One's Civic Duty

Campaign posters plastered over the side of cargo container with a goat on the hood of a car looking on. 

In Haiti October 25, 2015, is a day set aside for what Haitians call "devwa sivik nou" or "our civic duty."  The uninitiated in Haitian culture might understand this phrase to refer to picking up trash on the roadside or raking some leaves in the public park.  For a Haitian, however, this phrase refers to voting.  Today Haiti held its first round of presidential elections and second round of legislative elections.  The first round legislative elections held back in August garnered less that a 20% turn-out from all eligible voters.  It seems that Haitians are understandably cynical about the possibility that any particular candidate might turn out to be a conscientious and effective leader.  Many (if not most) Americans and Canadians often feel the same way about their own officials.  For this reason, most Haitians will not perform "their civic duty" on October 25.
In order to combat this cynicism about voting, we offered a bible study called "Choosing Good Leaders" which presented the biblical discussion of principles of choosing leaders.  Unfortunately, for the reason stated above, this bible study has had a hard time getting traction.  Many in Haiti just believe that they are condemned to have corrupt and self-serving leadership in government and business.  With one final presidential run-off election scheduled just after Christmas, we still have two months to promote "Choosing Good Leaders."  Pray that we will be successful in encouraging Haitian Christians to do "their civic duty."
On a positive note, it seems that today's elections were, for the most part, peaceful and successful.  Our neighborhood in Port-au-Prince was eerily quiet.  It will be some weeks before the votes are counted and we really know the results of the election.  Thanks for your prayers.