Christian Aid Ministries (CAM) in Berlin, Ohio is an Amish/Mennonite ministry that strives to be an honest, efficient channel enabling the church to minister to physical and spiritual needs around the world.
On October 16th, 17 Anabaptist missionaries in Haiti were kidnapped by machine-gun bearing captors near Port-au-Prince while visiting an orphanage in Haiti. The group consisted of sixteen U.S citizens and one Canadian citizen; there were six men, six women, and five children.
This group of workers has been committed to minister throughout poverty-stricken Haiti. Their heart-felt desire was to share the love of Jesus. Before the kidnapping, their work throughout Haiti included supporting thousands of needy school children, distributing Bibles and Christian literature, supplying medicines for numerous clinics, teaching Haitian pastors, and providing food for the elderly and vulnerable.
The Haitian gang 400 Mazowo demanded a ransom of 1 million dollars for each of the hostages—a total of $17m.
One father of a hostage shared about the kidnappers,
“We are interested in the salvation of these men and we love them.” Another father said, “As a family we are giving forgiveness to these men. We are not holding anything against them.”
Due to health issues, two hostages were freed in late November and three were released earlier this month. It is still unclear if any ransom was paid for the release of these five people. Through the generous donations of hundreds of people, ransom was raised for the release of the remaining hostages. But something else happened.
The Escape
On December 15th, after two months in captivity, the twelve remaining missionaries prepared overnight — putting on their shoes, packing water in their clothes and stacking their mattresses in a corner of the room where they were held, Weston Showalter, a spokesman for the Ohio-based Christian Aid Ministries, told reporters.
“When they sensed the timing was right, they found a way to open the door that was closed and blocked, filed silently to the path that they had chosen to follow and quickly left the place that they were held, despite the fact that numerous armed guards were close by,” he said.
The group, which included a 10-month-old infant and three other children, used the stars and a nearby mountain to orient them as they walked as far as 12 miles through woods and thickets, making a daring overnight escape. They eluded their kidnappers and walked for miles over difficult, moonlit terrain with an infant and other children in tow.
As dawn broke, they found someone who helped them make a phone call for help. They later flew on a Coast Guard flight to Florida, getting them out of Haiti.
A caravan drives the freed hostages to the airport on December 16th.
Timeline of the Hostage Situation here.
Interesting connection,
Gerry Wagoner’s father, Gerald Wagoner Sr. was chairman of the Brethren Charity Fund for 41-years and worked regularly with Christian Aid Ministries. Several of Gerry’s Anabaptist (Old German Baptist Brethren) cousins have recently spent time in Haiti as missionaries, working through Christian Aid Ministries (CAM).
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