Haiti
Field Facilitator
STEM Ministries
Outreach Activities in Haiti
- Serving in local orphanages / children's homes
- AIDS ministry
- Door-to-door evangelism
- Clean up or construction in the community
- Sharing the gospel story with a very oppressed and spiritually dark nation
Ministry Outreach Locations
Central plateau region or coastal areas
Population
7,148,000; Annual growth rate of 1.9%
Peoples
Afro-Caribbean - 90.0%
- Euro-African - 9.9%
- Euro-African - 9.9%
- Euro-American - 0.1%
LanguageS
Official Language is French (spoken by 10% of the population) and Haitian Creole.
Capital
Port-au-Prince: 860,000.
Economy
The poorest state in the Western hemisphere, aggravated by over-population, soil erosion, drought, and famine. The imposition of sanctions by the USA after the 1991 coup further degraded the economy and enriched the ruling class. Unemployment is at 60 - 80%. Public debt/person $103. Income/person $400 (1.9% of USA).
Location
Western third of the island of Hispaniola; shared with the Dominican Republic.
Politics
A slave revolt against the French in 1804 created the first black republic in the world. Haiti has experienced a troubled history of blood and dictatorships since then. The deposition of the duvaliers ended a particularly brutal dictatorship in 1986. A succession of coups and military governments aborted all attempts at introducing democracy. The first democratically elected President Aristide only lasted a few months before being ousted by the army in 1991 followed by official corruption on a massive scale and widespread human rights violations.
Religion
Catholicism was the state religion, but the growth of both Voodooism and Protestant Christianity have eroded the influence of the Roman Catholic Church. Official freedom of religion.
- Protestant: 25.5%
- Roman Catholic: 72.5%
- Spiritist: 75% (Not officially recorded but nearly all claim to be nominally Christian)
- Non-religious/Other: 1.4%
