It is Saturday night and the eve of presidential elections here in Haiti. At our house here in Kaliko, about an hour northwest of Port-au-Prince, everything is quiet. Like on many night recently, there is the thick smell of charcoal being made in the air. I went out earlier to hang out the laundry and the flashlight showed the thick haze. It is not a pleasant smell but it does remind us we are in Haiti.
Everyone here has been anticipating these elections and tomorrow they will be held. Most of our Haitian friends they won’t bother going out to vote. Either they don’t think it will change anything or they feel it will be too dangerous. We talked to someone in Port-au-Prince this morning and they said there has been some violence already. We pray it does not spread.
Both the Haitian police and MINUSTAH, the UN peacekeeping force are out on the streets. I was on Lagonav yesterday and the flyboat pulled into Ansagale the Brazilians were offloading trucks and soldiers from a barge. It had been pulled over by tugboat, presumably from Port-au-Prince. They looked ready for war, weapons out, blue helmets in place. There was some gunfire in town late last night.
We will stay home tomorrow and have our church service here at Kaliko. The police are trying to keep most vehicles off the road, closed the Dominican border and only the police can carry weapons until Wednesday. We pray for peace but who knows. The elections results will be posted little by little over the next 10 days or so. Thanks for keeping us in your prayers. We know our ultimate hope is not in governments or authorities but in the king of Kings, the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is a hope and anchor for the soul.
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