Haiti (MNN) — Haiti's Senate
voted Prime Minister Michele Pierre-Louis out of office Friday October 29. The Prime Minister's inability to survive
the censure means the cabinet will also be dissolved.
The United Nations peacekeeping
mission notes the country risks a return to economic and political instability
unless it appoints a replacement quickly,
Craig
Dyer with Bright Hope International called their contacts in Haiti to find out if the move stirred
unrest. He says they're told that "right now, things are stable. But it's
always unpredictable how people will react, and it does cause some instability
within the government. So, it's something to be watchful and certainly
prayerful of."
Lawmakers criticized Pierre-Louis's
performance in promoting economic recovery in the impoverished Caribbean
nation. Observers think the move may be
political jockeying in preparation for an upcoming presidential run in 2011.
Pierre-Louis was tasked with
turning around poverty, with 70 percent of Haiti's population living on less
than $2 dollars a day. At the same
time, her job was complicated by four hurricanes and tropical storms last year,
devastated crops, and an infrastructure that washed away.
Rising food prices coupled with
high unemployment led to unrest. While
order has been restored and the UN mandate extended, the threat of an eruption
lurks under the surface.
Dyer acknowledges the threat of
ministry disruption. However, "Our venue for passing out food is always
through the local church. The local church has been there from day one, and so our
pipeline is great and secure as long as we can get food into the country."
Bright Hope just launched a
three-phase approach to responding to the needs. Working through their partner, Pignon
Ministries in Haiti, they are building
up the children in the community and empowering parents to support their family.
Phase 1: Packing food. Bright Hope is starting with 2,550 kids. Their goal is for each of these children to eat 1 warm meal
every school day.
Phase 2: The next step is
supplies. After feeding hungry bellies, the ministry is prepared to distribute resources through
the Hope Pack. Bright Hope is providing Bibles and adding
much-needed school supplies in the Hope Packs for every child and
every family in the church/school communities. The Bible provides
spiritual hope and healing for those wounded by extreme poverty.
Phase 3: The last portion of this campaign will take
the focus from the children to their families. Through their microloan program,
families are empowered to create income for themselves by receiving skills
training and access to a micro-credit that will make this program
self-sustaining within 3 to 5 years.
As a result, regardless of what
happens politically, their team will continue to be the hands and feet of
Christ. However, Dyer says, "It's unpredictable, and we just don't
know. Pray for us that the progress we're making as a
country will continue and food security and national security would be
heightened."
If you want to help support any
phase of the response, click here.
