THE HEART BEAT OF BETHEL MISSION OUTREACH:

Worship and intercession is the heartbeat of Bethel Mission Outreach, Inc. We believe the primary reason we are in Haiti, is to agree with the desire of Jesus’ heart, that His house would become a house of prayer Matt: 6: 9

Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and one of the poorest countries in the developing world. Its per capita income — $ 250 — is considerably less than one-tenth the Latin American average. About 80 percent of the rural Haitian population lives in poverty. Moreover, far from improving, the poverty situation in Haiti has been deteriorating over the past decade, concomitant with a rate of decline in per capita GNP of 5.2 percent a year over the 1985-95 period.

The staggering level of poverty in Haiti is associated with a profile of social indicators that is also shocking. Life expectancy is only 57 years compared with the Latin American average of 69. Less than half of the population is literate. Only about one child in five of secondary-school age actually attends secondary school. Health conditions are similarly poor; vaccination coverage for children, for example, is only about 25 percent. Only about one-fourth of the population has access to safe water. In short, the overwhelming majority of the Haitian population is living in deplorable conditions of extreme poverty. In the face of this daunting reality, Haiti's population continues to grow at a high rate estimated at almost 200,000 people per year.