This is a picture of men unloading a Blackhawk helicopter on a runway in Jacmel, Haiti, literally days after the 2010 earthquake. The man in the khaki shirt is Dave, a brother in Christ and member of my church, who devoted his medical skills, time and money to make a dent in helping the Haitians in their time of need. The man in the stripped shirt to his right is Danny Pye, an American missionary, of whom Dave said:
Danny and his wife ran an orphanage in Jacmel and, in the crisis following the earthquake, Danny and all of the young boys from his orphanage worked non-stop to make sure that shipments of aid that came into Jacmel through the airport where unloaded and distributed to the area. Between Danny and Mark Stuart, another missionary working in Jacmel, there was organization that would have never occurred in the first week until the Canadians arrived. It’s hard to tell what the impact on that entire area would have been without their efforts.
Pretty awesome isn’t it? Well, what’s not so awesome is that Pye has been in a Haitian prison for the last five months for essentially nothing! Have you heard about it? Yeah, well it seems no one has either. So, when you walk through this week watching the news about what’s going on around the world, remember that you have a brother in jail, wrongfully imprisoned in a land full of people he decided to serve.
As you walk through the week, say a prayer for Danny. Ask God to strengthen him, keep his fire burning strong for the gospel and that his release will soon arrive. You might also contact your congressional representatives letting them know that even if the world has forgotten about Danny Pye, you haven’t.
UPDATE 3.16.11: Danny Pye was freed yesterday! Thanks for your prayers.
1 thought on “Remember Danny Pye”
Danny Pye is a free man!
He was released on March 15, 2011, by the same judge in Jacmel, Haiti that put him in the prison without charges over 5 months ago.
Where is the news coverage, sure now it’s on the Internet, and a week or so ago, the story gained momentum on the Internet. I am wondering what action our US Embassy in Haiti performed to help free Danny? I’ve only heard about a little email sent to Danny’s wife from our embassy in Port au Prince saying, “they were checking into the situation to see if Danny’s human rights were being violated”. Where was the help for the past 5 months from Embassy employees. I believe this should be a fairly pressing issue for them. What were they working on so diligently that Danny’s case was placed on the back burner?
Where is the outrage from US citizens? Actually, if you don’t know about the story in the first place, no outrage can take place. Maybe that was the plan, keeping this story under wraps, don’t ruffle the feathers; was that the plan?
Danny endured deplorable conditions in the Jacmel, Haiti prison. Yes, I think his human rights were violated, don’t you? He was forced to watch prison guards beat a person (or two) to death just a week ago. He was denied food at times, most of the prison food had maggots, he suffered a bout of malaria, scabies, ringworm, lice, you name it.
If I have this right, the taxpayers pay employees at the US Embassy in Haiti. Where were they this past 5 months. Danny was never charged with a crime, received no visits from US officials, no audience with a judge…..just simply thrown in a 10 foot by 12 foot cell with 25 other prisoners for 5 MONTHS.
I am very interested in hearing the US Embassy’s side of this story. Oh yes, and we are all well aware that Haiti has different rules than we do in the USA, so don’t go there. We understand that we abide by rules of each country we visit, but where are our embassy officials when we really need them? Too busy for the past 5 months to check on an inmate in a hellhole of a prison?