Haiti (MNN) — No one can map out God’s bigger plan for Haiti. For now, He has allowed another crisis to rise in the nation. Heavy rains over the past two weeks have impacted more than 18,000 families with loss, displacement and chaos. The death toll has been low, yet this is one more disaster on top of a mound of disasters. Many people are teetering on despair and need your prayers.
“Even schools have stopped. It’s in the whole country, not just in one part,” says Roseline DeHart with For Haiti With Love. “There’s been mudslides, the mountains washing down, flooding. People’s houses were flooded up to their hips inside their house.”
(Photo of Haitians is a representative stock photo courtesy of TopSphere Media via Unsplash)
Cap-Haitien authorities have declared a state of environmental emergency for six months. They asked for aid from the central government, but they did not receive an immediate reply.
Although flooding may seem small compared to the nation’s broader security crises, DeHart says this still affects everyone.
“There’s still the livelihood [struggle] there,” she explains. “How to feed their family, take care of their family… It’s all part of trying to live in Haiti, and the rain just makes it worse.”
For Haiti’s base is on a mountain, so they are not experiencing the same flooding others are. They have given from their storehouse of food to serve those in need. At every opportunity, For Haiti shares encouragement based in Scripture. But they hear what people are really thinking.
“Mentally, physically, some are giving up. They’re wondering, ‘Why is this happening to Haiti so much?’” DeHart says,
“We tell them that, you know, Jesus loves them, that there is hope for Haiti, and it’s only in God. But they say it’s hard for them to believe that there really is a God after all that’s going on.
“But we tell them there is [a God] and He is watching over them and protecting them.”
If you’ve ever known that feeling of helpless despair, pray for Haiti. Ask God to bring Haitians to know and trust in His goodness and sovereign care, even in disaster upon disaster.
Then, pray for the rain and floods to stop. Pray that ministries like For Haiti will be able to keep serving as the hands and feet of Christ.
“Pray for peace in Haiti,” DeHart says.
Header photo of Haitian child is a representative stock photo courtesy of TopSphere Media via Unsplash.
