Quote of the Week

"In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are many and they are deep."

General Toussaint L'Ouverture
Hero of the Haitian Revolution

R.I.P., Mae Kelly, 1917?-2009

Mae M. Kelly, former American Baptist Foreign Mission Society (ABFMS) missionary in Haiti for 36 years, died October 6, 2009 at the age of 92.

Mae was born into a Christian home in Jamaica, as Mae Marguerite Lord. Her parents were active in the Christian Missionary Alliance and were instrumental in planting a church. Mae accepted Christ at the age of seven and was baptized at the age of 15, while attending boarding school in England. She had family members who were missionaries in China and South America and her grandfather made several evangelistic trips to Haiti, so the missionary vision was constantly placed before her.

When Mae met Charles Stanford Kelly he had already felt a call to ministry in Haiti, so together they dedicated their lives to be missionaries there. After marriage to Stan on November 26, 1938 he gave up a business career in Jamaica so they could attend the Radcliffe Missionary Training College in London, England, for theological preparation for mission service. In 1940 they moved to Haiti, where Stan became a pastor with the status of a native worker. They were appointed in 1944 as missionaries under the American Baptist Home Mission Society and in 1946 left the pastorate to serve as general missionaries. With the transfer of Latin American work to International Ministries in 1972 they became part of the ABFMS.

Mae had giftedness and love for teaching music and in particular the piano. She did so in churches, in women’s and children’s work, at camps and conferences, at the Christian University of Northern Haiti (UCNH) and to missionary children. Laurie Casseus, who currently serves in Haiti and is the daughter of former IM missionaries Harold and Ivah Heneise, remembered Mae to Annis, one of Mae’s daughters, with these words: “I have so many wonderful memories of her. She is the reason I studied music and do what I do. Praise God. Of course, I did have the encouragement of my folks, but my inspiration and my teacher was your mom. I would say she was a mentor to me, and I was blessed to have such a godly mentor.” “Auntie Mae,” as she was fondly called, was also the ultimate hostess, especially when it was time for “high tea.”

Mae was predeceased by her husband, C. Stanford. She is survived by her sons, Derek, Ron, and Brian; daughters Annis and Kathy; eight grandchildren; one great grandchild; and one brother. There will be a small memorial service at the Fraser Canyon Lodge in Hope, BC and a family graveside service in Victoria, BC. The family suggests that memorial gifts may be made payable to UCNH, designated for the C.S. Kelly Scholarship Fund and sent to the following address:

Laurie Casseus
UCNH
c/o Agape Flights - CAP-1370
100 AIRPORT AVE
VENICE, FL 34285-3901.

Click here for more information on American Baptist missions work in Haiti.

Nicolette Bethel on the Cuban Revolution

Bahamian anthropologist Nicolette Bethel makes some astute observations on the significance of the Cuban Revolution:

"In many ways the Cuban revolution parallels Haiti’s, which succeeded 155 years earlier, and the success of each revolution depended as much in many ways on the reactions of the countries beyond as it did on the will of the people within the nation. Haiti’s revolution ended in abject poverty and long-term chaos for that nation — not because of some inherent flaw in the idea of freedom for slaves and descendants of Africa, but because of the intolerable demands placed on the nation by the slave-owning countries around it. Cuba’s is sliding into poverty, but despite the best efforts of the Cuban exiles in Miami, and despite the fondest wishes of those who believe Communism is an unworkable system, chaos has not yet begun."

"I am not a communist. However, I am fundamentally an admirer of Castro’s Cuba because Castro achieved what the rest of this region, with all its variable riches, cannot even imagine achieving: a sense of self in a post-colonial world, a justifiable sense of pride in that self, and an understanding of the place of oneself in history — all of which are rare in the post-slave societies of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries."

Read the rest of the article here.

Today in Caribbean History

New Year's Day marks the remembrance of two significant events in Caribbean History--Haitian Independence Day and Cuban Liberation Day.

On 1 January 1804, following history's first and only successful slave rebellion, Jean-Jacques Dessalines declared Haiti's independence, making Haiti the second independent country in the Western Hemisphere and the first Black Republic in the world. Today, Haitians throughout Haiti and the Haitian diaspora will eat soup joumou (squash stew) in remembrance of this momentous event.

On 1 January 1959, Cuban revolutionaries led by Fidel Castro succeeded in wresting power from right-wing dictator Fulgencio Batista. Today marks the 50th anniversary of the Cuban Revolution.

Haiti Watch

Amnesty International is calling on the Haitian government to do more to tackle the widespread rape of girls, often by gangs of armed men. Amongst other things, Amnesty reports that 55% of the 105 rapes reported so far this year were of girls aged under 18.

Read a BBC report on the situation here or, better yet, read Amnesty's extensive report on the subject here.

Haiti Watch

Following Haiti's devastation by four back to back storms last month, editorials in the Miami Herald and the New York Times (see here and here) have joined Haiti's president René Preval and members of congress in calling for the Bush administration to grant temporary protected status (TPS) to undocumented Haitian immigrants currently residing in the United States.

After the storms, the Bush administration temporarily suspended deportations but has not yet taken the next step of granting TPS. In the past, the U.S. has routinely granted (and the Bush administration has regularly renewed) TPS to Hondurans, Salavorans, and Hondurans when their countries faced similar devastating catastrophies yet, as the Miami Herald puts it, Haitians can't seem to "catch a break." Haiti's poverty, which was already the worst on this side of the globe prior to the storm, has--practically overnight--become infinitely worse. The last thing Haiti needs right now is, as the New York Times argues, "a forced influx of homeless, jobless deportees."

If you are a U.S. citizen, consider contacting President Bush and your congressional representatives and encourage them to support TPS for Haitian nationals. If you are not a U.S. citizen, you can also encourage support for this measure by contacting the U.S. ambassador in your country of residence.

Lest We Forget: Remembering the Other 9/11

Today marks the 20th anniversary (September 11, 1988) of the destruction of St. Jean Bosco Church in the slums of Port-au-Prince. While Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide was giving mass, armed thugs working for the Henri Namphy regime entered the church and, in a siege that lasted several hours, massacred over twenty parishioners and injured many, many more before setting fire to the church. While Aristide managed to escape with his life, the incident eventually led to his expulsion from the Salesian order on December 15, 1988. Aristide, a liberation theologian and Roman Catholic priest, led the popular movement that led to the downfall of the Duvalier regime on February 7, 1986. Twenty years (and two not-so successful Aristide presidencies) later, Haiti continues to be mired in poverty and violence.

Let us continue to work for peace and justice for the Haitian people.

I Like Ike

"I like Ike" might have been a spiffy sounding campaign slogan during the U.S. presidential elections of the 1950s. But mention the name "Ike" today and you’re more likely to invoke images of Haitian peasants carrying their meager belongings on their heads while wading through waist deep flood waters, residents of the Florida Keys anxiously boarding up their homes and businesses while evacuation buses make their rounds, or Dr. Steve Lyons giving the latest hurricane update on the Weather Channel.

It’s hard to believe that less than a week ago the Bahamas was threatened by three major storms lining up to take aim at us: Hanna, Ike, and Josephine. Compared to Ike—a very dangerous category 4 storm—Hanna and Josephine were child’s play and so the prospect of Ike’s imminent arrival quickly became our main focus of concern as we began our hurricane preparations.

By Thursday afternoon, most folks were prepared for the worst. But the worst would have to wait. Hanna—a "mere" tropical storm—was first in queue and, as it turned out, it made its northward journey just to the east of the Bahamian archipelago, leaving us with only a smattering of light rain and occasional gusty winds. When we woke up to clear skies and sunshine the next morning, we also learned that Tropical Storm Josephine—which had been trailing along behind Ike—had fizzled out midway across the Atlantic. So far so good. Two down, one more to go.

Then we waited. And we waited some more. For three days we meticulously studied the incoming hurricane updates while the sweltering tropical sun baked us inside our boarded up apartment building. But due to a high pressure system, Ike continued on a steady westward trajectory, totally bypassing the central and northern Bahamian islands and leaving us with not so much as a single drop of rain and only an occasional minor gust of wind.

Our neighbors to the south were not so lucky.

Early Sunday morning, Ike made its first landfall on the British owned Turks and Caicos Islands, destroying over eighty percent of the homes, leveling trees and utility poles, leaving the local hospital without a roof, and inflicting severe damage on the already overcrowded prison. Inagua, the southernmost island of the Bahamas, was next in line where, amongst other things, Ike ripped the hurricane shutters off two local storm shelters and caused the roof to collapse on another. Nearly two days later there are still, unbelievably, no reported fatalities from either locale.

Yesterday, the Cuban mountains put the brakes on Ike, slowing it down to category 1 hurricane. Though, that may be of little comfort to those in western Cuba who were left homeless following Hurricane Gustav’s visit just a little over a week ago. Of course, we can’t forget the Dominican Republic and, especially, Haiti, both of whom were already saturated with flood waters from Hurricanes Fay, Gustav, and Hanna and didn’t really need to experience their fourth major storm in just three weeks.

As hard as it may be to believe, we are both very disappointed and greatly relieved that Ike never made it to Nassau. Given all the hard work that goes into preparing for a hurricane and, then, all of the sitting around and waiting that comes after that, how could one possibly not be disappointed? Yet as we look at the destruction that has followed in the wake of Ike and recognize the inadequacy of even our best preparations in the face of such a powerful storm, we are greatly relieved that we did not have to live through such a terrifying experience, let alone its aftermath.

But with relief also comes guilt as we struggle with our own version of the age old question, "Why does God allow the innocent to suffer?" Why was our island spared while other islands (or entire countries) with greater poverty and fewer resources continue to be hit over and over and over again? Even a cursory glance at the map makes it clear that if a hurricane misses us, it’s almost impossible for it to slip through without striking elsewhere. Thus, our salvation comes at the expense of someone else.

But spared we were, at least for now. Meteorologists predict that there will be seven more named storms during this year’s Atlantic hurricane season. Three of those storms will be hurricanes and one of those three will be a category 3 storm or higher. Since hurricane season is not over until November 30th, there’s still a good possibility that Nassau may be hit. And if it doesn’t happen this year, there’s always next year or even the year after that. The hurricane calculus is really quite simple. It’s not a question of if we’ll be hit but when. So for us, Hurricane Ike was a sobering wake up call—a call to be better prepared the next time around.

This article originally appeared in News from Daniel and Estela Schweissing on 9 September 2008.

A History of American Baptist Missions in Haiti

While revising an article this morning on the late Julio Laporte for the Journal of the Bahamas Historical Society, I came across an old copy of the following article in my files which gives a nice concise summary of the major developments in American Baptist missions work in Haiti. Unfortunately, I didn't note the source of this article when I first filed it. I believe it was published in the Nov-Dec 2004 edition of American Baptists In Mission but, if not, it was most certainly written as a publicity piece (by my former IM colleague Eleanore Lundy) for some other purpose.

Before posting the article, I'd like to note two important points that were omitted from the section on the Haitian diaspora, subtitled "Mission with and to Haitians beyond Haiti."

1. American Baptist Home Missionary Society (ABHMS) missionaries in Cuba led a vibrant outreach to Haitian cane cutters in Cuba throughout the 20th century up until the takeover by Fidel Castro in 1959. Today, many of those Haitian Baptist Churches in Cuba have been absorbed into the Spanish-speaking Cuban Baptist Convention that American Baptists still work with out of Santiago, Cuba. Also, many of the Haitians who came to Christ through ABHMS in Cuba, later returned to South Haiti and started a Baptist Association there which remains completely independent of ABC's historic work with the Haitian Baptist Convention in Northern Haiti.

2. In the States, American Baptist Churches have a thriving Haitian Caucus (now with 40+ churches) that is reaching out to Haitian immigrants to the U.S. Many of the pastors and leaders in the Caucus are graduates of the Baptist Seminary in Limbe. The late Julio Laporte, for example, is the recently retired director of Haitian Ministries for National Ministries. Laporte graduated from the Baptist Seminary in Limbe back in 1958 before migrating to Nassau, Bahamas, where he pastored Emmaus Baptist Church (where Estela and I currently work). Later, Laporte was active as a pastor in a Haitian congregation in New Jersey before being called to serve as the denominational liaison to the ABC Haitian Caucus for National Ministries.

Also, for those who are interested in reading more on Haitian Baptist history, the late ABC missionary Ivah Heneise has written a wonderful book on the Haitian Baptists, titled Pioneers of Light. It is possible that some copies are still available from the Haiti Hope Fund. For more information, e-mail info@haitihopefund.org or call 904-284-4165.

In the meantime, enjoy the article:

Mission in the Footsteps of Peter and Paul
Serving Christ and the People of Haiti for 180 Years
by Eleanor Lundy

During 2004 alone, One Great Hour of Sharing has provided over $15,000 in emergency funds to aid Haitian people suffering from the effects of civil unrest and natural disasters.

During the first decades of Christian mission, Peter and Paul were inspired to encourage fellow followers of Jesus in ways that are still vitally important. Peter urged believers to recognize that God’s grace has come to us in an amazing variety of forms, and we need to contribute whatever gifts we have received to the cause of Christ (1 Peter 4:10). Paul urged believers to persevere when they were tempted to grow weary, always looking in hope to the harvest that God would produce (Galatians 6:9). Between them Peter and Paul call us to do mission in many ways and to hang in there when the going gets tough. American Baptist work with and among the people of Haiti embodies both of these principles.

Natural disasters and political strife have brought Haiti into the news again recently. The situation in this tiny island nation continues to be incredibly difficult. But the Haitian Baptist Convention and American Baptists are working together to bring hope and the Good News of Jesus Christ to the people of this troubled country.

A brief plane ride from Miami, the Republic of Haiti is a world apart. Located between Cuba and the Dominican Republic, with which it shares the island of Hispaniola, Haiti was colonized first by Spain and then by France. Both countries developed huge sugar and coffee plantations and exploited the native Indian populations as laborers, later bringing African slaves to work in the fields. In 1804, with heroic effort, Haiti gained her independence. And not long afterward, Baptist missionaries began arriving in Haiti.

Laying the Groundwork
The first of these missionaries was Thomas Paul, the son of freed slaves from Exeter, New Hampshire. Paul sailed into Cape Hayti (later Cap Haitien) in 1823 with crates of Bibles and tracts, and for six months he preached, baptized, and laid the groundwork for the establishment of the First Baptist Church there. Paul’s stay in Haiti, despite its brevity, was an authentic sign of what was to come: he was followed by many Baptist missionaries from America, Jamaica and the United Kingdom. Their ministries have taken many different forms and have been supported in many different ways (including several different mission organizations formed by American Baptists). The common denominator has been a desire to see the grace of God in Jesus Christ bringing new life to the people of Haiti.

Thomas Paul was sent by the Massachusetts Baptist Missionary Society. A dozen years later, William Monroe was sent by the agency we now call International Ministries. From the 1840s to the early 1900s, many American Baptists served in Haiti under the auspices of the Baptist Free Missionary Society (which rejoined the Northern Baptist Convention in 1911). The American Baptist Home Mission Society (now National Ministries) began to send missionaries to Haiti in the 1920s. Supervision of ABC mission involvement in Haiti passed to International Ministries in 1973.

The Haitian Baptist Convention
Throughout this period, God was also raising up gifted and dedicated servants of Christ among the Haitian people. Overcoming opposition from governmental, Catholic and Voudou leaders, Haitian followers of Jesus gave courageous and sacrificial leadership to the growing Baptist work. In 1852, Jean Jacques Lillevoix became the first ordained Haitian pastor. 1964 saw the birth of a new indigenous organization within the part of the Baptist movement with which American Baptists are most deeply involved, the Haitian Baptist Convention (Convention Baptiste d’Haiti or CBH). Today the CBH has some 110 churches, hundreds of preaching stations, and over 90,000 baptized believers. In the midst of the political turmoil of recent years, God has used the Rev. Emmanuel Pierre to provide a steady hand at the helm of the CBH.

A Wide Variety of Ministries
Baptist witness to the grace of Jesus Christ in Haiti has long been embodied in a wide variety of ministries. Primary evangelism and church planting have long been done most effectively by Haitian Baptists themselves. Especially during the last sixty years, American Baptist missionaries have complemented Haitian-led evangelism with demonstrations of the Lord’s concern for improving the lives of God’s children in the areas of education, health, agriculture, women’s ministries and leadership training.

Touching Minds with the Light of Christ
From the founding of a Christian school for girls in 1942 (the Ecole [later College] Pratique du Nord) to the founding of a Christian university in 1993 (the Christian University of Northern Haiti), Haitian leaders and American Baptist missionaries have borne consistent witness to God’s desire to develop minds as well as hearts. Haitian leaders from Edith Robinson (founder of the Ecole Pratique du Nord) to Jules Casseus (founding President of the Christian University of Northern Haiti) have invited a large number of short- and long-term missionaries to serve alongside them in ministries of education.

It is worthy of special note that the Christian University of Northern Haiti (UCNH) grew out of the educational work to which missionaries Ivah and Harold Heneise were called in the late 1940s. The Heneises were sent to Haiti in 1947 to launch a school to train Haitian pastors, the Baptist Theological Seminary of Haiti. The Heneises have both gone home to be with the Lord, but their faithful work has been multiplied by missionary successors and dedicated Haitian professors. Pastors continue to be trained at UCNH, but so do hundreds of other students who are preparing to serve in agronomy, business and fine arts.

Touching Bodies with the Love of Christ
From the founding of a small rural clinic under the mango trees of the seminary in the late 1940s to the current high-tech operation of the Cap Haitien Eye Center, missionaries and Haitian leaders have worked together to demonstrate the love of God in Jesus Christ through a wide variety of health ministries. The little clinic begun by Ivah Heneise and Nevart Yeghoyan became a major medical facility, the Good Samaritan Hospital of Limbé. This transformation was guided by William and Joanna Hodges, who served as American Baptist missionaries from 1958 to 1995, providing outstanding leadership and incorporating the gifts of thousands of volunteers from all across the U.S. (The hospital continues its ministry as an independent institution today, due to a break in relationships with International Ministries in 1995.)

The Cap Haitien Eye Center was founded in 1989 by Hollis and Wanda Clark, with the support of the Haitian Baptist Convention. The Eye Center provides services ranging from eye exams and glasses to surgery for glaucoma and cataracts. It is now staffed entirely by Haitian personnel, most of whom were trained onsite by the Clarks. Many are evangelical Christians, including one of Haiti’s best ophthalmologists, Dr. Carmelle Lucien. The Center accepts all patients regardless of financial status, and continues to function in spite of political and economic chaos. Says Dr. Lucien, “There is always somebody in the waiting line!”

Missionaries Create a Legacy of Love
Bernice and Herbert Rogers served in Haiti for 28 years. Herb Rogers, who served for many years at the Good Samaritan Hospital and then at UCNH, now coordinates American Baptist volunteer work teams through International Ministries and teaches microbiology as an adjunct professor in the department of agriculture. Bernice Rogers was the founder and director of Jericho School, a missionary children’s school. She currently serves in International Ministries’ home office in Valley Forge.

For fourteen years, until their recent call to serve in D.R. Congo, Katherine and Wayne Niles served the Haitian people in medical ministry and agricultural development. Katherine worked at the Danda Clinic and facilitated outreach in villages stricken with AIDS and tuberculosis. Wayne helped farmers to design and build simple irrigation pumps, and also developed the “Kids for Kids” goat-raising project in cooperation with local Baptist churches. Still going strong, this self-perpetuating project entrusts responsible children and youth with raising the young goats, with the first offspring brought back to the church to be given to another child. Additional kids are raised and sold, with the income making it possible for many youth to pay school tuition.

In September 1998, International Ministries commissioned Mabudiga and Kihomi Nzunga for service in Haiti. The Nzungas previously taught at the Christian University of Kinshasa in their homeland of D.R. Congo. Mabudiga teaches theology at UCNH, administers a scholarship program, preaches in churches, and helps rural schools with needed supplies. Kihomi works in family counseling and women’s health issues, and supports the women’s association of the Baptist Convention of Haiti. In the autumn of 2001, the Nzungas organized a successful intergenerational soccer game that attracted 1,500 people from the surrounding community.

Mission with and to Haitians beyond Haiti
Haitians, like many of the world’s peoples, now contribute to the lives of many nations beyond Haiti. Haitian Baptists are an enthusiastic and growing part of American Baptist life in the U.S. With leaders like Lemaire Alerte and Edgard Nicolas, the Alliance of Haitian Baptist Churches is making an important contribution to ABC witness in the U.S. while maintaining a vital relationship with the work of the CBH.

International Ministries has missionaries serving other parts of the Haitian Diaspora, especially in the Bahamas and the Dominican Republic. Missionary nurse Kristy Engel ministers to Haitian workers and families in the bateys (work camps) of the sugar cane plantations of the Dominican Republic. Daniel and Estela Schweissing work with Haitian immigrants, many of them undocumented refugees, in the Bahamas. Madeline Flores-López coordinates American Baptist volunteers throughout the Caribbean, many of whom serve Haitian communities.

Getting Involved
When First Baptist Church of Lockport, New York, sent fifteen members to serve in rural Quartier Morin, Haiti, it was a life-changing experience. The volunteers worked with American Baptist missionaries and congregation members to build a preaching station. Lockport volunteer Mike Edmister says he has grown “immensely” in his spiritual life through participation in such mission trips. “Now I feel the Lord tugging at my heart to be a missionary or a children’s pastor,” Edmister said recently.

Similar experiences awaited the students, faculty, and friends of Central Baptist Seminary who went with members of First Baptist Church of Kansas City, Kansas on a “Work and Learning” trip to the Christian University of Northern Haiti in January 2004. Among the volunteers were a doctor, an emergency room nurse, and a drug enforcement officer. “We visited a church that held a 6:00 a.m. Sunday worship service, with over 1,000 in attendance and 175 that could not get into the building,” wrote the Rev. Robert Southard, pastor of First Baptist, Kansas City and coordinator for the trip. “The drug enforcement officer worked the streets with Haitian police and stayed an extra week to lead training sessions for the police.”

Peter was right: working side by side with fellow police officers, attending patients, doing construction, raising goats, doing HIV/AIDS education, training pastors, restoring sight to the blind, teaching tomorrow’s agronomists and businesspersons, encouraging the leadership of women . . . truly, the grace and gifts bestowed by our Lord are wonderfully diverse. Paul was also right: in the midst of the continuing crises that burden the country of Haiti, it is vitally important that followers of Jesus — including American Baptists and our Haitian Baptist sisters and brothers — do not grow weary in doing what is right, but continue to look to the Lord of the harvest. Pray for Haiti. And, as you pray, listen: perhaps the Lord may be calling you to become more deeply involved!

*With special thanks to Herb Rogers and Stan Slade of the IM staff for their contributions to this article.

Missionaries to Haiti Supported by American Baptists1823 to 2004
Charles and Grace Chapman
Hollis and Wanda Clark*
Ann and William Clemmer
Millicent Engel
Gene and Margaret Gentry
Suzette Goss
Deborah and Kenneth Heneise
Harold and Ivah Heneise
Evelyn Hillman
Barbara Hodges
Joanna and William Hodges
Elizabeth Howard
Nancy and Stephen James
Elizabeth and William Jones
Nancy and William Judd
C. Stanford and Mae Kelly
Electa Lake
Dorothy Lincoln
P. Reidar and Sigrid Lindland
Vera McAllister
William and Mrs. Monroe
Amy and William Moore
William Newman
Katherine and Wayne Niles
Kihomi and Mabudiga Nzunga*
Thomas Paul
J. Alfred Pearce
Edith Robinson
Bernice and Herbert Rogers
Laura Belle Romeus
Ronald and Susan Smith
Mark and Sandra Jo Thompson
Philip and Rose Uhlinger
Alice and Arthur Wood
Nevart and Zenas Yeghoyan
Nancy Yeghoyan
Helen Yost
Polly Young
...and thousands of short-term and volunteer missionaries

*Currently serving

Jou Drapo Ayisyen (A Photo Essay)

Jodiya se jou drapo ayisyen. Or, for those of us in the English-speaking world, today is Haitian Flag Day.

Here in Nassau, Haitian Flag Day celebrations were observed throughout the weekend, the biggest event being yesterday's parade and cultural festival sponsored by the United Haitian Association in the Bahamas (UHAB) as part of their ongoing collaboration with the International Languages and Cultures Institute (ILCI) at the College of the Bahamas.

Both Estela and I attended this event as members of the Bahamas Human Rights Network (BHRN) where we, along with several of our colleagues, helped to staff an information table promoting BHRN's work in the Haitian community. While a number of people did stop by our table and we did collect contact information from several dozen people interested in joining our mailing list (and, hopefully, attending our meetings), I found the day to be productive for other reasons as well.

First, it was a great opportunity to get better acquainted with a number of our colleagues from BHRN in an informal, casual setting. Many of our colleagues bring years of activist experience to BHRN from other human rights organizations--both local and regional--and it was great to hear their stories and learn more about their work, something we don't normally get to do at our regular meetings.

In addition to getting better acquainted with our colleagues from BHRN, we also bumped into numerous friends and acquaintances from throughout the Haitian community and, likewise, met a lot of new and interesting people for the first time, thus developing a greater appreciation for those who are working on behalf of and in collaboration with the Haitian community.

As with last year's Flag Day events, this year also proved to be an important--albeit painful--reminder that the Haitian churches, while often doing good work amongst immigrants from Haiti, have not yet figured out how to minister effectively to the Bahamian-born children of their members. Consequently, at Haitian Flag Day once sees hundreds of Haitian-Bahamian young people who have drifted away from churches that have failed to effectively reach their generation. Many of the Haitian churches, of course, do have sizeable youth groups, many of whom participated in providing entertainment for the day's festivities. But based on the general trajectory we've observed over the past eight years of ministry with local Haitian churches, it is likely that many of these young people will no longer be active in the church five to ten years from now. (This, of course, is a complex issue that is beyond the scope of this particular post. For those who are interested, Manuel Ortiz offers a helpful analysis of ministry issues ethnic churches face in reaching second-generation immigrants here.)

Last but not least, this was a wonderful celebration of Haitian culture and history. In spite of Haiti's political instability and status as one of the poorest countries in the world, the reality is that Haitians have developed a rich and beautiful culture that has made significant contributions to the regional history and culture of the Caribbean and, indeed, the African-Diaspora throughout the Americas. In that regard, this weekend's Flag Day celebrations properly emphasized the positive aspects of Haiti rather than dwelling upon the negative. Yes, things are tough in Haiti but Haiti and the Haitian people also have much to celebrate and to share with the broader international community. Hopefully, that is the message that was communicated through this year's celebrations.

A Review of Mountains Beyond Mountains

Tracy Kidder, Mountains Beyond Mountains. New York: Random House, 2004.

Mountains Beyond Mountains tells the story of Dr. Paul Farmer, a medical anthropologist and practicing physician whose work in Haiti has made significant inroads in treating tuberculosis and AIDS patients. For those who are interested in learning about the day-to-day realities of healthcare faced by Haitians and others living in underdeveloped countries, this book is an excellent introduction to the issues at hand. While Farmer is not a missionary, his work has been significantly shaped by the best of liberation theology and international development theory. To understand Farmer’s work is to gain insight into many of the issues that missionaries must struggle with as they seek to minister effectively in cross-cultural and poverty-stricken contexts. I highly recommend this book. But beware! Once you pick it up, you won’t be able to put it back down until you’ve finished it.

A detailed review of this book is available here.

Observe Haiti Solidarity Week

Just in from Haiti Reborn. Consider how your church or community group might help raise awareness about women's issues in Haiti by observing Haiti Solidarity Week.

Haiti Solidarity Week
Stand up and speak out to end Violence Against Women
February 3-10, 2008

This year here at Haiti Reborn we are encouraging folks to get involved in activities aimed at confronting violence against women during Haiti Solidarity Week. We have some ideas for doing this on our website, including hosting house parties to raise funds and raise awareness. Any money raised for Haiti Reborn during February solidarity week will go to support the work of the Commission of Women Victims for Victims (KOFAVIV), a women's collective providing services to victims of sexual violence in Port au Prince and engaged in popular education and advocacay to confront the sources of violence.

We invite anybody organizing an event this week - whether it is on this theme or other, related to Haiti Reborn, or other group - to post the details of the event on this page. It has a searchable database of events and thus will help you get the word out about your solidarity activity.

February 7 is a significant date in Haiti's historical struggle for democracy - the day J.C. Duvalier was forced to leave in 1986, the day Aristide, as Haiti first democratically elected president, was first inaugurated in 1991, and the date of the election that brought La Tortue's unelected and illegitimate government to a close in 2006. There are generally many events organized to commemorate Haiti struggle for democracy on this day - and throughout the week. Help us get the word out by posting the details of those activities here - or letting us know by sending an e-mail. (Note: You can customize the descrption of your event - you do not need to use the default!)

On Soup Joumou, Stollen, and Junkanoo: Celebrating the Holidays Away from Home

For most of the world--at least those of us on the Gregorian calendar--today is New Year's Day. But for those of us who are Haitian, married to Haitians, or otherwise living in Haiti or its Diaspora, today is also important because it is Haitian Independence Day. While of special significance to Haitians, today is important for all Caribbean peoples and, indeed, all of us who are--in some fashion or another--descendants of the Atlantic slave trade and its legacy. You see, the Haitian Revolution was the first--and only--successful slave revolt in the New World, making Haiti the the oldest Black Republic in the world and (after the U.S.) the second independent country in the Western Hemisphere. So in typical Haitian Protestant fashion, we observed this dual holiday by attending New Year's Eve services last night at Emmaus Baptist Church here in Nassau and then ushering in the new year by wishing each other Bon Ane! and eating soup joumou and pain Haïtien.

As an expatriate American living in the Bahamas (and married to a Dominican of Haitian descent), you can imagine that our holiday celebrations reflect a number of cultural traditions that have shaped us over the years, making for a truly cross-cultural celebration. I've already mentioned, of course, our tradition of eating soup joumou and pain Haïtien for New Year's/Haitian Independence Day. But when we are in the U.S. and the Bahamas, we also eat more traditional American holiday foods such as turkey and stuffing or baked ham. When celebrating the holidays with Estela's family in the Dominican Republic, however, American-style foods are replaced with Dominican foods such as cassava fritters, beef empanadillas, spaghetti, and fried chicken. And while I'm a couple of generations removed from my German ancestry, we still bake an Americanized version of stollen, made from a recipe handed down from my great-grandfather who was a German baker.

Here in the Bahamas, the Junkanoo parades are an essential part of the holiday festivities, beginning with Junior Junkanoo in mid-December and, then, the two big Junkanoo parades held in the wee-hours of the morning (or, as we say in Spanish, por la madrugada) on Boxing Day and New Year's Day. Dating back to the days of slavery, Junkanoo is perhaps one of the best known (though hardly the only) and most popular forms of Afro-Bahamian culture.

As I generally tend to avoid places where large crowds congregate, we've never attended Junkanoo before. But this year, Estela and I took advantage of the opportunity to join Stephen Aranha, president of the Bahamas Historical Society, and his family to watch the Boxing Day parade from the excellent vantage point of the Bahamas Historical Society Museum. I'm glad we went as it was well worth the experience.

While much of what takes place in Junkanoo (especially the numerous, smaller activities throughout the year) is packaged for the consumption of foreign tourists, Junkanoo is actually a very profound and complex expression of Bahamian culture. The Bahamian anthropologist Nicolette Bethel has written a number of helpful blog posts (see here and here) that have helped my artistically-challenged mind to get a better grasp on Junkanoo's deeper meaning.

But perhaps the best way to understand Junkanoo is simply to observe it first hand. To that end, I've posted a couple of video clips below. (Thanks, again, to Nicolette Bethel for pointing these out.) The first is a scrap group, which is basically an informal--and usually small--group of friends who get together to rush. Back in the old days, all Junkanoo groups were scrap groups and today's groups continue in that tradition. The second video is of the Valley Boys, one of the large A-Groups that competes for prizes. Since Estela and I live near and work in Mason's Addition, we chose to root for the Saxons and One Family, both of which hail from our neighborhood.

Haiti at the Annual SOA Vigil

I have previously written about the School of Americas and its role in perpetrating human rights abuses in Haiti. The second half of this video, shot at last month's vigil to close the School of Americas, talks briefly about the U.S.-sponsored coup d'état against Haiti's democratically elected president Jean-Bertrand Aristide in early 2004.

School of the Americas: The Haitian Case

A number of bloggers (e.g., see here and here) have been commenting on last week's narrow failure of a bill in the U.S. Congress that would have finally closed down the infamous School of the Americas (SOA).

The SOA is a U.S. sponsored training program for Latin American military personnel. SOA Watch, one of the major groups seeking the closure of the SOA, reports that graduates of the school have consistently used their skills to wage war against their own people by targeting educators, union organizers, religious workers, student leaders, and others who work for the rights of the poor. They also note that hundreds of thousands of Latin Americans have been tortured, raped, assassinated, “disappeared,” massacred, and forced into refugee by those trained by the SOA.

While the atrocities committed by SOA graduates in Latin America are well known, most folks are much less familiar with the SOA's legacy in Haiti. To that end, Adrianne Aron has written an informative article for the Haiti Action Committee that shows how the SOA and U.S. military assistance to Haiti, in particular, have been especially devastating.

Thanks to SOAW's annual Vigil at the School of the Americas, the persecution of the religious community in El Salvador during the 1980s is not forgotten. Every year we commemorate the massacre that the Jesuit Provincial called "an act of lavish barbarity," when six Catholic priests, their housekeeper, and her daughter were murdered on the campus of the University of Central America in San Salvador, by government soldiers trained at the School of the Americas.

In Haiti, a number of equally barbarous events carried out by SOA graduates are not so well known, and have been neglected by world attention. The perpetrators are still free, and in some instances, still wielding power. It's time we took notice.

A case in point is Haiti's September 11, a day of infamy in 1988 when SOA alumnus Franck Romain, then Mayor of Port-au-Prince and leader of the brutal Tontons Macoutes, orchestrated a siege of Saint Jean Bosco, the parish church of Father Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

Click here to read the rest of this article.

Celebrating Haitian Heritage

Yesterday, May 18th, Haitian Flag Day was observed as a national holiday in Haiti and was also celebrated throughout much of the Haitian diaspora. In some school districts and municipalities in Southern Florida, the entire month of May has been designated as Haitian Heritage Month.

Here in Nassau, Haitian Flag Day festivities will be held today--May 19th--at Cable Beach. Hopefully, my wife and I will be able to participate in the Haitian Flag Day activities this evening. If so, I will provide an update to this post in the next day or so.

UPDATE (as of 5/25): Estela and I did go to this activity and it turned out to be pretty typical as far as outdoor festivities in the Bahamas go. Haitian Flag Day celebrations were held in the parking lot of Fidelity Bank at Cable Beach and there were several vendors' tables where Haitian food and souvenirs (e.g., Haitian flags and t-shirts) were sold as well as live entertainment provided by local Haitian artists.

What I found to be REALLY interesting about the event, though, was the demographic. There were probably at least three generations of folks present at the event, ranging from very small children to middle-aged adults who were all clearly born in or grew up here in the Bahamas. Most of the Haitians that we encounter through our work in the local churches are immigrants from Haiti. Their children are often born in the Bahamas but it is rare for many of them to stick around in the church after they become teenagers and I could easily count on one hand the number of Bahamian-born Haitians that I know who attend a Haitian church. So this event was a good opportunity to observe a whole segment of the Haitian community that we rarely come into contact with. More importantly, it is a poignant reminder of the challenge the Haitian churches face in finding more effective ways of ministering to their youth and building up a new generation of leaders rather than remaining dependent on the constant flow of immigrants from Haiti to grow their membership.

I was also inspired by the theme for the event, chaj pou youn, se chaj pou tout (or, loosely translated as "the burden for one is the burden for all." In a social context where the black crab complex (as defined by Bahamian author Patricia Glinton-Meicholas) seems to plague Haitians as much as Bahamians, the theme was a welcome reminder of the importance of working together and supporting one another for the good of the Haitian community rather than fostering rivalries and competition. In terms of community development, I would like to find ways to develop this theme by fostering greater collaboration between Haitian immigrants and Bahamians of Haitian descent. Too often, our churches themselves have simply reenforced negative patterns of individual competition and have done little to promote a sense of social responsibility.

Read more about this event here.

A Review of The Prophet and Power

Bob Corbett has recently written a very lengthy and detailed review of Alex Dupuy's new book on Jean-Bertrand Aristide, titled The Prophet and Power (Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 2006).

Basically, the book is a survey of Aristide's influence on Haiti and Haitian politics, beginning with his early days as a liberation theology priest in the 1980s until he was ousted from in his most recent presidency in early 2004.

Unlike most of what has been written about Aristide in the English language press during the past twenty years, Corbett argues that Dupuy's analysis tends to avoid an either/or dichotomy, providing a more nuanced interpretation of Aristide's legacy:

Alex Dupuy’s over-arching thesis is quite different. He makes a strong case that this story lacks any blameless good folks. Whether it is Aristide’s person and personality, the activities of his party and supporters, or any one or group of his Haitian opposition or the U.S.-led international community, each and everyone comes in for severe and intelligent criticism. There just isn’t, on Dupuy’s account, a “right” or “good” side in this story for the country of Haiti. It is a terrible tragedy of the repeated history of the fall of one failed state, being replaced by an equally failed state.

During Aristide's tenure as a parish priest, Corbett explains:

The first Aristide is, on Dupuy’s account, an appealing figure, but with a radical contradiction in his person and views. I am impressed and persuaded by Dupuy’s analysis that THIS early Aristide is best understood as a man of contradictory tendencies (italics mine): a reformer with a true passion to bring about reforms consistent with the liberation theology concept of “the preferential option of the poor,” yet as a personal revolutionary and one who sees himself as not only a prophet, but as a leader not responsible to others.

Later upon being elected to the presidency of Haiti, these contradictions in Aristide's personality coupled with Haiti's volatile internal situation proved to be his undoing:

He preached democracy and revved up a great deal of support for this notion, yet he had an almost impossible time acting democratically within Lavalas or as president. He seemed deeply committed to his own vision and one was either with him or against him. The clash was devastating.

More importantly, he preached democracy, seems to have wanted a rule by law, but faced enormous forces against him, many of which were using physical force. Thus the more revolutionary, prophetic Aristide turned to the non-democratic “power of the people” to protect him.

Perhaps what got Aristide in the greatest mess was his advocacy of and refusal to deny the use of Pere Lebrun (fiery necklacing of people with tires). Not only was this a terrifying threat to government officials and opposition people in the bourgeoisie. It was a frightening inconsistency – at times Aristide seemed to be agreeable to working with the opposition and compromising here and there, and at other times he would be talking of how wonderful this tool was. It created strong doubt in the minds of many of the reliability of any alliance with Aristide.

I have long argued that Aristide had a brilliant career as a liberation theology priest who helped to bring about the demise of Haiti's corrupt Duvalier regime, but that he failed dismally as Haiti's first freely elected president. Dupuy's book helps us to understand why. Clearly, The Prophet and Power is a must-read book for anyone interested in understanding the legacy of Jean-Bertrand Aristide as well as the broader issues of why Haiti remains stubbornly ungovernable.