Several Hope Church members were planning to travel to Haiti this coming October to visit and work with the Haiti Foundation Against Poverty (HFAP). Unfortunately, another visitor came to Haiti earlier this year. That visitor is called the chikungunya virus, carried and spread by mosquitoes. The word chikungunya is from an African dialect and it means, “that which bends up” which is a literal description of what can happen to people who catch the virus. It is very rarely fatal in and of itself but can be in interaction with other pre-existing conditions. The most common symptoms are high fever, joint pain, headaches, and muscle pain—pain which can cause a person to “bend up.” Sometimes the symptoms last only a day or two, but for others they can last for several months. At this time there is no vaccine or any specific cure, only relief from the symptoms via rest and typical painkillers.
After much prayer and thought, most of the potential mission trip members, who are in groups for whom the risk of the more severe reactions is highest, made the difficult decision that it was not worth the risk of exposing themselves to this virus at this time. Interest remains strong in supporting the work of HFAP so it is hoped that after this initial outbreak the risk of exposure will decrease and another trip can be scheduled at a future time.