Orangepekoe

Rarely do missionaries make the morning news, for these are the last people in the world that would make the sexy news criteria cut of today’s bland and boring market driven media.

However, I think the news media is struggling for any story they can get related to Haiti. Or they are trying to make sense of the stories out of North Korea and as a result, they gravitate toward missionary stories as an interpretative lens.

And what they are finding is that while most of the world has forgotten Haiti, specifically in this present time, the churches of North America have had Haiti in their  cross hairs for years. Not that it’s helped, but in many ways, not unlike medieval Europe, the church has provided the primary infrastructure for this country. But NOT the western churches, but the Haitian church leaders.

So, usually, in the case of colonialistic missionaries, when there is a national crisis, the western church missionaries who have been struggling for years in these countries get  boost in funding and they set things in action, for good or ill.

But it appears in Haiti that the western churches, especially in the case of the Baptist missionaries who are charged with kidnapping, the Haiti legal system was intact enough to remind these missionaries that colonialism is over and yes, help is appreciated, but don’t wear out their welcome.
Oh, did I mention that Haiti was one of the early sites of 19th century slave revolts?

(Continued)