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 Ackerman
Security Report
As of January 7, 2006 Jodie and I have been in Haiti for 20 years. From the
first day we arrived here, security has always been a concern. But, we’ve always
known that God called us here and is the true source of our security—not the
ever-changing, volatile, political state of this troubled land. If everything
was fine and wonderful in Haiti, we wouldn’t be needed here, would we? We don’t
pretend that because we’re here serving God, we’re exempt from the violence, and
that the constant ambiguity of it all does get to us some days. But, until God
calls us away, we’re here where we need to be and wouldn’t have it otherwise.
We get our snail mail through an organization called Agape Flights. They have an
airplane, a storage hanger, and a number of terrific people who work very hard
so we can get our mail and packages much easier than if they were to come
through the regular Haitian mail. Each Saturday morning we go down to an office
in the Delmas area of Port-au-Prince and pick up boxes and any mail that has
been sent to the Agape Flights office in Sarasota for us the week before. As you
can probably understand, this is a fun time for us not only because we get all
the mail and packages from our friends and supporters but also because we get to
see and talk with many of the other missionaries from throughout the world who
are also here doing the Lord’s work: everything from medical and education to
running orphanages, adoption agencies, and community development programs.
I remember the first time Jodie and I went to Agape Flights back in January of
1986, not long after we had arrived here. We certainly stuck out as the new
missionaries on the block. We had no tan, didn’t speak any of the Creole or
French that the others could speak, and certainly didn’t know what was going on
in the country of Haiti at that time. I learned from someone on the airplane on
our way here to live that the schools had been closed down on that very day. I
didn’t realize that closing schools was a thing that the government does (at
least in Haiti) when they want to protest something they don’t like is going on
in the country. At that specific time it was due to the fact that the people of
the country were pulling their children out of the schools.
As I moved up in the line that day there was a clipboard on the desk and we were
to sign it if we were leaving due to the security problems. “Do you mean people
are leaving?” “Yes, probably 40% have either left or are leaving this week.
There was no way that I was going to sign that thing. It certainly seemed calm
to me. Why would I leave? And so thus was our introduction to dealing with
security problems in Haiti.
During the 20 years here we have gone through many of those kinds of times. Many
were obvious but some were a total surprise to us. During a language school in
Petionville not long after entering Haiti the school director drove up, jumped
out of his car and told us we needed to leave because Duvalier, the “President
for Life” of the country who was not very liked, had been overthrown and had
flown out during the night. There were hordes of people in the streets, cars
driving the wrong way on one way streets, and it was certainly dangerous for us
Americans to be out there among these people who weren’t all that appreciative
of Americans at that time. It seems that our country had kept Jean Claude
Duvalier in power for many years and lots of these people who were filling the
streets and roads in celebration would feel free to tell us that.
We did make it home that day but not without stopping a lot due to the people in
the streets. We also learned some handy things. When people are celebrating, act
like you’re happy too and do what they do. They all had small tree limbs waving
them in the air so we stopped at one group of demonstrators and they gladly gave
both of us tree parts for us to wave outside the car all the way home.
That took care of that problem for that specific time but it certainly wasn’t
our last brush with security problems while living here. We have been through
about ten coup d’etat. A few of them have been fairly non-violent but most of
them have entailed lots of shooting, yelling, and just plain ugliness. But,
along the way we’ve learned some things that have taken the edge off our dire
worry about our personal well-being during these times.
The main thing we learned is that in almost all cases we are not targeted
because we are Americans. In many other countries that may be true but in Haiti
the Americans are seen as people who are not responsible for the things their
government does (although there are a bunch of people who think that George Bush
is a personal friend of mine and anytime I am in the States I get to have
personal conversations with him). They also believe we are ignorant about their
life situation and in most cases we are. I’ve been here twenty years now and I
have no idea how a Haitian father makes enough money on his meager pay to put
food in his kids’ stomachs. Nor do I have any idea how people who live under
such pressure on a daily basis have the desire to keep trying.
It has been a very difficult fall for many persons living in Haiti. Not long
after our return in August but even more November and December will be a time we
will remember for kidnappings. Almost on a daily basis we would hear about
so-and-so being taken and either ransom being paid to get them released or there
was the occasional killing. It was a Saturday in early December when Jessica and
I were at Agape Flights in order to pick up our mail. A friend of ours, the
principal of a Christian school stopped and told us to pray for a family, who
had men dressed as “police” steal their car along with their two children ages 3
and 4, and a child from their orphanage age 6. The word was that the FBI had a
unit on the ground already and there was another on the way from Miami to work
on this specific situation. That night we were called and told that the children
had been released without harm. I saw Dave, the children’s father the next day
while in traffic. I yelled to his car our thanksgiving for the kids return and
asked how the kids were and he said they were fine. I do understand the kids had
some trouble sleeping since but that is to be understood.
The next personal situation that came up was around the 12th of December. A 16
year old son of Dutch friends of ours had been abducted on his way home that
evening. After paying a ransom, Peter was returned home after four nights and
days in captivity. There were many offerings of praise.
Guy, a Haitian who worked in maintenance at Quisqueya Christian School was a
great person. He was shot and killed in mid December when he went down to Cite
Soleil on an errand. He did nothing to provoke the attack. He was just in a very
poor shanty town that holds well over 300,000 people in a very small area.
Living here during that time was high stress to say the least. One thing that
helped break up the pressure was the visit by Jacquie, our daughter. She had
come home from college for the Christmas holiday and it was like a breeze of
fresh air. But, even with the distraction it was hard not to dwell on the bad
things that were happening almost daily all around us. A few times when we were
sitting around the table and talking as a family, Jessica would ask if I was
angry with her. It was hard to get her to understand that the problem wasn’t her
but more simply the fear that was all around us.
John, a close friend of mine is the pastor of a local church in addition to
being a missionary who arranges adoptions of Haitian orphans. He describes the
fear that we have been going through as the “creep.” He describes it as a fungus
that starts on the bottom of your feet and slowly, without notice, it creeps up
your legs and chest eventually becomes the only thing you think about. It takes
a lot of prayer, faith, and belief that what you are about is more important
than the fear. It’s not an easy thing to overcome.
Over Christmas we overcame the “creep” and went to the beach at Jacmel for some
family fun and relaxation. But, even while at the hotel in Jacmel, a friend of
ours came by. She’s a local travel agent. She told us of her ordeal in
Petionville two nights before. She was at a late dinner, got in her truck to
leave and as she was heading home a car sideswiped her while passing. She
stopped, jumped out of the car, and was going to give the man a piece of her
mind. But she realized that he was coming back to the car to take her as a
hostage. She ran back to the car but she couldn’t get the door closed in time.
The man pushed her into the passenger’s side of her car on her HEAD (This is the
comic relief. This lady is a fairly large very “proper” British lady who doesn’t
often find herself upside-down in a car). He proceeded to start the car to take
her away. For some reason the car wouldn’t start so he left. She was praising
God when we saw her.
Since that time there continue to be the occasional kidnapping although the
daily grind from the month of December has greatly improved. Although there are
9000 United Nations troops, they didn’t see the desire to get personally
involved until several of their own have been killed in the last couple months.
This is very sad, but at least now we have much more true public security. It
seems that the UN is now getting serious about their job as of necessity.
Americans are also less targeted as of late, because the FBI gets involved. None
of these guys who are doing the kidnappings are looking for a one way ticket to
Maimi for an ugly trial in an American court.
What does all this mean? It means that life is tenuous. There are no guarantees.
We have to live everyday like it’s our last. It could be. Isn’t that the way we
wanted to live it anyway? We have to try to keep the “creep” from taking over
our lives without thinking that we are beyond being hurt, kidnapped, or killed.
That is such a hard balance!
What do I do personally? I observe as much as possible. I look in the rearview
mirror more than I ever have. If cars are parked in the same place and people
are just sitting and observing, I take note that they don’t start moving after I
pass. I stay back from trucks so if anybody jumps out I’ll have a chance to get
around. I try not to use the same directions to go to and from the clinic. Most
of all I don’t go where there are known security breaches. I stay away from the
city center, Cite Soleil, and Belaire.
I pray.
It is hard to imagine being here for such a long time. Like many others, when we
came here we came forever. However long the Lord wanted us to stay, that’s how
long we believed to be the extent of our contract and obligation to the work he
had planned for us here. We still work here believing that we are committed for
our lifetime unless God has a different idea about that and makes his ideas
known to us in some very clear way.
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