Dear Friends,
COVID-19 has reached Haiti as of late last week. 

It was brought in by a Belgium orphanage worker into the mountains and by a 31 year old Haitian woman flying in from Paris, France, both testing positive for the virus. President Jovinel Moise declared a state of emergency and immediately shut down both airports and all borders. Schools are closed and large groups forbidden, following the lead of other world leaders. Factories are also closed, leaving thousands without work or a paycheck. All foreigners who are still in the country and wish return to their home countries are finding it difficult to find flights out.

What does this mean for our Haitian friends in Dessalines and further out in the mountains? All the same rules that you and I now abide by have been put in place for our brothers and sisters, although our living conditions are drastically different.

Large families of ten or more share two small room houses with dirt floors. Running water is non existent in most of these homes so washing hands often is difficult.  Bathrooms are often just a shed out back with a hole in the ground.  Their lives revolve around community.

I spoke with Pastor Louinet yesterday and he says they are still able to buy food and fuel, but things are difficult and they proceed with much caution.  He continues to hold church and says many people have been coming.  They sit on long 12 foot benches usually squished in like sardines. But now he allows only three people on each bench to keep the six foot distance between them.
In the midst of all of this, they have not forgotten “Bondye” (God) who is the Healer of all, nor the family they have here in the U.S. Their prayers echo through the church walls before the sun rises in the east early in the morning.

Please pray for our friends in Haiti.  They need our continue prayers and support.  
“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble.  Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its water roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.” Ps 46:1-3

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted amoung the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Ps 46:10

I am humbled as they pray for us here in the United States to be healthy and safe. Let us do the same for them

With a humbled heart,
Dixie & Team

Hope in Haiti