Pastor Mark Driscoll of Mars Hill Church in Seattle landed in “hell” this week where he witnessed a teenage boy shot in the head and a girl sold to an older man. He was in the collapsed city of Port-au-Prince where rubble from former buildings and streets piled with corpses give the impression of an aftermath of a war zone.
Driscoll, along with Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel in the Chicago-area, landed in the capital of Haiti on Monday to assess the situation and needs of Haitian churches and to deliver 1,000 pounds of relief supplies.
On his first day on the ground, Driscoll said he heard a gunshot behind him and when he turn to look he saw a teenage boy immediately killed by a shot to the head. The teenage boy was just a few feet away from a seminary property and next to a makeshift clinic where thousands of people slept outside, Driscoll reported on his Facebook page.
In an interview with USA Today on Tuesday when he returned to America, Driscoll said the boy was murdered “for no apparent reason".
"He was just shot in the head and left in the street,” he said.
Fears of violence, looting, and chaos in the aftermath of the 7.0-magnitude earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince last Tuesday grew when relief supplies, including food and clean water, could not meet the immediate needs of quake victims.
But the fears somewhat eased on Wednesday when US troops provided security for water and food aid deliveries.
In addition to concerns of unrest, aid agencies are also concerned about the some 4,000 criminals who escaped from prisons after the earthquake struck.
“It gets too dangerous,” said Remi Rollin, a private security guard hired by a shopkeeper to prevent looting, to CBS News. “After sunset, police shoot on sight.”
There are about 12,000 US military personnel on the ground in Haiti, and the UN Security Council unanimously agreed this week to temporarily add 2,000 UN troops and 1,500 police to the 9,000-member peacekeeping force in Haiti.
Besides being troubled by the security situation, Driscoll also confronted an incident he believed to be part of the sex trade in Haiti’s capital amid the wreckage.
“If u want a phone, cigarettes or a teenage girl you can get them here in Port au Prince,” Driscoll tweeted. “Like the American who said he’s on a relief mission and bought a hungry girl despite our confrontation.”
The pastor elaborated in the USA Today interview that a man pushing a cart while selling cell phones, cigarettes “and a few young girls” asked Driscoll, “You want to buy loving?”
Another man, who claimed to be a translator for a relief agency, negotiated with the seller on a price for a young girl.
Missions
US pastor tells of 'hell' in Haiti
By: Michelle A Vu, Christian Post
Saturday, 23 January 2010, 15:59 (IST)
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