Lynching.

  Our lives here mostly contain similar life experiences that other locations and people have on a daily basis: school, meals, church, shopping. However at times one remembers very clearly that life here holds differences like today.

Thinking back on this morning, I do remember hearing noises that indicated a group of people were talking excitedly down by the clinic but the noise at the time did not make me stop and think that something noteworthy had occurred. Often we hear groups of folks loudly discussing or arguing down by the clinic as the stress of a medical emergency boils over in attitudes and tones.

I did question why Cory returned just minutes after leaving for a shopping trip in Port Margo. He informed us that Gener, who also works as a night watchmen for the clinic told him to wait a bit while he dispersed some folks from the clinic area. 

The story as we currently understand it deals with a Haitian man who went to the Dominican Republic and earned the equivalent of $500 American. A second Haitian in the D.R. heard about it, robbed and murdered him. 

Family and friends then used voodoo witchcraft to locate the murderer so they could make sure that justice was served. With three serious machete blows to the neck/head, the man somehow made it to our clinic in the early morning hours. 

But the folks found him and he escaped a second time. Gener helped to get the crowd out of the clinic area and a short time later he and Cory headed to Port Margot driving past the clinic where a few hundred people, almost all from Port Margot, stood  along the road.

The next part of the story we learned when Mme. Rosemary arrived a work very shaken up. She reported that the crowd believing in “an eye for an eye” caught up with the man in front of her house and finished the job. Thankfully she shut the door so her small granddaughter did not see any of the violence. 

"Lynching is an extrajudicial execution carried out by a mob, often by hanging, but also by burning at the stake or shooting, in order to punish an alleged transgressor, or to intimidate, control, or otherwise manipulate a population of people." Wikipedia

Both types I believe still occur in Haiti but the ones we’ve heard of in this area, now 3 in the last 3 years were due to alleged crimes. 

This occurs just 11 months after the last local lynching which occurred in the house across the street from the clinic. In this case the son was killed when they could not find the father that they were after. Not something that occurs where I grew up. Today the police did not come until after Pastor Rigo went to Port Margot to get the judge and police to inspect the damage the crowd did to break open the clinic door in order to get to the man inside. 

The first verses that came to mind had to do with letting the Lord take care of any paybacks or revenge. Only He knows how long this can go on as often in Haiti the cycle continues with the second victim's family also wanting revenge. 

I thought how glad I was not to have someone's blood on my hands no matter how justifiable I thought my actions.  The second thought that swiftly followed that one pointed the finger at me. I remembered the verse that talks about how hating your brother is the same as killing him.

 How many people did I become angry with in 2012? No, maybe not the same as hating them but wrong nonetheless. I did not respond in love in many situations. I not only became mad over big issues but little ones when I saw others as infringing on my rights. SIGH. 

Thank you Lord for not giving up on me. Thank you for your Word and that still small voice that helps me to keep working on my attitude. Thank you for the folks who prayed for me and our family today. Thank you for a way to wash my sins and cover me with pure robes of righteousness. Thank you for loving me.

Please pray for healing of those involved and the people in the community. Revenge continues to be a problem in Haiti and we know that with the Lord's love and forgiveness lives can be saved and healed even from deep trauma and pain.