Perspective

Perspectives
Since I have been in Haiti I have been stretched to realize that so much of what I see, could be seen so differently by people of different cultures, or who have had vastly different experiences.  The other day when I was riding in the car to a liturgy in a mountain village called Fondwa, we were stuck in traffic on the way there.  A large gasoline (tanker) truck was in the middle of the road turned over on its side, completely blocking the road, so that traffic could not pass in either direction.  I fear that the driver was at least seriously injured if he survived at all, based on the condition of the cab.  When I hear of gasoline leaking from a truck, my thought is of how dangerous this could be because it is flammable and the fumes are not good to breathe.  Many of the people living nearby most of whom were very poor had a different perspective.  People of all ages  were carrying buckets, plastic water bottles, and pitchers, and containers every shape and size, filling them them to the brim with gasoline.  I said to the other sister in the car, that all  of these people can't have cars, or generators.  She said they would probably sell it.  We and all of the vehchiles in front of us, ended up driving through a nearby field as it was the only way around the truck.  That same day in another location on the side of a large gas tank in English it said something like, "dangerous, contents are flammable, fumes can be harmful."  I thought to myself anyone in Haiti who is educated enough to read those English words probably already knows that gasoline is flammable and the people who are least likely to read it are probably least likely to be aware of this.  

Vow Ceremony
On the day I saw the tanker truck, I was accompanying another American sister, to the vow ceremony for a young congregation of Haitian sisters, the Franciscan  Sisters of St. Antoinne of Fondwa (I hope I got there name right.)  The American sister who works here at the hospital now, worked with the sisters there in a clinic prior to the earthquake.  Fondwa is a rural village in the mountains.  The liturgy was held in the temporary structure which stood on the foundation where the church was before it fell down in the quake. The current church was constructed of corrugated metal held together by beams of wood, which looked as though they had been used before, I wondered if the wood had been salvaged from the fallen church.  There were sturdy chairs which had been handmade somewhere in the countryside.  The decorations in the church were a couple of plants, some fake flowers and ribbons.  The decorations outside were mostly hand made paper chains.  There was profound beauty in the simplicity of it all.  The bishop of Portauprince presided at the liturgy.  Two sisters made final vows and two sisters made first vows; other than the two sisters who founded the congregation these were the first two sisters to make final vows.  There was such joy among the sisters, their families, and the people from the village.  After the mass, we were all invited to stay for a meal of delicious fresh Haitian food; the sister I was with said that the turkey was probably walking around earlier that morning.  As people were finishing their meals there was the distant sound of thunder.  Since many people from the village had walked, and even a couple came on horse or donkey, the party cleared out quickly as people attempted to get home before the heavy rains.              

Kay St. Anne and Kay St. Louie
This morning ten of the children moved from St. Anne to St. Louie.  They came to Sunday liturgy at St. Louie and were introduced to the other children after the mass ended.  Then the children went to their new rooms, which are the shipping containers that each house about 16 children and a worker.  I stayed around a short time afterwards.  I was glad to see the children who had just moved in playing well with the children at St. Louie.  Next week we expect to receive 15 new children at Kay St. Anne.