I am  in Rhode Island grateful to be able to spend time with family.  At the moment Haiti feels worlds away, yet my mind wanders back there from time to time.  When I think of the number of relatives, I have and spent time with during these past several days, and I juxtapose that with thoughts of the children at the orphanage especially those who went to spent the holiday with a worker since their families were too far away and could not come for them, I feel amazingly grateful for what I have and sad for those who either lack the means to visit their extended family or don't have family connections.  It is wonderful to be here at Christmas time, and also at moments somehow challenging to  be surrounded by relative abundance.  I hope that you had a blessed Christmas and that your New Year will be filled with joy, and peace.

I just came across this on-line about educating children in Haiti in Haitian Creole.  These are the ideas that make sense to me as an educator and a social worker.  I wish I could find the same information presented as well as it is here in either Haitian Creole or in French so that I could share it with my co-workers and community members in Haiti.  Enjoy!       http://www.pri.org/stories/2014-12-22/village-school-haiti-started-national-movement-teach-kids-language-they-speak 

Bon ane!  Happy New Year!  

   

Updates, Citadel and Merry Christmas!

On Friday the last  child left the orphanage for the Christmas holiday.  There were some whose only family members lived too far away or for whatever reason could not go "home."  Arrangements were made for these children to stay with someone, such as an orphanage worker who already knows the child well.  It got very quiet towards the end of the week.

Also, in my previous entry I had mentioned that there were training for all of the workers and the sisters taking place last week.  Well, I was partially wrong; the training were for the workers but not for the sisters.  The interesting thing about assumptions I make based on my previous experiences is that sometimes I don't really even realize at first that I am making an assumption.  

On Saturday, I a Holy Cross sister who works at the high school and two young lay women from Canada, went with a large group of high school girls went to the Citadel.  It was a great trip.  We walked for about three full hours, up the mountain, taking breaks along the way.  The views were spectacular as you can see.  Although when I first boarded the large yellow former american school bus, I felt a bit overwhelmed by the noise level, I must say, I truly enjoyed walking the journey up and down the mountain with some very delightful young women.  The history is fascinating; here is a link to learn more:  http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/180

  On Sunday I flew from O'Kap to Miami and from Miami to New Orleans.  It has been good to spend a couple of days in New Orleans connecting with the sisters, and friends.  Soon I will be connecting with family and friends in Rhode Island, si Dye vle.  I am grateful to, that the sisters took care of fulfilling my wish list of play therapy supplies  that I had emailed several weeks ago.  Thank you!  Mesi Anpil!   I truly am grateful to be able to spend some time in the US, even though the sudden change in culture, schedule and environment cause me to feel mildly disoriented and  slightly disorganized.

While walking down the mountain on Saturday I cam across a large poinsettia plant in full bloom right on schedule for the holiday!

I wish each of you a joyous Christmas filled with peace!  Many Blessings!

        

Lekòl, Maladi, Fèt Nwèl, Orevwa timoun, Politik

Lekòl

Last week the children finished their exams at school.  Even very young children have exams in Haiti; the school system here uses very different methods and is based on a philosophy that seems almost contradictory to what I was taught under-grad as an elementary and special education major at Rhode Island College in the 1990s. 

Maladi

Several of the children have gotten sick lately.  At first we were told it was the measles, but now we have been informed that it was not the measles after all, which is a good thing.  When we believed that several children were coming down with the measles, I looked up information on various seemingly trustworthy medical websites to educate myself about the measles.  I found myself reflecting on disease and vaccinations, and who is offered vaccinations in our world and who is not.  When preparing to come to Haiti, the travel specialist suggested I get a booster to protect against measles, mumps and rubella, just in case the antibodies from earlier vaccinations were no longer active.  My life and health is no more valuable in the eyes of God than a child born into poverty in a country where poverty is the norm. Some people in our world are offered more protection against disease than others as if some lives are of greater value and in general certain factors influence a person’s chances of being offered vaccinations and proper health care in general such as nationality, education level, social status, and race.  Learning of how dangerous measles can be I am very grateful that it is not the illness our children have and that there are vaccinations available; hopefully in the not too distant future these vaccines will be given to all children on our planet regardless of where they are born, and how much money their families have and then when children anywhere become sick it will not be because of the measles or any other serious illness for which there are safe and effective vaccinations.

 Fèt Nwèl   

Yesterday we had a Christmas party for all of the children and employees.  While preparing for the party on Saturday a young woman from Canada and I were given the recipe (in French) and the task for making rum punch, a Haitian specialty, which our employees enjoyed; although I did find it rather funny that this was the task of the newest blahs(foreigners/white people)  in the lakou (yard/property.)  The celebration started with a lively liturgy in our little chapel; I liked the way the priest interacted with the children and at least the homily was in Creole this time.  The mass was followed by a wonderful fèt that included music, dancing, great Haitian food, ice cream and gifts.  The children and employees really seemed to enjoy themselves.  Although the intermittent rain was inconvenient, we did not allow it to detract from the great fun.  I even tasted the rum punch and it was not bad at all!

Orevwa timoun

Most of the children left today to spend school vacation and celebrate Christmas and New Year’s Day, which is also Independence Day with relatives.  Most of the children were happy to see their relative come through the gate of the orphanage.  Some came long distances, but not one family member arrived at our gate in a car. It is suddenly quiet around here, I miss the children already. This week there will be some educational sessions for all staff and sisters who work with the children.  Early next week, I will be leaving for a visit with my community and then my family.  

Politik

There is a lot happening in Haiti politically these days with the recent resignation of the prime minister.  Sometimes we talk about what is happening at the dinner table, but in general to know what is going on I read articles on the internet, because despite some modest improvements, I still understand English better than Creole.   I will attach a link to one article, for your convenience, although it sometimes helps to read a few to get different perspectives.  Despite the political chaos in the country we are very safe here in our yard and in this neighborhood which on the outskirts of Cap Haitian.  I hope and pray that the recent resignation of the prime minister will somehow help the situation.  

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article4477734.html

May this third week of Advent be a time of joy for each of you.  Thanks for taking the time to read this blog.  Many blessings!  

Time

My days have been busy and full.   In January I am going to start taking one day off every week, which I will spend off of the orphanage grounds.    

On Sunday we had a meeting for the families of the children.  All of the children in this program have a relative or someone who keeps in touch with them and who they visit during school vacations.  Nearly all of the children’s mothers have died, but many have fathers, others have an aunt, uncle, or even an older sibling.  In at least a couple of situations the contact person is a non-blood relative who “adopted” the child; in one case it is the person who found the child, as a baby abandoned in a garbage pile.  About half of the “parents” came.  They were given information about the upcoming school vacation, and I talked briefly updating them about the therapy groups and psycho-education.  Then those who came visited their children.  It was wonderful to see the children smile when they saw their parent and sad to see the faces of some of the children for whom nobody came.  Next week most of the children will be going “home” for the school vacation.  We will send them with their clothing, toiletries and other basic necessities which they may not have in their family homes and they will return in early January before school resumes. 

Yesterday was the Feast of the Immaculate Conception.  The closest parish church celebrated their feast day and I attended the liturgy.  It was actually my first time in that particular church since we generally go elsewhere for liturgy. When I arrived with another sister, she showed me where I should sit, I did question her, but since she is more familiar with the parish I took her advice.  She did not sit with me.  Before the mass started I realized I was sitting essentially behind the altar.  There must have been nearly 20 priests co-presiding at the mass, and I found after the entrance procession that I was sitting in between the priests and the choir.  I would have probably stood out a little as the only blah(white person/ foreigner) even if I had been sitting in the back of the church, but felt self-conscious and somewhat uncomfortable sitting where I have been told to sit and would have been much more comfortable sitting or even standing with the people.  The liturgy was beautiful; there was certainly a joyful spirit among the people who gathered.  Most of the mass was in Creole; I was happy because I could understand most of it.  Some of the priests have formed a band called Hosanna, and towards the end of the mass they played a couple of songs; they are very talented musicians.  The church building was simple and in desperate need of repairs; there is one section of the church with a roof that has holes in it and looks like it could fall at any time; people are not supposed to sit there I am told, but they did because the other section of the church with the better roof was overflowing with people.  The mass, which had been scheduled to start at 9:00 ended before 1:00 pm.  I realize how conscious I am of time and admire how for many people in this culture whatever they are doing is typically the focus and not how long it takes, what time it is, or what comes next.  The mass was followed by a delicious meal which we were invited to attend. 

I pray for the grace to be always focused on whatever it is I am doing and to be present in each moment recognizing the gifts and beauty each moment brings and not counting the minutes until the next activity.  Although I love what I am doing here, it has at times had somewhat challenging moments and as I have been working seven days a week, I do find myself at times looking forward to my upcoming home visit.          

Thanksgiving!

I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving! 

Thanksgiving is not a Haitian holiday, although I must say giving thanks seems so inherent in this culture.  There are many church songs that are all about thanking God and most of the time at least one such song is sung at liturgy, often even at daily mass.  We, the sisters working here at the orphanage, received thanksgiving food from Agape flights, which is a nonprofit airline that provides mail service to us and other missionaries for a very reasonable fee.   Every Thursday one of the sisters goes to the nearby airport and checks to see if any packages arrived for us.  This year they had volunteers and donors provide Thanksgiving food for Americans missioned in Haiti.  They gave us turkey and a box that included a canned cranberry sauce, a box of stove stop stuffing, canned yams and marshmallows, Jiffy pie crust mix, a can of pumpkin, a can of condensed milk, and even can of whipped cream.  I would not have expected to celebrate thanksgiving here, but was very happy that we were able to celebrate!  A sister who lives in another convent cooked the turkey and stuffing for us.  I prepared the rest and added some fresh carrots that were in the convent refrigerator to the menu.  Normally, and especially for a holiday like thanksgiving, in the United States, I prefer to make most dishes from scratch rather than use canned and boxed (processed) foods.  Here in Haiti, I was actually grateful for the boxes because at least for me, there are extra steps involved in food preparation that make using the easy stuff feel like cooking from scratch.  Extra steps include trying to get as many of the ants out of the pie crust mix as possible, looking up the word for rolling pin in the Haitian Creole/English Dictionary (“woulo” in case you are wondering,) walking across the lakou (yard) to search the main orphanage kitchen for a woulo, asking a worker to teach me how to light the gas oven; and those are just a few examples.  There is definitely something humbling about needing assistance with very ordinary things, like a different style can opener than I had ever used and also realizing that I lack some basic skills that most women in this culture have probably perfected.

 

Since Thursday was not a holiday here, we followed the regular schedule but decided to wait to eat until all of the sisters were home, which since two had class that night, we ate at about 7:30 pm.  I had prepared a thanksgiving prayer.  I offered to prepare the prayer, so that for once it would be entirely in Haitian Creole; because I find it difficult to really pray in French since I don’t really know French.  It was a good day and I realize I have so very much to be thankful for.  The gratitude that I encounter frequently in the Haitian culture, as well as the realization of how through no merit of my own, I have been fortunate to have been gifted with family, friends, opportunities, experiences and luxuries that many others though no less deserving because the  injustice inherent in our global society cannot access.  

Please keep one of our children who is currently suffering from measles in your prayers.  Thank you!  

May this Advent season be filled with many blessings and peace for each of you as we wait in hopeful expectation.

Adventerous Application Process for Premis De Sejour

In order to legally reside in Haiti for more than three months at a time, non-Haitians are required to obtain what is called a Premis de Sejour; I think that means a permit of the day, but that is just an educated guess since I don’t really know French.  Prior to coming, I gathered what I thought I would need for the permit.  There is a Haitian Sister of Holy Cross who has assisted many sisters with this process.    She submitted my papers and the papers of a young lay woman from Canada who is volunteering at the high school in Cap Haitian which is also sponsored by the Sisters of Holy Cross.  One of the things I knew I needed was passport photos so I had them taken in New Orleans before I left.  I do not remember reading that I would need six photos, so I only had two printed.  Once in Haiti, I was informed that I needed six, and had the picture taken at a photography shop here in O’Kap.  Last week I called the sister who was assisting me with the process to check the status and learned that I would need to go to Portauprince to sign a paper, although in reality it was more than a simple signature that was required.  On Sunday the lay volunteer and I rode with a chauffeur who was going to the capital to transport the postulants from the capital to O’Kap on Monday.  The trip took over four hours.  We arrived in plenty of time for Sunday dinner at the convent with the sisters in Portauprince.

 

On Monday morning we went to the immigration/emigration office in the city.  Riding through the city, I saw familiar sites and noticed significant changes as it has been well over three years now since I had been in down town Pourtauprince.  The National Palace has been completely demolished; I had  heard this, but to see an empty space where a massive but broken building had stood the last time I’d passed, is very different than simply reading the news on a website.  When we passed certain spots, that were only vaguely familiar, I recalled that large tent communities had once been there.

. 

We arrived shortly after 8:00 am.  While the other areas of the building seemed already crowded with people, there was nobody waiting in front of us when we arrived in the air conditioned Premis de Sejour room.  I was feeling a little nervous about the paper work because I knew it would all be in French.  I had heard stories of people who work in government offices, speaking French to people who don’t understand French and pretending not to know Creole.  While I don’t doubt there is at least historically some truth to those kinds of stories, thank God, this was not my experience.   Actually the woman who helped us knows English, and after a several minutes of the sister and I conversing in Creole and then the sister writing the French spelling of words on the back of an envelope for me to copy unto the application, the kind worker decided that it would be acceptable for me to write in English on my application.  I was glad that she was so helpful and patient.  My only complaint is that she asked me my color hair, and when I responded, “red, wouj, rouge”  (If my answer had been acceptable, I could have even written red in French, since I know the capital of Louisiana,) I was informed that my hair is not “red;” it is “brown.”  While I have always thought myself a red head, I quickly decided that in this context, this was not worth arguing about and wrote “brown” on the paper, in English.  When we got to the next question, I quickly said and wrote that my eyes are hazel (in English) before anyone had time to inform me otherwise.   The only problem was that my birth certificate had not been translated into French.  We were told that we needed to have an official translation done which a specific agency can do for (what I think is an excessive) fee.  I don’t understand why the birth certificate would need an expensive official translation; or really why if someone in the office knows English, and I can write my hair and eye color on the application in English, my birth certificate would need to be translated at all.  The young woman who is volunteering at the high school’s, birth certificate is acceptable because hers is  bi-lingual since she was born in Canada, however her certificate of health was not acceptable because it was written on prescription paper as opposed to a formal official letter; before her permit can be processed, she needs to go to a doctor here who will give her a certificate of health written in the proper format.  My doctor in the US happens to be Haitian American and wrote my certificate of health in the proper format and even in French (one less thing to have translated) and it was perfectly acceptable; thank God.  Before we left, we had to have our pictures taken, (even though we had each already submitted six pass port type photos) and we were finger printed. I think we were fortunate that they allowed us to have the pictures and finger prints taken even though neither us had submitted all of the proper documentation; otherwise, we would have had to make another trip. The office got busier as more people came in while we were there.  Still, it was not anywhere near as busy as the open room just outside the office; I am not sure exactly what happens there but given that the building said Immigration and Emigration I can imagine.  As we made our way through the crowd, I wondered, for every American and Canadian citizen applying for a Permis de Sejour to stay longer than three months in Haiti, how many hundred Haitian citizens are trying to get papers to go to either America or Canada?  I suddenly acquired a deep appreciation for the fact that I happen to have a birth certificate which indicates that I was born in the United States.

   

Later that morning we left the city with the Holy Cross postulants who had been in the capital all week for a formation program and two other sisters.  Soon after we left the city limits there was a “blokis” caused by a “manifestasyon,” which means a traffic jam caused by a protest.  One of the sisters called a young person to the window when we were completely stopped and asked what was going on and he explained that the manifestasyon was for “dlo” and “kouran.”  People had organized this to try to get the attention of the government because they do not have access to “water and electricity.”  In various places people had parked large trucks to block the roads, in some places there were also rocks, and at one point we saw a couple of burning tires.  The traffic was very slow moving to get around the obstacles; then we were able to travel sometimes a bit faster for a brief time until we came to the traffic caused by the next set of road blocks.  This went on for quite a while.  At one point we pulled to the side of the road to wait a while, simply because it felt safer to do so.  It took more than twice as long to return to O’Kap than it did not get to Port-Au-Prince the previous day.  I am very thankful that we arrived safely and grateful that at least here at the orphanage and convent we have dlo and kouran.  

 

Happy Thanksgiving!    

Angle

Sometime a couple of the older children ask me to help them with their English homework.  At times some of the lessons seem too advanced for their current level of comprehension.  There was a child who did not know the words “his,” “why,” or “what,” who had a passage to read about a historic Haitian figure and the reading included the words “guerrilla warfare” and “fervently,” which I struggled to explain the meanings for in Haitian Creole even though I know the Creole words for “his, why and what.”   Another time I assisted a child with a passage that explained how the rain creates streams and rivers that flow into the ocean; I ended up explaining the passage to her in Creole and it seemed like a light bulb went off in her head, and she appeared excited and I don’t think it was so much because she had learned the English but because she had learned a concept that perhaps had never before been explained to her in her first language.  It does seem that many of the passages were written about subjects that are somehow connected to Haitian culture and life, and that may be interesting to many children.  I did find it puzzling that on an exercise designed to help students practice placing either “a” or “an” before a noun, that the any English teacher would include the technical word for a female dog.

Some of the children have expressed an interest in learning English.  On occasion, I have offered very informal classes for whoever wants to come from the house of the older children.  I decided to try to make it fun.  We've done things like introduce ourselves, sang and did the motions for “head shoulders, knees and toes,” walked while saying things like “I am walking, we are walking” took turns jumping while saying “you are jumping” “she is jumping“ “he jumped.” etc.  (I have read that exercise and movement have been proven to help with the learning process; I include this just in case my readers think that I don’t like to sit still.)   Sometimes the children just want to ask me “how do you say….(whatever?)”  Kids seem to really enjoy looking at the bi-lingual picture dictionary I have, which was a text we used when I studied in Creole in Miami, although it was written with English learners in mind. 

On occasion children ask me to translate something.  Most of the time I am glad to do this for them and typically it is easy to do, with occasional exceptions.  There was a little plastic bag of drinking water, which is commonly sold in this country, (although I personally avoid drinking from them,) and on the bag in English it said “feel the ozone” in blue letters.  A child asked for an explanation.  While I know that ozone is a gas and am aware that depletion of the ozone layer is problematic environmentally, I felt clueless and unable to understand, never mind articulate in Haitian Creole the meaning of the phrase and thought to myself maybe it simply sounded good to someone who has studied English and needed a slogan.  If you have a better explanation, please make use of the comments section of this post; I am curious.  Sometimes the older children will ask me to translate the words on a t-shirt they noticed a stranger wearing while they were on the way home from school.  (T-shirts that Americans discard often end up here; the people wearing them frequently do not know what they say.)  On one occasion I’d felt that I could only try to explain the meaning, if I also explained that it was inappropriate and why; it was either that or pretend that the t-shirt actually referred to a (not an) female dog.  

Zarenyen Krab and other updates

When I updated the blog on Monday evening of last week, we were all feeling grateful for the rain, but then it continued through the night and wee-hours of the morning. On Tuesday we were inundated with rain and it continued to fall sometimes quite heavily but with occasional breaks in between storms for much of that day.  The primary schools were already closed for teacher training last week, but then the secondary schools closed on Tuesday and remained so for the rest of the week to give people a chance to deal with the flooding that occurred in many homes and nearby streets.  We were all safe here, neither of the children’s houses nor the convent flooded, but many people in the nearby city, were not so fortunate.  We even heard that a couple of people died due to flooding.  Please keep the people of Cap Haitian and other areas of Haiti that experienced heavy rains, especially those who lost homes or loved ones in your prayers.    

There was so much rain in front of the door to the room I use for therapy on Tuesday morning, that I decided that it would not be wise to bring the children through such a deep puddle.  In between rainstorms, I did enter the room to straighten up a bit.  After I walked through the door, I turned around and noticed a tarantula sitting on the floor barely a couple of inches from the door frame I had just walked through. For a moment I regretted that I left my rain boots in a closet in New Orleans.  My wet feet were feeling a bit vulnerable in my sandals.    I considered getting the mop I had in the playroom and pushing the spider into the water, but I did not like that idea because I did not know if tarantulas can swim and did not want encounter it in the water once I left the room.   An older child, who apparently had noticed me heading towards the playroom, splashed her way through the puddle even as I told her not too; she entered as I was explaining to her that there is a big spider by the door.  She seemed frightened, initially.  While I was still discerning how I should respond, considering that it is dangerous and wanting it gone, but wondering if there might be adverse ecological effects if everyone murdered scary spiders, she pushed it out with the mop.  That day, I learned that tarantulas do float and sort of swim too.  Seemingly unharmed, it made its way across the water to the nearby small cement foundation, by this time several of the oldest children had gathered on the other side of the puddle.  One of the older boys killed it.  The Haitian Creole world for tarantula is “zarenyen krab,” which literally translates to “spider crab;” I find this interesting because in Rhode Island, there is a crab that resembles a spider, which is called a spider crab.  Personally, I would much rather encounter the crab that resembles a spider than the spider that walks like a crab! 

Last week, I wrote that I was happy to have electricity in the playroom and I was.  The electricity system we have here is somewhat complicated; although I am confident that I would be quite capable of understanding how it all works, if only there were someone who could explain it to me in my primary language.  The electricity in the playroom was on in the morning, I think because the workers in the nearby house for the younger children iron the children’s clothes at that time; and it is turned on again at 6pm.  The problem with that was that once the sun starts going down, at around 4:30, when I start my last group, the room starts to get dark.  I am grateful that my Haitian cell phone came with a handy built-in flashlight, but still this is not the best way to conduct therapeutic groups with young children.  I asked one of the sisters about the possibility of increasing the hours that electricity is available in the playroom by having it hooked up to the inverter and what the cost would be.  Thank you to those who gave me money for Haiti; a portion of it was used to pay electricians to hook up the building to the inverter.  Now most of the time there is electricity in the play therapy room.  The rooms in that building now also have working electric outlets!  Mesi anpil!  (Thank you very much!) 

If you are reading this regularly, you know that a couple of weeks ago a few sisters and a group of children and I attended a wedding. We heard this week that the bride recently gave birth to twins, one of the babies died.  Please keep the family in your prayers.  Thank you.

For the second time since I arrived we had a liturgy here for the children on Saturday evening. This time much to my surprise (and disappointment,) even the homily was in French.  One mass part and one song were in Haitian Creole; I felt happy when the one song we did sing was one that I like and  learned from attending the Haitian Creole mass in New Orleans.  Since the high school age children did not have to be transported into the city because schools were closed, a couple of mornings last week, instead of going to the cathedral for daily mass we went to another church in the opposite direction, and I am glad that that liturgy is conducted primarily in Haitian Creole, the language of the people, which is spoken by everyone.  I still do not always understand everything in Creole, but certainly much more than I do in French.  I do not understand why so many masses here, including liturgies for children would be mostly in French (the language I understand has traditionally associated with government, education, and the wealthier and more educated classes.)

I have had very good internet for nearly a month.  Today I went to pay for the next month and felt very confused by the options available as I continue to struggle with understanding large numbers in Creole and then to get a sense of how much money something would be in American dollars, very challenging for me in a noisy telephone store where the clerks are so close together and the individual waiting on me seems annoyed when I ask her to speak slowly (most of the time most people are amazingly patient with me.)  I can only hope that my klè will work as well during the coming weeks as it has recently.  We shall see.  I did get behind with responding to emails last week, when the children did not have school and therefore even my mornings were busy.  Hopefully I will catch up this week.  Thank you for all who have emailed or messaged me; I am very appreciative even if I have not responded.  Many blessings!    

Twins, All Souls Day and Rain

Much has happened this past week. 

The lay woman who had been volunteering here for two months, returned to Canada.  She is already greatly missed by the children, and the sisters, myself included. 

On Friday morning twin babies arrived at the orphanage as planned.  Their mother had died, I believe while giving birth to them; from what I was told, most likely her death would not have occurred if the hospital had not lost electricity.  The father of the children has several other children, including one with a significant developmental disability and so had decided that it would be best for his youngest babies to reside here with us.  The twins, like all of the children here, will maintain contact with their family.  They are beautiful.  It has been very touching to see how the other children welcomed them and seem to love them.  If you saw them, I am sure you would love them too! 

When I was in Haiti before, Haiti did not participate in day light savings time.  I did hear that they started after I left.  We did set the clocks back yesterday which caused a little confusion regarding when we were supposed to leave for mass.  On Saturday electricians were here and now there are two energy efficient lights in the play therapy room.  For this I am very grateful especially since it is now getting dark out when I am doing my last therapy groups most days.  

       

Yesterday was All Souls Day, an important day in the Catholic Church and in Haiti for remembering and praying for those who have died.  The priests and brothers of Holy Cross invited all of the Holy Cross family in Haiti as well as sisters from another congregation to a special mass that was held at their high school here in Cap Haitian.  The entire mass, as well as the Morning Prayer that preceded it, with the exception of two sung mass parts and one communion hymn was in French.  The liturgy was followed by a procession to the nearby cemetery where we prayed and placed a few wreaths of flowers.  Since the Marianites pray every day for our sisters who have died, typically reading their name, year of death and place of burial on the anniversary of death, I knew that a Marianite had died in Haiti and was buried in Cap Haitian.  I was very grateful when one of the Holy Cross sisters showed me her tomb.  Seeing the initials MSC after her name, helped me to feel connected and somehow further confirmed for me that I am where I am supposed to be.  I may be the only Marianite currently living in Haiti, but I am certainly not the first.  The cemetery contains Sisters of Holy Cross, Priests and Brothers of Holy Cross, a Marianite of Holy Cross as well as sisters from one other congregation.  It is truly a cemetery for the family of Holy Cross, which I think, greatly pleases Fr. Moreau, our founder.  Following the procession, we were all invited to a gathering; it is always great to connect with other members of the Holy Cross family, and as a bonus( among other things) there was delicious fresh pineapple to eat.   

  

We had almost no rain the first month that I was here and needed it.  Now we have had some rain for the past few nights and it has been raining on an off all day today.  In fact, it is raining quite heavily as I write this. We are grateful for the rain because things were getting pretty dry and some of the older children recently planted a garden.  It is a bit cooler than usual as well; a much welcomed break from the recent heat and humidity.  

       

lanmè, Nòs, epi lot bagay

The Sea 

On Wednesday morning, instead of our usual community meeting all of the sisters and the lay woman who is volunteering with us went to the sea.  It only took about an hour to get there even though it was on the other side of a mountain.  Apparently one of the sisters knows the owner of this place by the sea and on weekdays, when it is typically not in use, the sisters are allowed to use it during the day.  It was quite beautiful, private and peaceful.  The water was the perfect temperature for swimming.  We all had a great time and we returned to the orphanage in plenty of time for our regular after school schedule with the children; which for me on Wednesday means five, half-hour long therapy groups with the youngest children followed by being available for a half of an hour to assist any of the older with English homework.

A Wedding

On Saturday a few of the sisters, the volunteer, an employee and a group of children attended the wedding of the son of one of the women who works at the orphanage.  The wedding was at a Baptist church, although it was not actually in the church itself.  Because the bride was visibly pregnant, the pastor of the church would not allow the ceremony to take place in the church.  Instead, all those in attendance crowded into a small, dark and very warm room which was across a narrow alley on the side of the spacious empty church.  I suppose the room would have been even darker if there had not been some small holes in the rusting metal roof.  It was simply decorated with a bouquet of fake flower and streamers which I suspect were created from thin toilet paper.  There was something about the simplicity and the small dark room that caused me to feel sad for a moment.  The ceremony started with some prayers in French, followed by songs sung in French and Creole.  The minister preached and did the actual marriage ceremony in Creole, because he said he wanted everyone to understand.  The bride and groom seemed young and nervous during certain parts of the ceremony, but lovely and sincere.  The bride wore a beautiful gown.  The mother of the groom, our co-worker who had invited us, and had seemed so excited about the wedding was not at the actual ceremony; I don't know why.  After the service ended, we piled back into the crowded van and drove a short distance.  In front of a nearby small home, we all exited the van. Our co-worker was there and she was so happy to see us, so glad that we had attended her son's wedding ceremony.  Everyone was handed a sand which wrapped in paper towel and something to drink.  The sandwich was a white hamburger bun,with a pink sauce that I think was made of ketchup, mayonnaise, and a few tiny pieces of hot-dog, green peppers and onions.  My drink was a grape soda.  Yes,(in case you are wondering) I ate and drank what I was given, appreciative of their generosity and graciousness.  Before most had finished their sandwiches, we loaded back into the van.  On the way home, one of the sisters asked the driver to stop at a vendor she seemed to know at the side of the road and purchased a few small Styrofoam containers filled small pieces of cooked horse meat which were passed around the van. I decided I had been adventurous enough in my eating for one day, and my stomach really was full from drinking all of the sweet grape soda and eating the entire sandwich, so I politely declined.

Other things

On Saturday evening, we had liturgy here at the a little chapel between the orphanage and the school (I'll post pictures of the chapel another time.)  Apparently this is something that we try to do a couple of times a month, but sometimes there is no priest available; it was my first liturgy in our chapel.  Since all of the children were attending, and a Holy Cross priest was coming to preside at the liturgy, I assumed that the liturgy would be in Haitian Creole.  I was looking forward to this especially since when we go to daily mass at the cathedral most of that mass is in French.  Except for the homily which ended with a French prayer and one short hymn, the mass for our children was entirely in French.

On Sunday evening, we celebrated the birthdays of all of the children born in October.  It was a wonderful celebration with dancing, singing and food.  It is always a gift to watch children enjoying themselves.  There should be a few pictures of the fet (party) posted on the Mary Gate of Heaven Orphanage facebook page, if you are interested.

I have been here over a month already. In many ways it seems to have gone so quickly, yet somehow it does seem like it has been a very long time since I was in the United States.  I hope you are well.  Take care.