Around midnight, Thursday, November 17, a group of six armed Haitian men attempted to either rob or abduct a visiting, volunteer mission team of 14 at our project.  Two of our guards were beaten and tied up.  In the incident, four of the men from the Oakbrook Church in Kokomo, Indiana were wounded.  One man jumped from a second story window of our accommodations to get help from our missionary and Haitian staff.  Police were called and the perpetrators were scared off after some gun fire exchange.  We praise God that no one was seriously or fatally wounded!

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Oakbrook Church mission team.  Each of the wounded was treated at a local hospital.  Arrangements were made to fly the team back to the U. S. by private jet.  All of them have returned home safely to their families.  Prayer and counseling have been arranged by the Church to help them process this traumatic experience.  We thank them for their partnership through former teams and their participation in a gospel outreach on this trip.  We applaud them for their bravery and faith through this experience.

The American Embassy and government officials were notified and are taking the incident very seriously.  We are trusting that the perpetrators will be apprehended.  We are also in consultation with officials regarding measures to increase our security at our project. Again, we ask you to keep the Kokomo team, our staff in Haiti, and the country in your prayers.

Sincerely,
John Van Wingerden
Chairman of the Board of Directors