Poverty. Voodoo. Political turmoil. AIDS. As I walked down the hall and asked coworkers what popped into their minds when they thought of Haiti, the responses were sadly predictable.
According to Operation World, Haiti’s problems are indeed vast. Functional literacy may be as low as 20 percent. It is the poorest state in the Western hemisphere, aggravated by over-population, soil erosion, pollution, drought and famine. Unemployment is 50-70 percent. The average income per person is $310. According to a BBC report, one in 20 Haitians has AIDS.
But thanks to the combined efforts of a burgeoning population of Haitian Christians and dynamic international ministries, words like “hope” and “renewal” are joining the list of descriptors.
“Yes, there are problems in this country, but I see hope,” said Tom Fortson, president and CEO of Promise Keepers, during a recent visit to the Caribbean nation. Fortson joined Dr. J.L. Williams, founder and CEO of missions and relief organization New Directions International, for Haiti at the Cross, a groundbreaking series of events held throughout Port-au-Prince Dec. 8 -12. Key Haitian pastors linked arms with the U.S. ministries to close out their Bicentennial Year and seek national revival.
“Our prayer is that God will literally change the destiny of Haiti, the first Black Republic in the world and yet the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere,” said Williams. He stressed the importance of this juncture in Haiti's history, as it was 200 years ago, in 1804, that Voodoo witchdoctors “sold” the country to Satan in exchange for freedom from slavery.
"We must act decisively to seize this moment for the Kingdom and initiate a new era in Haiti—one in which the people will not be bound by the evils of Voodoo, but rather satisfied by the joys of being in Christ," Williams said.
Haiti at the Cross was the first joint venture between New Directions International (NDI) and Promise Keepers (PK), which is expanding from a national movement to an international mission.
Focusing on the men of Haiti makes perfect sense, noted Williams. “We have invited their partnership because of our great commitment to the purpose and philosophy of PK. I have always believed that you cannot bring lasting change to a home, a church, a business, a country – until you touch and transform the men.”
According to Fortson, the AIDS epidemic in Haiti is largely “an issue of men.” 
When men are not rightly connected with the Lord, he said, “they are going to become predators. In a country like Haiti, you have men who are strong, you have men who are passive, and you have men who are predators. You have men who take the resources that are given to a nation to change the nation, but it never reaches the people.”
Haiti in the 21st Century will need strong, visionary leadership, Fortson added. “It needs men who have high ethical standards, who can muster the resources of the nations of this world to assist Haiti.”
