KILLEEN, Texas — Pastor Ryan Wood has traveled to Haiti with nonprofit Transform Haiti multiple times to serve the organizations orphanage. Several members of his church, Christian Life in Killeen, have wanted to return to the country as well.
Wood told 6 News Monday, the last three trips have been canceled because the people still working at that orphanage said it was too dangerous for them to return.
"We've had three flights that we though we were going to go on and then had get called from our folks on the ground and say 'it's just not safe now. We can't guarantee our safety," Wood said.
A gang abducted 17 missionaries last week and all but one were American. Wood told 6 News people in Haiti are not desperate to make money any way they can and jobs are difficult to find. He isn't surprised that some are now turning to crime to feed their families.
"There has already been social unrest and then you add to that a devastating earthquake... People were already trying to find a way to feed their families and honestly what they are seeing this as, it's a fundraising mechanism," Wood said. "Some have asked for up to a million dollars (as a ransom)."
Wood said Americans had been targeted for years but in smaller numbers. Now, he said, any affluent Haitian, any American, or anyone even connected to Americans can become a target.
Missionaries had already spent a year helping the Transform Haiti orphanage raise their walls put razor wire on top of the walls to help keep the kids safe. Solar-powered lights now line the perimeter.
At the same time, the orphanage still cares for around 60 children and desperately needs clean water. It has often relied on people bringing the water in for them or catching rain to be used later.
Wood said the orphanage desperately needs a new well to provide water, as they lost their previous well in the earthquake, but getting a company to come in and do the job would be a tough sell. They would most likely need to bring their own security.
"If we had a connection that could get our children fresh water where they are at, that would be a game changer," Wood said. "If somebody has a connection for wells, or for the ability to drill a well, because we lost the well in the earthquake, that would be the biggest game changer for our folks right now."