Haiti (MNN) — If you’ve kept up on the news in Haiti, you probably have a picture of gang-riddled anarchy, daily kidnappings, and a food crisis. All of that is true of southern Haiti, especially in the capital Port-au-Prince.
However, a more holistic picture of Haiti is needed, because Eva DeHart at For Haiti with Love says the northern part of the country tells a different story.
For one, several mountain ranges divide the country, and ministry in the north is not as treacherous as the south.
“We have the international airport up there and we have the port that we can take anything in by ship. The activities in Port-au-Prince might as well be in a different country. They’re three mountain ranges away and they just don’t affect our ministry because we don’t work down there. We’ve always worked in the north,” DeHart says.
When people outside Haiti have the impression that For Haiti is affected by the violence in the south, DeHart says it is difficult to garner support for the ministry, much less get any outside missions teams to come assist.
Yet, the ministry is remote enough that they don’t feel the same effects of what is happening down south.
“We’re just an isolated little world up there. We fly in, do our own thing, and fly home,” says DeHart.
(Photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love)
For Haiti’s primary ministry is a burn clinic on the northern coast. While other NGOs and some ministries are pulling out, they are determined to continue operations and remain as a Gospel remnant to Haitians in need.
“They’ve got probably more needs than anybody else in the Caribbean, and yet they get so much publicity because of the things that go on in Port-au-Prince that it kind of takes the rest of the country down with it,” says DeHart.
“If we could just get people to focus on the whole island and not just Port-au-Prince and look at ministries that don’t deal in Port-au-Prince and aren’t affected by those events that take place in the capital, then the number of people that can be helped is endless. They all really need us. But the events in Port-au-Prince get the headlines and people who are not familiar with the whole island tend to back off. Then that hurts everybody.”
Now more than ever, For Haiti needs ongoing ministry support. You can give to For Haiti at their website here.
DeHart says, “If we can just stay focused on the north and stay focused on keeping burn supplies in that clinic and keeping it staffed, then God is answering prayer.”
Header photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love.
