whenever possible, I like to travel into Haiti by bus from the neighbouring Dominican Republic. It is a long seven-hour ride, but it allows me to take the political temperature at the border and to see if there is any improvement in the crippling poverty immediately obvious in the Haitian countryside before I am submerged in the sprawling mess of the capital, Port-au-Prince. I also get to meet interesting travel companions and this time was no exception. The man I fell into conversation with was… [more]