“So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
2 Corinthians 4:18
Our time in Haiti was unlike any month in our lives.
From the moment we crossed the border into the country we felt a heaviness and a darkness. Not only did the atmosphere shift but the landscape changed from the lush and vibrant colors of the Dominican Republic to the trash filled “No Man’s Land”- the the area between the DR and Haiti border. As we crossed the border into Haiti I saw;
More chaos. Less order.
More struggle. Less peace.
I didn’t understand how this extreme poverty and contrast appeared immediately after
we crossed the border line.
The DR and Haiti share the same island yet they are polar opposites.
My heart felt as if there were many secrets I didn’t know.
What was the reason behind this extreme poverty and spiritual oppression?
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Our team lived on a missionary compound for the month of October. (See pics on our Haiti Picture Blog post)We did heavy construction work each day at Mission of Hope School in Grande Guave, Haiti. We loved the feeling of challenging physical labor that created satisfying results we could see; pulling nails from boards and moving giant pieces of plywood, organizing them like life-size jenga into piles that reached for the sky. My favorite part of out ministry was being greeted by beautiful Haitian children each day. When I picked up these children they felt so starved for love. They rested like dead weight in my arms as if it was the first time they were carried around and hugged for no reason at all. They learned how to hang on to my neck as I locked them into the crease in my waist that God made just for women to tote babies on their hip. They would stare and stare into my face curiously as I smiled back at them. We attended church services at Mission of Hope, many of the kids would often fall asleep in our arms during church- they trusted us and felt so much peace in our arms.
During the nights at the compound, many of us experienced nightmares and often woke up multiple times with unexplained fear. Sometimes we would hear drums beating around our compound and people chanting. As we shared with each other, we realized many of us were experiencing the same things. One day we were visited by a Canadian man named Ben that had been living in Haiti as a missionary for many years. He is married to a Haitian woman, has an adorable son, speaks Creole fluently and is highly respected in the community. He proceeded to confirm all of the suspicions I had in my spirit. He insisted he would only share the experiences he witnessed with his own eyes and could vouch for as truth. He explained the degree in which Haiti is affected by Voodoo.
Voodoo is Haiti’s official religion and it lingers like a dark cloud over the atmosphere. Voodoo curses are in fact the number one cause of death in Haiti. It sounds like a movie but this is real life. Ben informed us that once someone had been cursed, they are dead within 3 days. He saw many cursed people and never saw or ever heard of anyone making it past 3 days. Victims of curses are attacked with illness and when taken to the hospital they are asked if they believe there has been a curse put on them. When the hospital finds out they have been cursed they refuse to continue giving them care and send them home because no amount of medicine can stop their fate.
There is one exception. Curses are not affective on followers of Jesus Christ. Some of you are completely skeptical right now, which is exactly how I would have been before I was in Haiti myself. Our friend Ben earned the respect of many witch doctors in the area and was allowed to attend voodoo ceremonies. As man of God, he felt armored to be in such situations and would not recommend anyone that is not spiritually mature in their faith to attend a voodoo ceremony. He has seen people levitate across the room as they are possessed by spirits, he has had a demon look him in the eye and try to take his life. When He said the name of Jesus he watched the demon shrink back into the corner of the room like a frightened child.
Ben told us about a local Haitian man that visited a witch doctor with the intent to curse a Christian man. The witch doctor did a ritual and then lifted a small mirror and asked “Is this the man you wish to curse?” The mirror was completely blank. The witch doctor turned pale. After 20 years of practicing voodoo he had never experienced a blank mirror. He poured ashes around the mirror and prayed to an even darker spirit. This time when he lifted the mirror and asked the question, it was blank again. He prayed to an even more powerful demon, one he had never had to call on, and covered the edges of the mirror in chicken blood. This time when he lifted the mirror and asked the man that had sought his help “Is this the man you wish to curse?” The man screamed and ran into the other room. The witch doctor looked into the mirror and there he saw the image of a hand pierced with a large nail and blood dripping from the nail down the outside of the mirror. This image was the hand of Jesus and the man meant to be cursed was protected by the Savior. Ben cried as he told us this story. As for the witch doctor, he became a believer and moved to America to share this story and preach the love of Jesus.
When asking children their greatest fear in Haiti they will tell you they are afraid of “Lugahu.” (not sure of the spelling) This is a woman appointed by witch doctors to take children during the night to be killed in voodoo sacrifices. Our friend Ben found a child sacrificed on his property just two weeks before we arrived in Haiti. He had tears in his eyes when describing it because it was a child that he knew.
When looking at Haiti most people see the land to be cursed and the people to be stuck in poverty. However, I see God moving. I see so much hope. Haitians are lively and full of laughter. They are passionate people that you may hear shouting back and forth loudly in what sounds like an argument, only to find they are discussing the weather. Haitians are also the hardest working people I know. They work until the job is done and they do it right the first time.
and certain of what we do not see.” Hebrews 11:1
Haitians are blessed because they see the spiritual world, what they call “The Invisible World.” They are not distracted by possessions, fashion, television, internet, and the latest Iphone. Unlike many Americans, their eyes are open to see the unseen. They have a strong faith because they know the power of Jesus and have seen the atmosphere shift at the sound of His name.
I’m full of gratitude for the experience of living in Haiti. I have been so encouraged by witnessing the power of God in this country. I have seen demons released from people at the sound of Jesus name. I have prayed with orphans and asked them how I could help them. They had hardly anything, but they told me their greatest need was for their mother to know Jesus Christ. My eyes are beginning to truly understand ". . . For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”
