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.  

Kay nou, ak kay timou yo (Our house and the children's houses)

I decided to include a few pictures in this week's post.  Enjoy!

Here is a picture of the convent where I am living.  It is on the grounds of the orphanage.  

The bedrooms are on the sides and the large community room, dining room is straight ahead.  

One of the rooms that was probably designed as a bedroon has been converted into a small chapel.  

This is the house where the younger children live.  The second floor consists of three bedrooms and an open area.  Two of the bedrooms have bunk beds, the other one contains cribs where the youngest children sleep.

This is the house where the older children live.  Currently there is one room for boys and four for girls, since we have many more girls than boys at this time.  There are two bedrooms on the first floor and the others are upstairs. 

If you are on facebook, please visit, like, and follow the Mary Gate of Heaven Orphanage page.  Thanks!  Take care!

A famous singer came to visit the orphanage on Friday evening.  Her name is Melissa, and although I had never heard of her (of course that doesn't mean much as I am not always up on pop-culture) she is apparently quite famous in Quebec, Canada.  There is a possibility that she resided in this orphanage, many years ago when she was a baby, prior to being adopted in Canada.  (Our current program keeps children connected to whatever family they have; none are eligible for adoption.)  Melissa and a camera crew came on Friday afternoon.  The children welcomed her with song and she sang for and with them.  She was given a tour of the houses where the children live.  The children seemed to really enjoy her and she them.  It was a very exciting day here for all involved. She is indeed a very talented singer, which I can appreciate since I am not at all gifted in that realm.  In December her visit should air on television in Quebec.  

Yesterday I had some time just to be with the children when they were playing.  While pushing some of the youngest children on the swings yesterday, I experienced pure joy when they laughed.  There are moments that make any of the challenges I experience all worth while.  When the challenges do come, God always seems to provide just what I need.  On Saturday I was feeling a bit frustrated about a situation, nothing too serious but wishing that I could explain my perspective to someone in English, not to solve the problem but simply express what I was experiencing in the words that are easiest for me to use.  About two minutes after I had that thought, one of the older children came looking for me, saying that a sister was looking for me. The sister who made the journey with me from Portauprince to Cap Haitian, was here at the orphanage (she lives at the convent on the grounds of the high school) and being from western Canada, English is her primary language.  God provides!     

Today I was able to purchase a  klè, which translates to "key;" it is allowing me internet access, and I am glad to be able to connect.  Hopefully it will work always work as well as it seems to be doing right now.  It looks like a larger than usual thumb drive and for a monthly fee I should be able to access the internet anytime, anywhere in Haiti.   

I hope that you are all well.  Many Blessings! 

Today I started seeing some of the youngest children for play therapy.  The mothers of nearly all of the children here in this orphanage have died.  It seems that in addition to the loss of their mothers many have experienced various other losses and significant trauma.  I feel it is privilege to be able to journey with these children and pray that my presence, love, and skills will enable me to somehow be a healing presence for each of them.  Since I am doing clinical social work, and am very conscious of confidentiality, I will not post any pictures of the children on this blog, but trust me, if you were to see their smiles, and even at times their tears you could not help but love them. 

Over the weekend I was included in the region meeting for the Sisters of Holy Cross in Haiti.  Walking into the building when I arrived at the site of the meetings, there was large picture of Fr. Moreau, the founder Holy Cross.  Certainly the connections and charism common to the Holy Cross family has helped me to feel at home here.  I was happy to meet so many sisters and felt very welcomed and included in their meetings and conversations at table and during breaks.    

I brought my pocket Haitian Creole-English Dictionary to the meeting over the weekend so I could look up any unknown words.  The dictionary proved useless however, not because of my vastly improved knowledge of Creole, but because the meetings were held in French.  Fortunately, for me, there were two American sisters there, who were willing and very able to translate what was being said directly into English for me during the meetings.  When we broke off into groups on Saturday to share, for my sake, an English speaking group was formed.  On Sunday when we shared briefly in small groups, the sisters near me where willing to share in Creole instead of French which I appreciated, and an American sister was in the group to clarify anything I did not understand well.   I was very grateful for their willingness to accommodate me.

Internet connections have been challenging.  After many attempts sometimes I can get on for a few minutes.  I have not been able to fully access my Facebook page at all.  If you are expecting an email response and have not received one this is the reason. 

There are several other topics I had wanted to write about including: hearing about the death of the former president/dictator Papa Doc during the meetings,  learning to remove beans from pods, the funeral of the father of one of the workers, the houses that are being knocked down that we pass on our way to church, the American airlines flights that started coming into Cap Haitian, and getting a phone, but it is getting late and may take a while to get on line and paste this into the blog, so maybe I will say more about some of those later or just leave the details to your imagination.   Bon Nwit!