Evenie is pictured standing in the doorway of a project she and her husband are working on. They have a daughter graduating from high school in a year and they hope to have the means to send her to College. Their project is a new bakery, which will be boasting “pen pwop”. ‘Clean bread’. Evenie and her husband have a vision to keep the bread making area clean and sanitary. If they can manage this, word might get around and people hopefully will “Vin achte!” Come to buy!!
It has been 14 days since the President of Haiti was assassinated in his home. As more and more details come to light, we want to give an update on our staff. Below you will find a quick update on their thoughts and feelings.
Christi Gabhart:
My general feeling is that this is big but Haiti is so used to turmoil that it becomes, in a way, ‘normal’. Uncertainty of ‘who is or who is wanted in power’ in the government is ‘normal’. The government has declared all organizations and institutions are to be closed Thursday and Friday. Here in the rural Pignon area, many are uninformed of news reports. I talked to numerous people today, intentionally looking for people’s comments of how they are feeling. More than half of the people I had conversation with were unaware of the government declaring EVERYTHING closed for Thursday and Friday nationwide.
Opinions from Evenie & TiPay:
Evenie St Fleur, MH guest house cook, was unaware of the two-day shut down. She said she has heard the idea going around that Haiti needs a woman president. “I think it is time we have a woman for president.”
Christi asked TiPay, MH grounds keeper for the Sylvain Campus, “what do you think might happen in the next days?” He said “Nou poko konnen. Nou pa gen espwa” ‘We don’t know yet. we don’t have hope.’ He continued to say “When we have a new Prime Minister he will just fill his stomach and his pockets like all the others have.”
Generally speaking, around Pignon, people are just waiting to see what happens. Things are peaceful as usual. People are staying close to home, watching, and waiting.
Many Hands for Haiti’s programs have been able to continue to run as normal, this will continue as our staff keeps a close eye on the situation and makes decisions with everyone’s safety in mind.
Thank you so much for the thoughts and prayers for Haiti and for our staff in country. Please continue to pray for everyone and for peace in this unpredictable time.