Children beaten after a football match turned violent, a woman accused of witchcraft and murdered, a person killed while traveling from one village to another — these are just a few of the stories of Haitians suffering under gang violence.

Death or attack feel unpredictable in the country, leaving many anxious to survive.

Though gangs were partially pushed from Port-au-Prince, their violence has spread to the outskirts and rural areas. Roseline DeHart from For Haiti With Love said, “Lives are getting harder every day. Things are very hard right now in Haiti, and Haiti needs help from its neighbors.”

Aerial view of Port-au-Prince (Photo courtesy of Matteo Favre via Pexels)

Since July, more than 1,200 people have been killed in gang attacks, self-defense retaliation, and army operations. Over 700 were wounded. On top of that, sexual abuse and kidnappings are widespread. Victims of the gangs are often chosen at random, including children.

DeHart added, “We need other countries to realize that Haiti needs help, to come and help Haiti.”

For Haiti With Love continue their work of Gospel in Haiti, helping those displaced, local communities, children, and more. They are also preparing a Christmas celebration for hundreds of kids with hot meals, toys, and the Gospel.

DeHart says, “We want to help as many as we can, but so many people have moved into the Cap-Haïtien area, and there are street kids everywhere. It’s become overwhelming, and we’re doing the best we can with what we have.”

Among their ministries is a free burn clinic. After patients are treated and reach for their wallets, staff tell them Jesus has already paid the cost. DeHart explained, “That’s when they break out crying and want to know who this Jesus is. And then we tell them about Jesus!”

The overwhelming need for help opens doors for prayer and giving. Find your place in the story: join the spiritual battle for the people of Haiti, and if you want to help in practical ways, visit the For Haiti With Love website.

Man standing on the mountain, Haiti (Photo courtesy of Kelly via Pexels).

The wave of systematic kidnappings in Haiti reveals an ongoing power struggle for gang domination.

Kate Michel from 4VEH, a ministry partner of Trans World Radio, says, “It’s a power struggle to gain control of neighborhoods, to gain control of influencing people. And unfortunately, it’s the Haitian people who are paying the price.”

Yet, there is hope!

Radio (Photo courtesy of Pixabay via Pexels)

Kate Michel shares a moving testimony. A pastor from Cap-Haitien was kidnapped by a gang a few years ago.

“The kidnappers had forced him to put on headphones and blasted the radio into them, assuming it would distract and disturb him. But the radio was tuned to our radio station, 4VEH,” she says.

It was the same station he listened to every day, so the kidnappers unknowingly filled his captivity with encouragement and comfort! After his release, he shared the story with the 4VEH audience.

Another testimony tells of a gang member, trained mercenary, who was stopped from committing murder by a dream from God. Michel recounts, “This guy was on a mission to kill someone, but God stopped him. He ended up at 4VEH and gave his life to the Lord.”

“The gangs may be beyond the reach of the rule of law, but they are not beyond the reach of the Gospel!” Michel says.

These stories show that God is still working in Haiti — and that your prayers matter.

“We believe that in this time of real suffering, God is going to work through it, strengthen people, and bring a harvest,” she adds.

The way the Haitian church is responding is by going to the Lord in prayer. “It’s something that we see Haitians doing anyway — desperately praying for daily survival, protection, and blessing from the Lord, given the spiritual context they’re in as well,” says Michel. When there’s an attack on believers, it draws people to prayer and worship.

Pray for those recently kidnapped from the orphanage near Port-au-Prince — and for the salvation of gang members. Visit 4VEH to read more of their testimonies!

Header photo courtesy of Maxim Hopman via Unsplash.

Women learning sewing skills at a feminine training center (Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

Greg Yoder with CWO says that even though armed security forces are in the capital too, “not much has changed in Port au Prince itself, as far as reducing the risk of doing ministry right there.”

But he says Haitians are resilient. “The women want to come to the classes for the feminine training center. The people still come to church, and the kids still come to the feeding program,” he says. 

“If [the violence] gets too close, we just don’t have classes, we don’t hold the feeding program, we won’t hold church. But they (local staff) continue to want to do ministry, share the gospel. Our hope is that gang members come to know the Lord through us being there and the Haitian people being resilient, and pastors still ministering to people, and teachers still speaking into women’s lives.” 

Yoder says their ministry in Port-au-Prince will end only if gangs take over the property — and even if the Lord allows that worst-case scenario, ministry outside of the capital will go on. He explains that a network of churches in the countryside is standing united. 

“The churches in the countryside are still able to meet, and they are coming together,” he says.

A church in Haiti (Courtesy of Christian World Outreach via Facebook)

One of the ways these churches support one another is through a “Harvest Feast.” Part of that gathering is families bringing produce from their gardens.

“They use that [produce] to sell — the church does — to help support the church, but they also help by giving to people in need. Some of those people may be people that are displaced because of the gang violence in Port au Prince,” Yoder says.

“They want to help each other. I’ve seen that happen where they take offerings and help support the need of another church. It’s a true picture of what Christianity should be about as we work together to share the gospel.”

Please pray for protection for CWO staff, church attendees and class participants in Haiti’s ongoing crises so that gospel ministry can continue in Port-au-Prince.

“If people have a heart to give, give financially, so we can continue to do ministry. Costs have gone up for everything.” 

Learn more here about how Christian World Outreach is making a difference for Christ. 

Header photo from 2020 of a suburb of Port-au-Prince called Petionville (Photo courtesy of Reynaldo Mirault via Unsplash)

Most of the people fleeing gang violence are escaping the capital city, Port-au-Prince, for more rural areas.

(Photo courtesy of Christian World Outreach)

Greg Yoder, President of Christian World Outreach (CWO), says some of their own local staff in Haiti have been affected.

“The staff there, some of them, the gangs have come in and taken over their neighborhoods,” Yoder explains. “So they’ve pretty much just taken off without any of their belongings, and they’ve had to find another place to live. So that’s what’s been causing this displacement from people to go outside of Port-au-Prince.”

CWO’s ministry is supporting Haitians with relief funds and Gospel encouragement.

Yoder says, “They’re seeing a lot more people in areas that were not very heavily populated. One place where our Feminine Training Center is [located] is a pretty small village, and they’ve seen a huge influx [of IDPs].”

Please continue to pray over this crisis in Haiti.

Specifically, Yoder asks, “Pray that the resources [are] there to continue to help people, and that they (Christians) will be able to continue to share the Gospel even during these real difficult times.

“It sounds odd to call this an opportunity, but with these people being displaced, it’s an opportunity to share the Gospel with people and to help them in physical ways.”

Header photo of child in Haiti. (Photo courtesy of Topsphere Media/Unsplash)

Staff member Kate Michel explains they are now a multimedia ministry: 

“[We] started just doing radio [in 1950], and then in 2015 we began doing television as well. So we have a local television station in Cap-Haitien. We have a YouTube channel with 130,000 subscribers,” she says. 

Their team also connects with fellow Haitians through social media, especially with an interactive daily prayer program.

The city of Cap Haitien. Photo courtesy of samu3ld via Unsplash.com
https://unsplash.com/photos/cars-parked-beside-brown-concrete-building-during-daytime-HlseIzr_6fI

“[The program] is midday every day for an hour, which is guiding our listeners in praying for Haiti, for the country, for leaders, and then for each other, for the prayer requests that listeners and viewers send in,” she explains. 

People listen in to 4VEH’s Christ-centered culturally relevant content all the way from Port-au-Prince, where gang activity is at its worst. 

“The radio signal doesn’t reach there, but they do listen in other ways, like on the internet, [or] from their phones,” Michel says. “So we are supporting those listeners as well, particularly through prayer.”

4VEH takes the gospel to Haitians wherever they are — in every sense. 

“For people who are not able to access the local television station, or maybe even not able to afford batteries for their radio, we use solar-powered radios that we distribute to people in very poor areas,” says Michel. 

“We’re excited that we still are able to do that. Even with all the problems that Haiti is going through, we’re still able to go out and give out these tools for people.”

Praise God for what He’s doing to bring hope to Haiti, and pray for abundant ministry for 4VEH’s next 75 years. 

Want to hear stories of lives turned around through 4VEH? Check out their website for English listeners at 4veh.org/en. 

Header photo of children in Haiti courtesy of Zach Vessels via Unsplash. 

The exact number of those who were killed is unclear, but here is the gist of what happened: 

A gang leader in a suburb of Haiti’s capital had a son who was sick. The man believed voodoo curses were being placed on the boy. On December 6–7, his gang members located people in the city who practiced voodoo that they thought could have laid those curses. Then, they executed them — at least 100 people, but one source said it was at least 184.

On top of all these murders, the gang leader’s son died that Saturday afternoon. Like we said, tragedy. 

Is this the start of religion-based attacks in Haiti? Greg Yoder with Christian World Outreach doesn’t think so. He once lived in Haiti and is aware of the deep hold that voodoo has over many people there.  

“I think this was one person who reacted to the fear that voodoo can cause in people’s lives. It’s reality for them. The spiritual warfare in Haiti seems more obvious than it does [in the United States],” says Yoder.

“They’ve said that Haiti was dedicated to Satan for 200 years when they won their independence. It (voodoo) plays a big part in their history, and it’s still real today.”

(Note: There’s some controversy to the story that Haiti was dedicated to Satan in the 1700s in exchange for spiritual help defeating the French. The basics of the story center on a voodoo ceremony led by the man who was behind the revolt that started the journey to Haiti’s independence. In that ceremony in 1791, the man (named Boukman) made a speech to his followers referring to “our god” and calling them to cast off the “god of the whites.” Some interpret that ceremony as the “pact with Satan.” Here’s an article that tries to explain this complex account.)

A church in Haiti (Courtesy of Christian World Outreach via Facebook)

Why is God allowing so much tragedy and upheaval in Haiti right now? Is it because of something that happened when Haiti was founded? It’s beyond our understanding to say.

The fact is that Haiti faces profound spiritual darkness and troubles (so does most of the world, we would add). The fact is that God is good and totally sovereign over every event in the nation. That’s why Christians pray “deliver us from evil” (Matt. 6:13).

Even now God is preserving His people in Haiti. In the middle of the unanswered questions, Yoder says many Haitian Christians are actively reaching out to their lost friends and neighbors.

One group of churches does so through weeklong outreach camps.

“There was one young man in one of our churches that met up with a man who was very involved in voodoo. The man said to him, ‘Why haven’t you invited me to this [Christian] camp?’ Almost out of fear for what might happen, he invited him to camp. That man became a Christian and then went home and led his family to become Christians as well,” Yoder says.

He says one of the first things they do if a family or person comes to the Lord is destroy anything involved in voodoo.

Please pray that believers would stand strong in God’s power and resist the enemy (Ephesians 6:10-20). Pray that God open doors for them to continue building relationships with those trapped in voodoo but not be drawn in themselves. 

“It’s relationships. It just like this young man inviting a guy to a camp. It’s those one-on-one relationships that people have,” Yoder says. 

Pray also for the families devastated by last week’s massacre. It’s another blow to a nation already in incredible distress. 

Header photo of voodoo masks in Haiti is a representative stock photo courtesy of Claudia Altamimi via Unsplash.

The need for help is desperate as uncontrollable gang violence continues in Port-au-Prince and spreads through the country.

Haiti’s new prime minister was sworn in on November 11 — a change some hoped would lead to an improved security situation. Yet, with a rocky start last week, it’s uncertain whether the gang violence will be tamed by the leadership transition.

(Photo courtesy of For Haiti with Love)

On the ground meeting Haitians’ needs, Christian ministry For Haiti With Love is providing a sense of stability to families who don’t know where their next meal will come from.

For Haiti With Love’s Roseline DeHart says, “We don’t really know what’s going to happen after this month or during this month, but we are there to help the people as best as we can. There will be a lot of hunger. We will feed them; as many as we can…. But with Haiti, it can’t get any worse.”

God’s timing, though, is amazing. DeHart shares, “Before yesterday, the mission airline took supplies down there. We already had boxes with them and they took down all of our supplies, so the clinic is all ready for whatever happens. We have food down there already too, to help the people.”

In the space between starvation and compassion, their team is Jesus to people. Many mission groups have left, but For Haiti With Love will remain.

“People are suffering,” DeHart says. “People in Port-au-Prince, day to day, they just move from one city to another because the gangs are taking over city by city. So, we need prayers. God needs to do something, and only God can change Haiti.”

Ask God to intervene and bring lasting peace in Haiti, both socially and spiritually.

You can support For Haiti With Love’s ministry and learn more here.

Header photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love.

Photo shows Port-au-Prince, Haiti. (Photo by Robin Canfield on Unsplash)

It’s part of an increasingly grim outlook for Haiti. More than 700,000 Haitians are internally displaced, more than 110,000 from the ongoing violence this year alone. What’s more, authorities estimate 30 percent of gang members in Haiti are actually children, recruited for combat, cooking, housekeeping or worse. Many kids join gangs because they need food. Others have no family and no other options.

Dierf* serves with Every Man a Warrior, a discipleship ministry of Trans World Radio. When necessary, he has made the risky journey into Port-au-Prince, which continues to be nearly 80 percent controlled by gangs.

“The only way to cross the road [to Port-au-Prince] is to meet them on the road [with them carrying] heavy guns,” says Dierf. “They ask you to pay a fee in order to be able to cross and if drivers do not want to pay that fee, they may be killed or kidnapped.”

(Photo courtesy of Every Man a Warrior, a ministry of Trans World Radio.)

One pastor connected with Every Man a Warrior was kidnapped last week while traveling to a ministry event. There’s been no word of him since then. 

Haiti has been in an increasing spiral since February, when a series of jailbreaks led to a surge of gang domination. Today, nearly 400 Kenyan troops are stationed in Haiti, ostensibly on a mission to restore order. Six hundred additional troops from Kenya are preparing to join them next month. But Dierf says the soldiers have been ineffective. 

“What the population is looking for is basically for them to engage in a fight against the gang members. But we don’t see that happening,” Dierf explains.

“We hope for that, because that’s the only way we can have a solution with the gang violence here in Haiti.”

In the midst of this national unrest, Every Man a Warrior disciples Haitian men on how to have personal time with God, lead their wives and children well, endure suffering and be sexually pure. The two men who lead the ministry in Haiti and the men they serve need your prayers.

“Pray for protection and safety as we travel across Haiti,” Dierf says. “Second, for God to raise up a new generation of men who would embrace the idea of going and [making] disciples and [understanding] the Great Commission.”

Pray also for Pastor Alix, who went missing last week. 

This article has been corrected to indicate that gangs attacked Arcahaie October 9, not October 10. 

Header photo of Haitians is a representative stock photo courtesy of TopSphere Media via Unsplash.

Julia Boharski with World Concern reports that while there are a limited number of aid workers willing to remain in Haiti, World Concern has not lost hope. “I think the resilience of people in Haiti is unmatched,” she says. “It is such a religious nation. I really think that the root of all their perseverance is a belief in God.”

(Photo courtesy of World Concern)

When Haiti won their independence from France in 1804, they became the first country to abolish slavery. Despite this legacy, it has struggled under the crushing weight of natural disasters, economic distress and political instability. The last few months have been marked by an upsurge in violence leaving 80% of Port-au-Prince controlled by gangs and over 578,000 people internally displaced. 

Boharski says there is a “brain drain” occurring in Haiti, where the educated, privileged and powerful have fled the country. This leaves the most vulnerable members of society with few resources to defend themselves. World Concern staff have been risking their lives to provide Haitians with food items, shelter and medical help as well as psychosocial support.

“We’ve had staff whose houses have been overtaken,” Boharski says. “We’ve had staff who’ve lost family members and loved ones within this conflict. They still carry on as the frontlines of God’s army, there to serve the people in the greatest need, while they themselves are in need.” 

Boharski encourages listeners to educate themselves on Haiti’s history of resilience as well as intercede on behalf of those remaining in the country. She says, “We have to do the best we can to be there for Haiti.”

Header photo courtesy of World Concern. 

Haiti’s transitionary council appointed a new Cabinet last week to replace the one dissolved a few months ago after the Prime Minister’s resignation.

For Haiti With Love’s Makenson Saint Fleur says the new cabinet’s formation does little to change hardship on the ground. Gangs control at least 80 percent of the Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince.

“The ministry (administration) in Haiti hasn’t done anything yet regarding Haiti’s security situation,” Saint Fleur says.

“Everything is still bad; nothing is okay yet.”

More than 2,500 people have been killed or injured in gang violence so far this year, including two American missionaries murdered by gang members last month. Hope rests on the UN-backed deployment of a police force from Kenya, which is expected to arrive in the coming weeks.

In northern Cap Haitien, For Haiti With Love relies on local authorities to help it distribute food.

Food distributions
(Photo courtesy of For Haiti With Love)

“If we need security, we ask the government, and we go to each place to give food to the population,” Saint Fleur says.

“For Haiti With Love stopped the food program for six months because of political problems in downtown Cap Haitien, but now everything is almost okay in Cap Haitien. For Haiti With Love [restarted] the food program because we observed that what is happening in Haiti now is a humanitarian catastrophe.”

Pray that Haitians will experience the love of Christ as they see it displayed by Gospel workers. Pray they’ll ask questions about the God who cares for them.

“The Gospel intersects with crises in Haiti by inspiring and motivating Christians to respond with compassion, justice, and reconciliation,” Saint Fleur says.

Consider donating to support For Haiti With Love’s ongoing relief efforts.

Header image courtesy of For Haiti With Love.