wfn.org | [PCUSANEWS] Mission trips to Haiti discouraged

[PCUSA NEWS <PCUSA.NEWS@ECUNET.ORG>]

Note #8764 from PCUSA NEWS to PRESBYNEWS:

05310
June 13, 2005

Mission trips to Haiti discouraged

WMD says escalating violence endangers visitors, church partners 

by Alexa Smith

LOUISVILLE ¾ The Worldwide Ministries Division of the Presbyterian Church
(U.S.A.) is urging congregations and presbyteries to cancel planned mission
trips to Haiti.

	The PC(USA) also is evacuating missionaries from volatile areas until
peace is restored.

	Human-rights groups say more than 600 people have been killed in
Haiti since October. The escalating unrest is attributed to multiple causes,
including drug trafficking and political unrest. Armed supporters and
opponents of ousted President Jean Bertrand Aristide are forming gangs and
battling in the slums of Haiti's major cities.

	Middle-class Haitians often are victims of the killings and
abductions.

	"Our church partner in Haiti is getting nervous about groups and
about mission personnel, so, until further notice, we're telling groups not
to go," said Maria Arroyo, the denomination's liaison to the Episcopal
Diocese of Haiti.

	Arroyo said foreign nationals reportedly are being targeted for
kidnapping. 

	A massive drought that led to crop failures last year is aggravating
an economy already decimated by rampant unemployment. Haiti is the
hemisphere's poorest nation.

	Arroyo said countless Presbyterians are linked to mission projects in
Haiti, most notably the St. Croix Hospital in Leogane, west of Port au
Prince; an agricultural school in Cap Haitian in the north; and a clinic and
churches on the island of La Gonave, near Port au Prince.

	Three presbyteries ¾ Greater Atlanta, Coastal Carolina and Peaks ¾
have formal partnerships with church groups in Haiti.

	"We just don't know how many congregations have ongoing ministries
there, but we know a large number do," said the Rev. Jo Ella Holman, who has
been trying for two years to establish a network of churches and presbyteries
working in Haiti.

	Holman said the PC(USA) is as concerned about the Haitian church as
about its own members and missionaries.

	"We're asking: In what ways does our presence put our partners at
risk?" she said. "In some situations, an international presence deters
violence and decreases risk; in others, it actually increases the risk. And
we think this is one of the latter (situations)."

	An interim government is operating in Haiti, bolstered by a
7,400-member United Nations peacekeeping force trying to maintain order as
the country prepares for elections in October and November.

	"As Haiti approaches its national elections, the country has
experienced an upsurge in violence," said Bill Simmons, coordinator of WMD's
security team. "WMD cannot encourage or facilitate travel to Haiti by any
volunteer mission group. When it is determined that the situation has
stabilized, WMD will revisit this decision."

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