Pilat

Sisters had mentioned that the road to Pilat was not good, and now I understand what they meant. At times it looked more like a dry rocky river bed rather than a road.  At moments, it was hard to believe that such a path would lead to a town with a school, church and hospital.  In the town itself there are  roads that are well paved, at least near the church and between the school and the hospital.

The sisters' school is Pilat is a National School, which means it is funded by the government, and it is free, or at least almost free.   It is a girls school through 6th grade and and classes are co-ed in 7th and 8th.  Somewhere else in the town there is a National School for boys.  The preschool, where I spent much of my time, is new this year.  In the class there over 50 three-year-old girls.  Classes will be added next year and the following year.  I was very impressed that the director of the school, a Haitian Sister of Holy Cross, understands the importance of play and is discouraging the preschool teachers from focusing too much on academics.  With the help of Ti Tòti, my turtle puppet, I did some basic psycho-education lessons with the children.  I also met with the preschool teachers to hear their concerns and share basic information with them regarding how people in general and young children in particular respond to traumatic and violent events.  Yesterday afternoon the parents of the preschool children came for a meeting with me. I talked with them, asking them about how the events have affected their children, explained some of the lessons I had done with the children and shared information about trauma and how they can support their children emotionally in the aftermath of community violence.

One afternoon I had a chance to visit the hospital in Pilat where four sisters of Holy Cross are currently ministering.  At one time, many years ago, Marianites of Holy Cross (my own congregation) worked in that very hospital.  I was given the grand tour.  Passing the Cholera room, where there were several patients reminded me that Cholera still is in fact here (when I worked in Tabarre after the earthquake I was very conscious of Cholera; see my blog entries from December 2010.)  The hospital has many program and strives to serve the health needs of the people of the area.

Walking with one of the sisters, between the school and hospital I was struck by the friendliness of the people and I experienced a sense of peace.  It was hard to believe that such a lovely town experienced politically motivated violence in recent months.  

This week there was a retreat at the parish church in Pilat.  I attended the evening liturgies which were lively and entirely in Creole.  They were longer than typical daily masses, actually they were longer than most American Sunday liturgies, but they were lively and energizing with people dancing in their pews at times.  Yesterday evening there were prayers for the Stations of the Cross.  I found myself reflecting upon the people of Pilat who have experienced violence in their community and how there and in so many other places in our world the crucifixion, in the form of injustice, unnecessary suffering, and violence continues to take place in our world today.  I don't know if my presence really made any difference for little children, their teachers or their parents.  Sometimes when faced with people's suffering and pain, I feel somewhat helpless, but I suppose this is how Mary felt as she stood at the foot of the cross.  At the same time, it felt like a privilege to be there to experience the hospitality of the sisters, the faith of the people, and the laughter of the little children.  I left Pilat feeling grateful for my experience.  Easter is coming, hopefully for the people of Pilat and all people experiencing modern day crucifixions it will come quickly, not only in the form of a holiday, but as true transformation, joy, healing, peace, resurrection, and new life.


I spent over an hour trying to upload pictures without  success, even though I am back in Okap, so perhaps I'll post some Pilat pictures at some point in the future.

May you experience many blessings and graces as we enter into Holy Week.