Fourteen years ago, a magnitude 7 earthquake devastated Haiti, the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere. The country’s recovery efforts were thwarted repeatedly by tropical storms, hurricanes, and more devastating earthquakes. Today, Haiti is under siege by gangs.
Radio Lumiere, headquartered in the capital of Port-au-Prince, has been spreading the gospel to Haiti for over half a century providing Christian-centered broadcasting as a service of the Evangelical Baptist Mission of South Haiti. Broadcasting on multiple radio stations and one television station, it covers most of the country.
Over the last decade and a half, the radio teams have lost friends and family and suffered injuries, yet they keep overcoming to bring the hope of the gospel to their fellow countrymen. Hundreds of solar-powered SonSet® radios, as well as radio equipment, have been shipped to Haiti by SonSet Solutions for many years.
They have one trained radio technician, Peniel, who has served at Radio Lumiere for over twenty years. There is a desperate need for more help with this large network.
One of our engineers, Leon Amstutz, is working with Peniel on a plan to train a new generation of technicians. Leon, a former engineering professor from Taylor University, created a broadcast engineer-training course that has been shipped to Peniel and his team. It’s still difficult shipping things into the country because the gangs are in control of many of the ports, so we are trying to find an alternative route. Once the training material is received, they will participate in Zoom meetings with Leon once a week for two years. This program will provide the equivalent of a two-year degree in radio engineering, a necessary undertaking to keep these radio stations broadcasting the gospel of hope into a country sorely in need.
By Gail Fawcett, May 2024