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

This comes after gangs in Haiti shot down three planes arriving or departing from Port-au-Prince International Airport, injuring a flight attendant.

Although the ban is intended to ensure the safety of passengers and crew, it unfortunately prevents any aid or materials from entering the country, forcing many organizations to wait or find another way to enter.

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

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

“There is a birthing center, a maternity ward, a women’s health program, a vocational training center, education for children, and we also do community outreach,” Tara shared.

Tara and Troy say life there has always been difficult, but in recent years it has only gotten worse.

“It grew due to political instability and a lot of gang activity that really took over and put the city in a bind,” 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 shut down the airport, they want to shut down the country, they want it destabilized,” Tara said.

According to Troy, “Given the way things have been going in the country for many years, I’m surprised this hasn’t happened sooner.”

He says it is becoming increasingly difficult to travel safely throughout Haiti and now, with this flight ban, it is almost impossible for their organization and others to carry out their work.

“We know people, friends we’ve known for years, foreigners who are currently stuck there because of the ban they didn’t see coming, and who are now trying to organize their trip through other ways while there is only a regional ban As far as we know, airlines based in other countries are currently operating, but even that is questionable,” Troy explained.

They were supposed to come in December to bring much-needed supplies, but will now have to wait until everything is safe.

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

Fortunately, Heartline has staff in Haiti who can keep their centers open, but with everything going on, they are worried about what the future will look like.

“What we do is change lives and save lives, so of course we want to see this work continue and for it to continue, Haiti will have to stabilize in some way. What that looks like, I’m not sure we know,” Tara said.

The United Nations also temporarily suspended flights to Port-au-Prince. Tara and Troy say for now, they just hope this doesn’t make an already dire situation worse.

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

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