Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Port au Prince (Agenzia Fides) - The country is in ruins, the entire region is isolated since gangs control access to the capital, so that people and goods can only enter the country through complicated air bridges or at the risk of loss of life and property (see Fides 5/3/2024). "This means that even medicines and essential goods, food that does not come directly from one's own fields cannot be delivered, and those that are delivered are always more expensive. The sick cannot be treated or even reach more equipped hospitals, in other areas of the country, not only in the capital, which means there is a lack of milk for children and food", complains Maddalena Boschetti, a consecrated Camillian who is a "Fidei donum" missionary for the Diocese of Genoa. "Across Haiti, not just in the capital," continues Maddalena, who cares for disabled and sick children and their families in northwest Haiti, "insecurity and gang violence kill. It's not just the violence on the streets of Port- au-Prince and in the big cities, but also by depriving those who no longer have the means of life and are struggling to survive in the poorest areas of the province. The hospital has no space, there are few and essential medicines, palliative care does not exist. There is only pain. There is no possibility of doing a histological examination or a mammogram; x-rays are of very poor quality." "This is a glimpse of life today in Haiti, one of the front lines of the ongoing Third World War. That is why the presence of the Church and the missionary Church in this country, as in all other countries where there is war, is so important," concludes the missionary. “We must remain on the side of the people and continue to witness with our lives in the service of God and man that the people of Haiti, a people of martyrs, are not alone. We must put ourselves at the service of those most in need, not to abandon them, to tell them that their lives have value”. (AP) (Agenzia Fides, 7/3/2024)
