As usual, the Church is long on pointing out details of the temple’s interior, and short on exterior events of the host country where they’ve invited themselves to reside.
As a side item here – there are roughly 19,000-23,000 members of the Church which means they make up a mere 0.2% of the Haitian population of roughly 10 million.
The Church claimed at least 80% of Haiti is Catholic, but their numbers are way off. Our research shows it’s more like 57-58%. See report below.
Images of their upscale furnishings reminded me of when I lived in Vegas, and my visit to the Liberace Museum. It’s a flamboyant display of opulence, and something no Haitian will ever know in their lifetime. Everything is overbuilt, and overstated.
The Church’s news release mainly focused on the Swarovski crystal chandeliers from Austria, hand blown Venetian glass from Italy, and high end light fixtures, ‘Italamps’, also from Italy.
The meager offering to their host country was having palm branches painted on the interior walls which are prevalent in Haiti. The Church also pointed out it’s a reminder of Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. For more info, see LDS Living.com. Haiti officially recognized the Church in 1980.
One thing you can count on…the 10,000+ square foot building certainly isn’t a reflection of what’s taking place outside those walls.
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere, and one of the poorest in the world. While the Church didn’t publish the cost of their venture, it’s safe to say it’s in the hundreds of millions. They obviously have no shame whatsoever.
The reality for Haitians is far different from what’s going on in the Church. Below is a synopsis of what life is like for the Haitian people. We gathered our info from several resources on 8.24.19. Many of our resources had repetitive info, so we’ve scaled this down and used one example for each stat.
The obvious question: why has the Church built a temple here?
Will the Church minister to these dear people without having them sign a paper to become Mormon? We’re doubtful any such thing will happen in Haiti.
This temple is reminiscent of when LDS leaders went to Kenya and told people they needed to go to South Africa to attend temple. Their behavior is outrageous at best.
With that said, we have faith our Lord and God will intervene as He’s done elsewhere, so don’t forget to pray!
With Love in Christ;
Michelle
Population • 9 – 10 million
Education •
50% of children don’t attend school
30% of children attending primary school won’t make it to 3rd grade
60% will abandon school before 6th grade
Literacy rate • 61% – 64% for males & 57% for females
Literacy rate for Latin American & Caribbean developing countries • 92%
Health •
30% of population is food insecure
22% prevalence of stunting (moderate to severe)
100,000 children under five suffer acute malnutrition
Less than 50% of households have access to safe water
25% percent have adequate sanitation
33% of women & kids are anemic
1 doctor for 9,846 persons. In US • 1 to 365
Life expectancy
Haiti • 57.6 years
USA for a black person • 73.1 years, a white person • 78.3 years
Infant mortality rate is 10x higher than US
Haiti • 62.3 deaths/1,000 live births
US • 6.3/1,000 live births
Economics •
66% live on less than $2.00 (US) per day
25% live in extreme poverty on less than $1.25 (US) per day
50% living in urban areas unemployed
Widespread unemployment and underemployment
Over two-thirds of labor force don’t have formal jobs • 58.5%
Per capita income is $350 a year ($409 in urban areas)
Restaveks, aka, human trafficking is a major problem.
“Haiti is a source, transit, and destination country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking. According to the State Department’s 2019 Trafficking in Persons Report, most of Haiti’s trafficking cases involve children in domestic servitude, known as “restaveks,” from the French for “to stay with.” Most frequently, poor families place children in such situations with an expectation that their children will be housed, fed, and educated. Instead, many are kept in slave-like conditions, are physically and sexually abused, and do not go to school.”
Religious Demographics •
Roman Catholic 54.7%, Protestant 28.5% (Baptist 15.4%, Pentecostal 7.9%, Adventist 3%, Methodist 1.5%, other 0.7%), Vodou 2.1%, other 4.6%, none 10.2% (2003 est.)
Many practice elements of Vodou in addition to another religion, most often Roman Catholicism; Vodou was recognized as official religion in 2003