security reminder

As with most things in Haiti, security can often time be precarious.  In an effort to provide some much needed income, we have been doing some side work and projects.

I was recently at a building site on one of these projects.  I was walking through a 50 acre construction site with an Architecture student, reviewing the progress of the buildings.  As we were standing near the end of a building, we heard several gunshots coming from the entrance to the facility.  We were on a hillside about 150 yards away and could see the security guards firing into the air and running in our direction.  The student walked out past the end of the building to see who they were chasing up the hill, as he told me to have a seat and stay out of sight.  As he was looking around, he was telling me what was happening.  After a few moments, I saw them escorting a man in handcuffs back down to the gate.  A police pickup arrived and he was taken away.

looking towards the gate from my viewpoint

As a group of us sat there watching, the student was asking the construction workers who the man was and what had happened.  Apparently, he is a local "labor boss" (aka "mafia boss").  He had beaten the security guard at a ministry across the street to protest that he had been brought in from out of town (about 5 miles away).  As we were discussing this, a small group of young men outside the facility began attacking the ministry across the street in protest to their "boss" being arrested.

They broke down the fence and tried to break into a couple of shipping containers that probably had tools they could use to do more damage.  They were unable to get into the containers and things settled down within about 10 minutes.  In the middle of their attempt to get into the containers, we also noticed a dad enter the facility with a baseball bat looking for his 20-something year old son who was also making trouble.  As we watched the dad waving the bat and yelling for his son, we could see the son hiding in the Banana trees and running for the exit.  The son got out without being caught or seen by the dad, so I don't know how that played out later.

Although I never felt as though I was in any danger, this is a good reminder that security in Haiti is fragile at best.  Please pray for our safety as we continue to serve here in Haiti.  Thank you for prayerfully considering supporting us financially.  God Bless

Ron Sheppard