Saturday, February 28, 2026

Let us not grow weary.

"Haiti is facing multiple, overlapping humanitarian, political, economic and security crises, with dire consequences for the local population. 16,000 people have been killed since January 2022, 1.5 million have been displaced and more than half do not have enough food to eat.
“Powerful gangs now control vast swathes of territory and infrastructure in the country. Abetted by a steady flow of trafficked arms, they are inflicting horrific violence on civilians, including homicides, kidnapping, and sexual violence."
– United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in a posting January 21, 2026

Reading that, who would blame us if we decided that sending funds to Jeremie Rising – the non-profit supporting schools and medical missions in Haiti – was just not worth it?

Probably no one. The priest and the Levite who walked past the beaten and robbed man in the parable of the Good Samaritan must have made the same calculation – help? Not worth it. Yet the merciful Samaritan stepped up – even though he had no guarantee that his aid at the time would keep the victim from later harm as he continued along an apparently dangerous road.

That parable (Luke 10:36-37a) ends with Jesus asking "Which of these three, do you think, was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?" He said, "The one who showed him mercy.”

I made two mission trips to Haiti, where I saw the needs and felt the fellowship of Haitians I worked with side by side. So, all things considered, I choose to side with the Samaritan to continue to support a mission that seems fraught with danger – but somehow has managed to make real progress delivering essential needs to our neighbors in a poor, remote region of the world.

I am thankful for the support of others who feel the same way, and by this scripture:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” – Galatians 6:9

Bob Rossbach