According to Labady, the Christians in Haiti have hope in the darkness because they know that God is their provider and sustainer. “But we are not alone. We have to think of the others in Haiti too and therefore, we suffer with them.”
Labady tends to blame Satan for the nation’s many problems. “I think it all stems back when our nation first started. I think a bad beginning can affect the rest of the story if there is no visible change in between.”
Voodoo witchdoctors in Haiti made a blood pact with the devil, known as the 
“Boukman sacrifice” on August 14, 1791. (Boukman was the witchdoctor who performed the sacrifice with a black pig.) After a decade of civil war, Haiti won its independence from the French, becoming the first Black Republic in the world in 1804.
But credit for Haiti’s independence is misplaced, says Labady. “Our nation, like many other nations, had to fight to get our independence. The people did not recognize that is was God’s mercy that allowed them to get it. For some reason, they got it in their mind that it was because of the help of Satan.”
Two hundred years later, the impact of voodoo “is all around us,” Labady adds. “You have a society that is divided. It is split into pieces. The Bible says that the kingdom of Satan is a divided Kingdom. Haiti is very divided today. That’s why we have a lot of violence, in the city especially.”
Fear is the main stronghold that Satan has over the Haitian people, says Labady. “When a person is afraid, they will do all they can to try to find security. There is a sense of desperation. Satan has caused them not to see the light and they don’t want to hear the truth.”
Poverty also leads to desperation, but money alone is not the answer. “Material prosperity does not bring freedom and joy,” Labady points out. “It may bring some happiness because happiness is a feeling, but joy, which is a state, does not come from those things. That’s why we can say that in spite of the misery of the unemployment, those who have gotten a grip on God, and have the hope of Jesus in their life, have joy.”
