An prominent Irish aid worker and 8 others were kidnapped from an orphanage in Haiti. Gena Heraty, from Liscarney, County Mayo is described by the Guardian as a missionary. “Among them was Gena Heraty, an Irish missionary who oversees the orphanage – operated by the humanitarian organization Nos Petits Frères et Sœurs (Our Little Brothers and Sisters). But as the Irish Times explains she is not a missionary in the denominational sense.
A strong faith helps to combat the fears of the Liscarney, Co Mayo-born aid worker, who is a Roman Catholic but does not, as she puts it, feel tied to any religion.
“My faith is simple: if I believe in a God, then I have to believe in goodness and in doing good. I am not bothered in a life after death – I do believe in it but I am more concerned in doing my best for the here and now. I believe whatever will happen to me here, I’ll be given the strength to deal with it.”
She is the latest foreign missionary to become the victim of kidnapping in Haiti.
In April 2021, two French priests were among 10 people kidnapped in Croix-des-Bouquets before they were released nearly three weeks later.
The same group behind that kidnapping, the 400 Mawazo gang, took a group of 17 American and Canadian missionaries hostage six months later.
Heraty may believe in goodness but it seems that by and large Haitian gangs and rebels believe in money. Gangs frequently kidnap well meaning foreigners for ransom and with these proceeds buy guns to kidnap more people. High-profile cases include the 2021 kidnapping of 17 US and Canadian missionaries by the 400 Mawozo gang, who demanded $17 million, and the 2023 abduction of a US nurse and her daughter. In 2022, a Dominican diplomat was also seized, with a $500,000 ransom demanded.
In Haiti, ransom money from kidnappings is primarily used by gangs to fund their criminal operations and maintain power, spent on things like weapons and ammunition and luxury goods and lifestyle. AK-47s and exotic dancers. This happens not just in Haiti but all over the ravaged world.
Kidnapping of aid workers has become “big business” as militants often work with crime networks to carry out abductions, a senior United Nations official and former hostage said on Tuesday.
According to the Aid Worker Security Database (AWSD), 130 aid workers were abducted in 2018, up from 45 in 2007, and the number of kidnappings has remained high. In 2021, 117 aid workers were kidnapped globally, and in 2023, the AWSD reported 595 aid workers attacked, with kidnapping being a significant contributor.
There is the danger that the aid itself is going to the bad guys. As the Middle East Eye reports: “On Saturday alone, 98 out of 109 trucks carrying UN food aid from Kerem Shalom were ransacked by armed men. …With the collapse of civil order due to Israel’s targeting and killing of members of Gaza’s police force, few people are left to guard humanitarian aid convoys.” Instead of the aid going to Hamas, which is the civil authority, it is instead going to criminal Bedouin gangs.
This state of affairs partly explains why despite decades of humanitarian assistance, places like Gaza, Haiti, Sudan and the Congo show scant improvement. If anything they are worse than ever. Where the law of the jungle prevails the people who believe in goodness don’t seem to stand a chance.
Perhaps Frank Herbert the author of Dune, was right. “A world is supported by four things… the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing…without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.” One out of four is not enough.