Haiti, the terror and the hope

A visit remembered by Fr. Gerry Creedon
January 20, 2007

While waiting for a connecting flight from Port au Prince to Les Cayes on the morning of Jan 6 I met Fr. Rick Flechette, a Passionist priest from Connecticut. He has served in Haiti for 20 years working with Friends of the Orphans and children in need in the poorest communities. He showed me their new hospital for 200 children a kilometer from the airport. Half of them suffer infections, many from AIDS. How can these sick children smile at me? This question sums up my Haiti trip.

Fr. Rick whisked me off in his truck to shop at the market of Gros Sal, Beautiful Dirt, a place where slaves were once sold. Food was cheaper there for the thousand plus children that the hospital, orphanage and school would feed daily. His Haiti helpers would not allow me to shoulder the rice bags like Fr. Rick, because my sports shirt looked too clean. I watched the water carriers instead, beautifully erect Haitian women who carried 5-gallon silver tanks on their heads with a jug floating on top, holding a silver tray with 6 silver goblets. In one beautiful feat of coordination they tended to thirsty customers. A water carrier would lift her right hand, grasp the floating jug, dip it over her head into the tank, fill a goblet, hand it to the client, receive the payment into a pocket in her apron and return the correct change. It was graceful and athletic multi-tasking in a place of squalor.

Back in the truck with a full load, Fr. Rick was on his cell phone, listening to monsignor, the Chancellor of the Diocese describe the situation of his 3 year old kidnapped niece. He would toss the phone to the young Haitian driver to negotiate between the family and gang leaders from the poor neighborhoods where Fr. Rick served. 7, 000 dollars were agreed on. Sr. Lauren would serve as intermediary. The Chancellor believed he had a representative who would deliver the money.

Three days later at the airport, I accidentally ran in to Fr. Rick again. The kidnappers had taken the money without delivering the child. He had a call where he was offered her head. He would renegotiate again personally. Before I left the DR, I learned that he had achieved another rescue. He wished he could get out of this work. His staff said he was against dealing with terrorists and asked not to be rescued if he were taken. Fr. Rick said; “Yes I will respect your decision for yourself. But, what would you like me to do, if it is your daughter?” “In that case he rushed, “Pay!”

Fr. Dieuvelome and Fr. Wilkens were waiting for me at the airport. Who did we run into at les Cayes? Pere Jocelyn. He joined us for supper at Cavaillon. Jocelyn now pastors at Chantale 15 minutes south of Les Cayes and wishes he had a sister parish.

Before supper I reviewed the concerns of our St Charles Haiti Committee. They will update scholarship lists, dates of birth and photos. They will indicate if the 15 year olds and above are still in school. Dievelome says his graduates attend high school in Cavaillon. Public school texts are unavailable as a resource.

Since the Haitian dollar has lost its value, going from 4 to 7.5 Haitian dollars to one US dollar, many of the families are having a very tough time with basic needs and more absenteeism is evident, especially among students who do not have sponsors.

On Sunday I was spared the 5 am mass at Cavaillon, though not the 4am bell! We celebrated the 9 at Berrette. Full participation by a crowded church evidenced the vitality of faith in this community. The choir was led by a makeshift colorful base. Kindergarten does not have a food program! They have a class in church and want to add a classroom. Amazon the Director was enthusiastic about the 90% achievement rate in state exams. Pere Francois, Vicar to Cavaillon accompanied us on this visit. He works part –time in the diocese.

We had lunch at Gros Marin. Pere Dieuvelome had completed his training of a large group of community leaders, Animateurs.

Mirlande, the director of the school appreciated the support of St. Charles and indicated that Dievelome teaches both Spanish and English as a second language.

We visited the church, school and clinic. The clinic has been completed and provides medications bought from public health with a staff of five; a nurse, a lab technician, a doctor once a week and a security guard for the pharmacy and the attached teachers’ quarters.

Fr. Wilkens drove us on the rockiest road I have seen for what seemed to my discs to be hours to Le Sudre. Pere Noemi Anroise is out of communications and does not drive, so we were fortunate to find him enjoying a game of cards with some of his flock. He stepped to attention, banished the card table and took us on a tour of his rectory and school, a lean- to shack. He wants to add two rooms urgently. He sees a clinic as a goal for two years from now since he considers the local hospital as too far away.

Next we visited Flamand, where Antonine served as our guide. The school is three quarters complete. I was impressed with Basilee the enthusiastic school director. She wants to see an extra classroom added.

Back at Cavaillon I met with some young men who were expert in computers who showed me the communications room at the rectory. Wilkens has plans for their use in the high school and in the community. I also met Fito, Antonine’s brother-in-law, the Director of Centre de La Jeunesse. He outlined ambitious plans for a new cultural center. Wilkens sought our assistance as we considered sources for the substantial funding required.

The director of micro enterprise for Cavaillon described a network she has developed in Cavaillon. Rosette, a neighborhood adjacent to Tete Source, where a successful program operates with 15 families, has had training for another 15 families. The need for micro enterprise is more urgent. They would like to associate the project with school families to deal with the problem of income and absenteeism at the same time. The Mill is in full operation.

My return tickets on Caribintair were relegated to stand by and the flight left without me. It was a blessing in disguise as Wilkens led me to Tortugair, a better and cheaper service at a later hour. This gave me the chance to go to the Chancery where I met Pere Kensy Beauvoir. He would like to extend our program of support to advanced students at Beaulieu.

During the visit I had the opportunity to consider the role of the church and Haiti. Our parish now enjoys the service of 5 priests, an indication of the strength of the church and the abundance of vocations. They see the church as a great sign of hope and life. The Ti Eglise movement that put Aristide in power has died on the vine because of its militarization. Fr. Rick spoke of a rectory at Leogane that was stacked with guns. Although liberation in its aggressive form has been excluded from seminary training, there continues to be a strong focus on social justice and empowerment of lay leaders through the chapelles. Fr. Rick lamented with me the return to a vertical theology in the northern churches and recalled the theology of engaged spirituality that flowed from Vatican 2.

Pere Wilkens and Fr. Rick shared a similar analysis of the surge of evangelical churches. They have coincided in Latin America with the emergence of the theology of Medellin. As the Catholic Church criticized neo-liberal economics and corporate sin, funding from the north supported the development of splintering evangelical groups without cohesion and an other worldly theology that removed a threat to the practices of greed and domination. The vitality of the Catholic Church is attested by the growing number of priestly vocations. Among the many checks I delivered was support for Laverno, a seminarian from Tete Source, whose beautifully crafted letters indicate that the priesthood in some places is still attracting the best and the brightest.