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"Journey to Sister Parishes in Gros Marin and Cavaillon, Haiti" January 2002
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	Three members of the Haiti Committee, Fr. Gerry Creedon, Gail Goodridge and Larisa Epatko, traveled to Haiti on Jan. 2, 2002, for a six-day visit, dividing our time between St. Charles' sister parishes, Gros Marin and Cavaillon. In both places, we discussed with the pastors, Jocelyn Musalier and Marquis Charles, ways to further connect our parish with theirs, including celebrating each others' feast days. We also discussed the priorities for both of these communities, the areas of needs for the Haitian parishes and went over St. Charles' mission statement.
	In Gros Marin, we toured the high school (Notre Dame), which is under construction as the second story of the elementary school. Fr. Marquis said his first priority is to complete the construction and accepted some funds that the Haiti Committee raised from St. Charles parishioners for this purpose. We also visited a small chappelle, Rose de Lima, and met Eliscam Beauvil, the coordinator of the microenterprise project raising sheep and goats to sell to the community. We also learned more about how the parish-chapelle system works (see Fr. Gerry's personal narrative for more on this).
	We asked, on behalf of the St. Charles and St. Anthony parishioners who sponsor students, what future the students have. Fr. Marquis said after finishing school, the students have a better chance of finding jobs at least as teachers. He said he is interested in providing students with technical training, but they lack the money to hire specialized teachers. With this vocational training, graduates could work in agriculture, sewing, furniture-making and the health field, for example.
	Fr. Marquis described his priorities as finishing the high school, completing the presbytère (rectory), building a sacristy for the church, and constructing a clinic in accordance with state health standards so that the government will pick up the recurrent costs of the nurse's salary. They have the land for such a building but not the construction funding.
	In Cavaillon, the team discussed parish goals with Fr. Jocelyn and the ins and outs of the school lunch program with Amazon Erais, who coordinates the sponsorship program.
	We toured a store in Cavaillon that the community recently established with a commercial loan. The store sells materials, such as cement, shovels, pails, picks, hoes, and other implements as well as some basic food staples (e.g., flour) at reduced costs to the community. Fr. Jocelyn would like to expand this program. He also reported to us about the status of the community's grain mill.
	We had the opportunity to participate in two Masses in Cavaillon -- at the cathedral and in the smaller community of Flamand, where a church is under construction. (Fr. Jocelyn made it clear that finishing this chapel is his No. 1 priority.) Mass was instead celebrated in a school, where Fr. Gerry said a few words and held up the precious product of the marriage he performed in the parish two years ago (see Le Mariage d'Antonine). After Mass, we delivered medical supplies from St. Charles to the clinic our parishioners helped build.
	We visited the island community of Ylet via a motor boat and then a short jaunt on a "wooden leaf" to the shore. The children treated us to Christmas carols and other songs. We learned that, amazingly, about 80 percent of the children attend school in Cavaillon, which entails a more than four-hour journey. Constructing a school is one of their most basic needs. Next, we were off for a quick visit to the community of Oiseau, where the chapelle's musicians performed on their rustic instruments, before we bid "au revoir" at sunset.

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Eye Witness Narratives

Coverage by the Diocese in the Arlington Catholic Herald.

Feast Days

Feast Days of Gros Marin
January 18	Anniversary of the school opening
Sunday closest to August 11	St. Suzanne
September 5	Founding of the parish
September 8	Nativite de Marie
Last Sunday in November	Christ the King

Priority Feast Days: Cavaillon
March 13	St. Joseph (Flamand)
June 13	St. Anthony of Padua (Redon)
June 27	Our Lady of Perpetual Succor
July 25	St. Jacques (Roche-Delmas)
August 4	St. Jean-Marie Vianney (Cure d’Ars)
September 8	Notre Dame de la Nativite (Lacongo)
September 14	Exaltation of the Holy Cross (Christine)
September 29	Archangels Michael and Gabriel (Barette)
October 2	St. Therese of Lisieux (Boileau)
October 20	St. Jude (Girodier)
November 11	St. Martin de Porres
December 8	Immaculate Conception (Oiseau)

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Sponsorship program

St. Charles assists in the education of school children in Cavaillon, Haiti. For a $100 annual donation, the student receives tuition and books. We are currently (as of the 2001-2 school year) sponsoring about 200 students with more students requesting to join each year. We also support a school lunch program, which costs $800 per month during the school year. If you are interested in helping with these programs, please contact Helen Lane at (703) 524-3417 or hlane4544@yahoo.com.

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Grain Mill at Cavaillon

The grain mill, provided by Misericor (a German organization), has been used by local farmers and as the source of some of the food for the school lunch program. However, the mill motor, which was repaired once, has recently broken again. There has been some discussion in the community to replace the motor but it is unclear whether the previous motors were defective or were inadequate to handle the production volume. A new motor is estimated to cost $6,000. In addition to helping with the school lunch program, a repaired mill could be a source of employment for the graduates. If anyone in the St. Charles community can advise on the subject of grain mill operation, please contact Haiti Committee member Richard Young at (703) 465-9685.

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Revised/reviewed June 5, 2002