LAFAYETTE, La. — KATC is learning more about how recent violence in Haiti can affect the help they receive from overseas.
Over the weekend, 16 Americans, including five children, all part of a mission on the island, were kidnapped. Their whereabouts are still unknown.
According to the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries organization, a total of 17 of their people were kidnapped by a gang just north of Haiti's capital on Saturday.
Dr. David Fakier, who does mission work in Haiti, says this is a complex issue.
“It's multi-factorial, just like gang violence anywhere in the world, anywhere in our American cities,” he said. “To try and say it’s one particular reason would be hard for anyone to try to say.”
His mission group, Haiti Missions Inc, has been traveling to the island nation for decades. Right now, they’re building four homes a month for people in need.
“More than anything there's a concern for Haiti as a country, but the people that do our work where we are, they’re probably more worried about ‘is this going to limit what we can do in Haiti?’” he said.
According to a human rights research group in Port-au-Prince, kidnappings have increased in the island this year - nearly 300% since July. Since January, 628 kidnappings have taken place, 29 of them involving people not from Haiti.
The most recent abduction is getting attention from Washington, hoping to bring the missionaries back home.
“The FBI is part of a coordinated US government effort to get the US citizens involved to safety. Due to operational considerations, we’re not going to go into too much detail on that but can confirm their engagement. The US embassy in Port-au-Prince is coordinating with local authorities and providing assistance to the families to resolve the situation,” said White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki.
This violent trend is concerning for people like Dr. Fakier, who are trying to spread hope on the island.
“When you can't bring people down there, when they're fearful to go down there for whatever reason, if we limit the number of groups that go down there," Fakier said. "That's opportunities lost for people to not only experience themselves, to realize how lucky we are in the United States and how much they can help these people."
He says the violence not only impacts mission work on the ground, but it limits the number of people who go and come back to share their experience and raise awareness about the mission work.
To learn more about Dr. Fakier's mission, click here.
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