Temple couple concerned flight ban might impact their non-profit’s operations in Haiti

TEMPLE, Texas (KWTX) – For the next 30 days no one in the U.S. will be able to fly into Haiti, or vice versa, due to a U.S. flight ban implemented by the Federal Aviation Administration.

This comes after gangs in Haiti shot three planes that were either arriving or departing at the Port-au–Prince international airport, injuring one flight attendant.

While the ban is meant to keep passengers and crews safe, it unfortunately prevents any aide or supplies from going into the country, forcing many organizations to either wait it out or find another way in.

Temple residents Tara and Troy Livesay, the executive directors of Heartline Haiti, lived in the Caribbean nation for 14 years before moving to Central Texas in 2020 for the safety of their seven kids.

They’ve been with Heartline since 2004, but the organization itself has been providing Haitian families the resources they need since 2000.

“There’s a birth center, maternity center, women’s health program, a career training center, children’s education, and also we do some community outreach,” Tara shared.

Tara and Troy say life there has always been difficult, but in recent years it’s just been getting worse and worse.

“It has devolved due to political instability and a lot of gang activity that has really taken over and put the city in a stranglehold,” Troy said.

They explained that because of the airport’s location many planes have to fly directly over gang territory.

“I mean the gangs did this because they wanted to close down the airport, they want to close the country off, they want it destabilized,” Tara said.

According to Troy, “the way things have been in the country for many years, I’m surprised that it hadn’t happened earlier.”

He says it’s been getting more and more difficult to safely travel around Haiti, and now with this flight ban it’s almost impossible for their organization and others to carry out their work.

“We do know people, friends of ours that we’ve know for years, foreigners who are currently stuck there because of the ban that they didn’t see coming, and so now trying to arrange travel via other means when there’s only a regional airlines that are based in other countries currently functioning as far as we know, but even that’s questionable,” Troy shared.

They were supposed to visit in December to bring some much needed supplies, but now they’ll have to wait until it’s safe.

Tara says “some of the supplies that we’re bringing in are life and death type of things, things for a safe delivery and a safe birth, supplies that you can’t buy in Haiti.”

Thankfully, Heartline has a staff in Haiti that can keep their centers open, but with everything that’s happening they’re concerned about what the future looks like.

“What we’re doing is changing lives and saving lives so of course we want to see that work continue and in order for it to continue Haiti is going to have to stabilize in some way. What that looks like, I’m not sure we know,” Tara said.

The United Nations has also temporarily suspended flights to Port-au-Prince. Tara and Troy say right now they’re just hoping this doesn’t escalate an already dire situation.

For more information on Heartline Haiti, the work that they do, and how to help click here.

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