Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic. The Dominican Republic has 2/3 the land-mass, while Haiti has 1/3 the land-mass. Approximately eleven million people live on each side. Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere; they speak “Haitian Creole and French,” while the Dominicans speak Spanish.

Christopher Columbus landed in Haiti (Hispaniola) in 1492. It was inhabited by the Taino and Arawak Indians, who were later killed off by the Spanish and by disease. (Up until this time, there were no black people in Haiti… only Indians.) By 1697, the western part of the island was French and the eastern part was Spanish.

The Spanish and French began to kidnap Africans from the Ivory Coast of Africa and bring them in as slaves, to work in plantations. These slaves brought with them, their Voodoo religion. Haiti became one of the “wealthiest of the French colonies,” with the production of vast quantities of sugar and coffee. It was called, “The Pearl of the Caribbean.”

The slaves revolted in 1804 and gained their independence. Haiti became a country, the first country to become a Black Republic… they dedicated the island to Satan in a Voodoo ceremony and erected a statue of a pig, which the last time I looked was still in Port-au-Prince.

Since this happened, Haiti has gone backward and began to grow into poverty and chaos. We personally believe that Voodoo has put a curse on Haiti.

There is a common saying that Haiti is 70 percent Catholic, 30 percent Protestant, and 100 percent Voodoo. Even many Haitian Christians are very afraid of Voodoo until this day… but Christianity is growing by 5% a year! Together, let’s claim “Haiti for Christ!” We believe again that Haiti will become the “Pearl of the Caribbean”.

The Haitian children, adults, and the Dominican people are all very sweet people… two countries on the same island, called “Hispaniola!”

Bobby and Sherry Burnette