NZ Freephone Seven Weeks of Prayer for Peace
CWS invites you to pray for peace with us through the seven weeks of Lent, an initiative of the Lutheran World Federation. The campaign was launched on Ash Wednesday with a focus on Ukraine. In the second week we prayed for Afghanistan. In week 3 we prayed for Ethiopia and South Sudan. In week 4 we prayed for West Papua. This week we pray for Haiti:
Loving God
We pray for peace in Haiti.
For the people who have been forgotten,
Who need food for today,
Safety on the streets,
And an end to the hardship and violence.
Loving God
We pray for peace in Haiti.
For those who make the decisions that deny people a decent livelihood and basic human rights,
Who profit from drug trafficking and the sale of arms,
Who perpetuate conditions that allow gang violence and undemocratic government to flourish.
Loving God
We pray for peace in Haiti.
For women and men
Who want their children to be able to go to school,
To learn the skills they need to flourish,
Who want peace and security for their community and their land.
Loving God
We pray for peace in Haiti.
We pray in the name of the One who is the source of life and peace
Amen
#7weeksforpeace
Download Slide for Sunday.
The community-run bakery subsidises the local school in rural Haiti. School is the top priority for its parents but there is no government funding available.
Underneath the talk of failed states and complex emergencies are other stories. News reports focus on instability, increasing poverty and frightening levels of violence and corruption. They ignore the daily life of the people and the struggles they face. Haiti is one of those tough places where the people are strong.
In Haiti there is a deep longing for an end to the violence and poverty that are crippling the country. The people have watched as outside actors have destabilised governments despite their best efforts to create a more accountable democracy and a secure country. United Nations troops introduced cholera to the countryside when the people wanted stability. Elections failed to improve the situation, and government services continued to collapse. Frequent natural disasters have claimed lives and destroyed homes and livelihoods.
The assassination of the president in July 2021 added to the political and economic turmoil. A de facto prime minister was effectively appointed by foreign governments. The crisis deepened and people protested the high cost of living and the lack of security. Gangs supported by powerful interests are holding the capital Port au Prince and much of the country to ransom. In the first two weeks of March, 208 people were killed and 101 abducted according to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
As the situation worsens, Canada, France, the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the USA have continued to discuss the situation, while civil society has tried to find local solutions. They want foreign leaders to stop the flow of guns, drugs and other sources of discord.
Humanitarian agencies report 5.2 million will need assistance this year. From this month 4.7 million are predicted to be acutely food insecure. Haiti is in urgent need of more humanitarian assistance.
Christian World Service partner, the Institut Culturel Karl Lévêque (ICKL) is one organisation actively supporting improved human rights, better livelihoods and a safer country. ICKL has worked hard to recover after losing much in the earthquake of 2010. It has supported schools funded by rural small farmers for their children with some help from our Gifted programme. After natural disasters and Covid, it has delivered health advice, seeds and solidarity.
In the last year ICKL held working sessions and radio broadcasts on democracy and human rights as part of its Popular University programme. Academics who came from the community, community people and those interested in development met to consider the current situation, drawing on their own expertise and experiences. Together they tried to understand what was happening and identified new ways of supporting communities to create a Haitian future. The group hopes to publish some of their findings to make them more widely available. ICKL plans to organise further work sessions in the provinces to encourage greater participation by the Haitian people in the process of taking collective responsibility for the management of public affairs.
March 24, 2023
