Dominican Month of Peace 2024: Praying for Hope and Justice for the Haitian people

The relfection by Sr. Durstyne Farnan, Representative to the UN

We begin the magnificent feast of Advent on December first of this year. It is the first Sunday of Advent. It is also the beginning of the Dominican Month of Peace 2024 which we dedicate to the country of Haiti where twenty Dominicans are ministering in harsh and dangerous conditions.

The readings of today invite us into reflection on the virtues of Hope and Justice.

Jeremiah accounts the promise God made to the house of Israel and Judah. He promised to raise up David to do what is right and just in the land as well as the possibility of dwelling in safety, security and justice.

In response Judah gives God the name of Justice.

Justice the name of God is sweet to the ears of the people of Haiti who wait in HOPE and Justice.  For more than two and half years the people of Haiti have been suffering and dying at the hands of teenagers.  Twelve, thirteen, fourteen-year-old children carrying guns, threatening young and old alike. The people have also been deprived of food, shelter, opportunity to go to school as well as access to health care because it is too risky to go out of their homes,  walk to school or try and find food because of the gangs.

It is truly a hell. Here at the United Nations, we receive daily reports on the suffering of the people of Haiti.  They live with heartbreak and unbearable fear, and unspeakable violence against women and food insecurity. There is truly no serenity in Haiti.

An example of what is happening is the massacre of October 2-3, 2024 that took place in the section of Saint-Marc, in Pont-Sondé. At least 70 (seventy) people were killed including babies, children, women, elderly and  others who were injured by gunfire. Hundreds of families fled the violence of the “gran grif” gang. As the massacre was taking place the people walked for hours and passed by numerous corpses in hopes of finding shelter and safety.

In spite of the new Presidential Transition Council (CPT) formed five months ago they still have not taken any measures to retake control of the gang-occupied areas, let alone disarm them, arrest them or bring them to justice.

The Psalm 25 could not be a better prayer for the Haitian people in their time of need. They are disparately praying the words of Psalm 25:

Make known your ways to us O God,

We wait for your all day

Guide us to Justice

To You O God we lift up our soul.

As Dominicans we stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters who live in Haiti and are in this incredibly precarious position. May they feel our commitment to pray and work for peace. May justice reign and Peace Prevail.