Haiti (MNN) — In Haiti, gang coalitions are making the national crisis even worse, if you can imagine it.
Obed* serves with Every Man a Warrior , a ministry of Trans World Radio.
“They say that they will take this city, and then they do that. The [authorities] are not able to stop that,” he says.
Last Saturday, a neighborhood of Port-au-Prince called Solino fell under the control of a gang coalition called Viv Ansamn. Obed listed Arcahaie, L’Estère and Leogane as other communities gangs have attacked this month or declared they will soon capture.
Many leaders with Every Man a Warrior live in Arcahaie, which was attacked earlier this month. When a coalition of two gangs (“5 Second” from Martissant, and “Jeff” from Canaan) attacked yet again, they fled to the mountainside to save their lives. Also earlier this month, one pastor connected with Every Man a Warrior was kidnapped. Obed said this week that, praise God, the pastor was released.
What can be done? In an international attempt to regain Haiti’s national security, 600 more troops from Kenya will soon join the nearly 400 that have been stationed in the country since May. But Obed says these forces have been even less effective than the police in curbing gang violence.
(Photo courtesy of Every Man a Warrior, Trans World Radio)
There’s another grim layer to the crisis. According to UNICEF, an estimated 30 to 50% of Haiti’s kids are involved with gangs.
“They give them food, and they engage them, because most of them [have] no parent, [a] parent that died, that [was] shot due the gang violence,” says Obed.
Children recruited by gangs are often molested, abused, trained to use guns, and forced into domestic service.
“I believe that when [gangs] want to attack a city, they send those children. They send them without gun[s] to take control and to give information.”
Obed’s mission is to rebuild Haiti; this is where he knows God has called him to serve. He has a background in child protection and is caring for children in northern Haiti as the hands and feet of Christ.
“We have moved some of the families to the borders (of the Dominican Republic). Last week we have rent[ed] home[s] for some of them. That’s what we can do for now — we move some of them to [a] safe house, to [a] safe environment,” he says.
Children from Canaan, Port-au-Prince in the educational assistance program. (Photo courtesy of Every Man a Warrior, Trans World Radio)
Pray for Haiti’s kids, and join Obed in asking God to use these tragedies to strengthen the Haitian Church’s faith and glorify His name.
“May God use this situation to show His power,” Obed says. “Frankly, we don’t see how we can get out of this. But if God do[es] that (saves Haiti), we believe that the glory of [God] will be known, will cover all the earth.”
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*Name withheld for security reasons
Header photo of children from Canaan, Port-au-Prince in the educational assistance program courtesy of Every Man a Warrior, Trans World Radio.
