Short-term mission scrapped as Haitian ministry imperiled By April Perry Special to The Layman Online Thursday, November 18, 2004 N.C. congregation fears fallout for ongoing mission April Perry, a nurse at Duke Medical Center, is the leader of an evangelical mission to Haiti sponsored by Blacknall Memorial Presbyterian Church in Durham, N.C. The congregation has sent short-term medical, construction and service mission teams to Haiti for three consecutive years and has developed an aquaponics project for intensive food production for impoverished Haitians. The congregation was scheduled to send a mission team to Haiti this month, but the trip has been canceled because of safety reasons and concerns that there could be repercussions for missionaries permanently stationed in Haiti and Haitian Christians. I received a call from our American missionary ministry partner in Haiti on Monday. He and his parents have been working in Haiti for nearly 40 years. He has been in Haiti full time for more than 20 with his own children there. He called to advise us in the strongest sense that we should not travel to Haiti now. He cited his own kidnapping five weeks ago and that of a Canadian colleague who was also kidnapped only three weeks ago as evidence that Americans are clearly now being targeted for violent acts and attempts at extortion. He detailed his own experience of being stalked from the airport, by two cars carrying 14 men armed with machine guns and Uzis. They were all former police officers and had cell phones to plan his abduction. He was surrounded by two cars – one in the front and one in the back in the middle of the square in Petionville in the middle of a busy street at noon with many people around and watching. He and his car were overtaken by three armed men and the other men manned the two cars they had driven and hijacked his car and abducted him and the two Haitians he was with. He said that these men identified themselves as former police officers. "He and his two Haitian companions were taken to a very bad section of the city, subjected to harassment and many verbal threats as they demanded money from him, stating that they knew he had lots of money because he was an American." He and his two Haitian companions were taken to a very bad section of the city, subjected to harassment and many verbal threats as they demanded money from him, stating that they knew he had lots of money because he was an American. They demanded that he present at least $1,000 to them that they knew he had to have on his person. He had $20 US and on him. They tied up his Haitian companions and threatened him with the guns for many hours. Finally, he convinced them to search him and if they found more than what he claimed on him, they could kill him right there. They did not and, after more hours of yelling, screaming and discussion, they let him and his Haitian companions go. Our friend is a very strong man and one not easily intimidated. He knows the Haitians and the Haitian culture and I am sure that he was able to address these men in the same fashion that you would have been. It was only because he knew Creole and could address them as nearly one of their own that he felt he could get himself out of that situation. "Guns are so prevalent on the streets one only needs to threaten that they have a weapon and people may give them things." He also said that the Haitians who were with him, while usually very strong people, were completely paralyzed at the sight of the weapons and nearly immobilized with fear. He indicated that many of the Haitians whom he knows are now even fearful of the "threat" of a gun. In the 20 years he has been there, he has not seen Haitians respond like this. Guns are so prevalent on the streets one only needs to threaten that they have a weapon and people may give them things. He described a close Haitian friend who had a bandit come to his home demanding his belongings and threatening that he had a weapon. While his Haitian friend never saw a weapon, he still gave the bandit everything that he wanted because of the fear of him having a gun. His Canadian friend who has been a career missionary in Haiti for many years did not fare as well. He was also stalked from the airport and kidnapped on the streets of Port au Prince in the middle of the day. They took him to a remote area, and kept him overnight. When they could not procure any money from him, they beat him, burned his car on the side of the road and threw him out of their car as they drove away, leaving him to find his own way back to safety. "When they could not procure any money from him, they beat him, burned his car on the side of the road and threw him out of their car as they drove away leaving him to find his own way back to safety." We know the people involved personally. Neither has reported the incident to the embassy. But our one friend has returned to the States to be with his family and decide how to go forward from here. His exact words to me were: "I have never felt uneasy in Port au Prince ever. But I feel like things are so unstable now, I cannot predict what will happen." They both clearly stated that white people are being targeted from the airport and on the streets of Port au Prince because of the perception that we will have money with us. That would be true in our circumstance. They also believe that the Haitians with us are at great risk simply because they accompany us. All of this makes complete sense to me. Both of these career missionaries (having served over 60 years in Haiti between them) indicated we actively put the Haitians who travel and work with us in harm's way – a very serious thing for us to consider. They also confirmed that patterns of behavior of the criminals are no longer predictable, making the risk substantial. We also know from David and Jamalyn Williams in Fondwa that Sr. Carmelle's brother-in-law was recently kidnapped and beaten so badly he was in the hospital for his injuries. When we heard this, it was before we had contact with our missionary friend so we were not aware of the attack on him and the Canadian. We have received confirming information from a PCUSA Haitian career missionary whom we also work with regarding these circumstances. They believe that for short-term folks to travel to Haiti now has the potential to compromise the work in the future and are willing to wait this out until teams feel they can return safely. Their exact words to me were, "If one American short-termer gets hurt or injured, it could undo the work for many years to come." They believe that "more good will come of our postponing our trip now than harm." "This is something that I have been told for years 'doesn't happen in Haiti.'" Our American friends in Haiti have reinforced with us independently that the patterns of behavior for the criminals is no longer predictable. This makes it very difficult for us to protect ourselves because we cannot adequately figure out what the criminals might do and thus try to avoid it. Who would have ever predicted that beheadings would have occurred on the streets of Port au Prince? Or that whites would actually be attacked? This is something that I have been told for years "doesn't happen in Haiti." Their advice was that when you cannot adequately predict what people will do, you cannot provide yourself with adequate protection. It is their advice that traveling through the city is very dangerous, and not only theoretically risky but an actual significant risk for whites – even if it is just getting to the guest house or to the outskirts of the city to make one's way to the countryside. Clearly places in the countryside are safe once you arrive there. But they have described that getting there – traveling through the city – is very dangerous now, especially since we now know that Americans and Europeans have been involved in violent acts and being missionaries is not a protection from criminals. Any time we spend on the streets has been identified by our friends there as very dangerous.

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