Welcome To Haiti
Eighty percent of Haitians live under the poverty line and 54% live in abject poverty. The average per capita income in Haiti is $480 a year, compared to $33,550 in the United States. A typical worker in Haiti makes only $2.75 a day. Because jobs are so scarce (approximately 70% do not have regular jobs), those who do have jobs are afraid to speak out against unfair labor practices.
Because of both violence and AIDS, Haiti has the highest percentage of orphans of any country in the Western Hemisphere. Before the 2010 earthquake, the United Nations estimated there were 430,000 orphans.
The Unseen Cause of Poverty
It is estimated that nearly half of Haitians practice Voodoo; the other nearly half is Christian: 80% are Roman Catholic, 8% are Protestant, and 4% are other. Voodoo is often practiced alongside Christianity. What does that reveal? Satan is constantly working to enslave people through theft, murder, tearing down, and counterfeiting the genuine article of saving faith.
Clearly, evil forces focus on destroying the fundamental governmental unit of society—the family. The higher truth though is the divine Family of Father and Son have a good-spell antidote to deal a death-blow to principalities, powers, rulers of the darkness of this world, and spiritual hosts of wickedness.
The Gospel to the Poor
Poverty is first a spiritual problem and secondarily a material one.
Christ declared that He came to preach the gospel to the poor. What is good news for a poor man? That he can be rich in faith and an heir of the kingdom.
Genuine faith liberates the individual to no longer trust in their own efforts, but place the whole of their trust in Jesus Christ for everyday life. Evidence of Christ's good-spell affecting change are people becoming new creations—set free from satanic control and influence.