Haiti

Two years after a devastating earthquake killed an estimated 300,000 people in Haiti, Christianity is fast replacing Voodoo in the lives and practices of the people, a missionary has revealed.

According to the Central Intelligence Agency World Factbook, there is a fusion of beliefs in Haiti – 80 percent of people profess to be Catholic, and another 16 percent are Protestant yet roughly half of the population still practices Voodoo.

However, it is no secret that Christianity has been expanding as a religion in Haiti – and a host of Christian missionaries and charity organizations who flew to the Caribbean nation to help the millions in desperate need have also contributed to a large conversion movement. more >>

If you teach a man to bake, he’ll have bread for life. For husband and wife team Rick and Debbi Sands, this philosophy is part of the ingredients for their new mission to help feed the hungry in Ouanaminthe, Haiti.

The Sandses, who own the Great Harvest Bread Co. in Stow, Ohio, have bread in their blood. But Rick said last year he felt like God was calling them to build a bakery in a third world country. He wrote in a blog post, “I have always had a heart for world hunger and felt called to step up and take a stand.”

Their bakery idea took off when their home church in Hudson, Ohio, held a meeting about a vocational school in Haiti called Institution Univers. The Sandses met with the director and founder of the school, Hugues Bastien, and began discussing where their bakery might fit into the school’s vocational programs. more >>

After nearly two years of serving in earthquake-ravaged Haiti, the Billy Graham Rapid Response Team is completing the mission and chaplains are set to come home, the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association reported Wednesday.

More than 120 chaplains spent 22 months in the devastated country, after arriving in Haiti immediately following the Jan. 12, 2010 earthquake. Chaplains typically stayed for two-week periods and were rotated in and out regularly, said Keith Stiles, deployment manager of the Rapid Response Team.

“We were in clinics, orphanages and school. We worked with Samaritan’s Purse at the shelters … we ministered to Samaritan’s Purse volunteers in the camps at night,” said Stiles. more >>

Haiti's death toll from last year's earthquake may not be as high as the government reported, a new report suggests.

According to The Associated Press, the total number of people who died after a powerful 7.0-magnitude quake shook the Caribbean country, is not 316,000 but between 46,000 and 85,000.

The new figure comes from a report commissioned by the U.S. government and prepared for the U.S. Agency for International Development. It has not yet been released, as there are still inconsistencies, as reported by AP. more >>

A U.S. missionary who was held in a Haitian prison for more than five months without charges is now free and bound for the United States.

“I was trying to keep thin[g]s quiet until he was safely out of Haiti. However, some things are impossible to keep quiet. Especially really great and wonderful news,” reported Leann Pye, wife of 29-year-old pastor Danny Pye, who was being held in a prison in the southern Haitian coastal town of Jacmel.

“Our prayers, tears, and words have been heard and responded with a YES,” she exclaimed Wednesday in her blog. “Danny is free and is out of Jacmel spending some time with the kids. We will be unavailable until next week. Thank you all for your support and prayers. God is good!” more >>

For 24 hours Wednesday, concerned Christians from various parts of the country joined in a time of prayer and fasting for the release of a U.S. missionary in Haiti who has been imprisoned for over four months without charge.

Though little media attention has been given to 29-year-old pastor Danny Pye, those who have caught wind of his plight have been praying for his release from prison in the southern Haitian coastal town of Jacmel.

Pye, who has been serving in Haiti since 2003, was sent to prison last October after appearing before a local magistrate. The purpose of the court appearance was to negotiate the legal dividing of property and other assets belonging to Joy in Hope, the ministry he and his wife established to serve needy children. Pye and his wife Leann left the ministry to create an orphanage they named Kenbe Fem, Creole for “Hold Strong.” more >>