How is Haiti? Pa pi mal.
Updated: Oct 16, 2021
pa pi mal — adj., literal translation: “not too bad” in Creole, the heart and home language of Haitians. It can carry the meaning of “okay or pretty good, considering the circumstances.” This phrase is often spoken in Haiti as a response to the question, “How are you?”
Despite what you may have heard, Haiti is a beautiful nation! Anthony and I went to Haiti with Overcomers TV in March 2021, and we are now on board to fly back to the island within the hour!
Our mission on each trip to Haiti is to produce miniature documentaries on Christian ministries for the television show, “Answering the Call,” hosted by Pastor Chuck Reich.
KNOWN FOR PROBLEMS
For the past century, Haiti has been known as one of the world’s poorest nations, despite existing next door on the same island with the prosperous Dominican Republic.
Haiti has been in the news on and off for years due to natural disasters. A few months ago, it appeared briefly in the news when the country’s president was assassinated shortly after refusing vaccines because Haiti has very, very few covid cases. When we were there, we only saw masks when we were at trade day on the Dominican border; the majority of the nation sees covid as either a spiritual curse or the white man’s disease. In general, the nation of Haiti does not struggle with covid.
Right after the president was assassinated (within the same month as four other African nation presidents that refused vaccines), U.S. Press Secretary Jen Psaki announced that a shipment of vaccines was ready to be delivered to Haiti.
Having things forced upon Haiti isn’t new for the nation. After Haiti gained independence from France in the Haitian revolution of 1804, the French returned in 1825 and demanded the impoverished nation pay France the modern equivalent of 21 billion USD for the property and land they had turned into sugar and coffee plantations. This debt kept Haiti enslaved to France until 1947.
Now, thousands of Haitians are crossing the open border to the U.S., as seen in footage scattered across social media.
Now that Haiti is on the world stage and we are preparing to return, I present to you this blog post about our travels to “the most African country outside of Africa.”
OH SO AFRICAN
Craig Bogard, CEO of Aslan Youth Ministries, told me while we rode in a tap-tap (basically a Haitian truck filled with passengers, similar to an Indian rikshaw), that Haiti has retained 100 percent of its African culture. This cultural phenomenon is clear from the African-style music and dancing in the churches, to the way women carry containers of water and other items on their heads, to the cooking styles, and — as is common in non-American countries — the prevalence of soccer among youth who are simply spending time outside.
HEADING TO HAITI
When Chuck Reich, founder of Overcomers TV, invited us on our first trip to Haiti, I was thrilled to travel with Overcomers TV, a powerful media ministry led by an anointed leader who is a mature disciple of Christ. I also was thrilled to travel with my husband, who I am totally crazy about. As we sang to each other at our wedding reception, wherever one of us goes, the other wants to go too.
Also, I was specifically thrilled for the Miami part of the trip. Anthony had been talking about wanting to take me to Miami, and we had received a prophetic word about a “honeymoon in Miami” and divine appointments in the coastal metropolis.
Haiti, however, came out of nowhere.
Most of the few things I’d heard about the country were negative — that it was a place of poverty, that the Clintons lied about doing good things there, and that it was dedicated to Satan and ridden with voodoo.
But with God, there is nothing to fear, and there are plenty of good surprises that come when we roll out that carpet of faith and let God work His wonders. Haiti actually has plenty of beautiful parts that you don’t see on the news, we were abundantly well cared-for, and we saw God move powerfully. The enemy has been defeated, and though the nation had been dedicated to Satan in 1791 and again in 1991, Christian ministries are taking it back for Jesus one soul at a time.
