Hot Dark Nights in Haiti

The spiderweb of wires on the left pole illustrates why public electricity in Haiti is so unreliable.  Our neighborhood transformer has literally 25 houses illegally connected without a meter to measure consumption.  Because so much electricity is stolen, the public utility company actually loses money on each kilowatt produced.  Thus, the only structure in Haiti with reliable electricity 24/7 in Haiti is the Presidential Palace.  Those of us who are not presidents get considerably less.

In our neighborhood in Port-au-Prince, we get public electricity from about 10 pm to 5 am on most days.  Since we would be in the dark during the other seventeen hours, we have an inverter system that uses deep-cycle batteries to provide minimal power for the rest of the day.  When the public electricity does not come on at all (as can happen sometimes for several days in a row), we have a backup generator to charge our batteries.  Recently, we spent four weeks without getting normal public electricity because of a malfunctioning transformer in our neighborhood.  Several times during the last four weeks, we measured 94 degrees fahrenheit inside our bedroom at night.  As you can imagine, we had some pretty uncomfortable nights since August is one of the hottest months in Haiti.  After calling the public electricity company daily for four weeks, we give thanks to God that a crew finally came and "fixed" our problem.  We are going to be taking a good hard look at solar panels for our house in the coming weeks.  Lack of electricity and water are two of the most fatiguing challenges to life in Haiti.

Two Hundred Years of Protestantism in Haiti

On the 19th of August, Haiti celebrated the two-hundred-year anniversary of the founding of Protestantism by Wesleyan missionaries from the United Kingdom.  When the first Protestant missionaries arrived in Haiti, the entire nation was officially declared by the Pope to be in schism from the Roman Catholic Church after Haiti violently gained its independence from the French in 1804.  Because the Roman Catholic Church had cut off relations from Haiti's Catholics due to the rebellion against the French, no priests or other Church representatives could officially work in Haiti.  The lack of priests was one of the many reasons that the Haitian masses mixed Catholicism with their ancestral religions, creating what is known today as Haitian Voodoo.  The progress of the Protestant mission was very slow in the country for the first 150 years of its existence.  Since the fifties and sixties, however, the Protestant church has grown very quickly.  Today 30-40% of Haitians are affiliated with a Protestant church of some kind.  The largest Protestant denominations are Baptist, Methodist/Wesleyan, and Pentecostal.  Unfortunately, some of the early Protestant mission work in Haiti has suffered from the often racist and paternalistic attitudes that have dominated much of the interaction between Haiti and the outside world since 1804.  However, in the last several decades, there has been a flowering of awareness among Protestant missions that God has equipped and called Haitian believers to guide and establish their own churches.  This Spirit-led change will allow for the Haitian church to take its rightful place among the world's other Christian communities.

Segaar-King July Ministry Report

Pastor Lemete (far right) celebrates with five new Timothy Leadership Trainers.  In July, Lemete finished sixteen years of service.

Dear Friends and Family:

Acts 18 records the Apostle Paul’s work in the city of Corinth.  In these verses we read about the aggressive opposition Paul endured from both Greeks and his fellow Jews.  Reading between the lines, we imagine that Paul could have been exhausted, frustrated, and even concerned for his safety.  So God appears in a vision telling him to keep speaking because “I am with you, and no one is going to attack and harm you, for I have many people in this city.”  In times when we feel alone or hard pressed, it is good to remember that God has put many other people amongst us to encourage us and to lift us up.  We hope that this promise, which is so important to us, can encourage you in all aspects of your life.  

Please join us in giving thanks for:

1.    A successful women’s spiritual conference in Cayes Jacmel, Haiti.  Sharon and several others led sessions and services for participants from the Jacmel area.

2.    Sixteen years of service for our friend and colleague Pastor Lemete Zephyr as the director of the Ministry of Christian Development (MCD).  MCD is a key partner working in Christian leadership training in more than five rural communities in Haiti.  He will be succeeded as director by Dextra Wegens.

3.    Continued growth in our ministry for Haitian young people called IMPACT Clubs.  Young people in several Haitian cities are regularly meeting for Christian fellowship and reflection on how they can positively change their neighborhoods.

Please join us in prayer for:

1.    A good start to a new school year for our four children.  We are excited that our children all have teachers in place this coming year.  In the past it has been difficult for their school to find qualified teachers willing to serve in Haiti.

2.    Energy to handle all our ministry responsibilities.  We are critically short-staffed even though we have recently hired a new family.  It will be several months before they arrive in Haiti.

3.    Interest from our supporting churches to send Service and Learning teams to Haiti.  We have an exciting project for 16-17 and we need your help. Contact us if you or your church are interested.

4.    Safe travel in August and September.  Sharon is traveling to the US for a family event and Zach will be attending a mission conference in Mexico.

Thanks for your prayers and support,

Zachary, Sharon, Hannah, Vivian, Isaiah and Esther Segaar-King

Missionaries to Haiti through Christian Reformed World Missions