Easter, comings and goings

On Sunday during the Easter liturgy at the orphanage seven children were baptized.  We had a wonderful celebration with delicious food that afternoon.  It is always a gift to see the children enjoying themselves.  

Orphanage chapel before Easter Liturgy

There have been many comings and goings here in the convent, and they continue.  We were all very happy to welcome back two sisters who spent a couple of months studying in Canada to enhance the work that they do at Piti Men.  A group of over 40 young women spent a couple of days here; they are all discerning the possibility of entering religious life.  We had a special Passover meal and prayer with them on Thursday evening.  One of the postulants is leaving this afternoon to have an experience at one of the sisters' other missions.  She will be greatly missed.  I am going to be leaving tomorrow so that I can attend an assembly in New Orleans on Friday; I'm really looking forward to seeing many of my Marianite sisters over the weekend.  I will return early next week.


On Holy Saturday, while I was helping to clean the orphanage chapel in preparation for Easter, the crucifix on the chapel wall caught my attention.  Here is a close-up photograph of it for your own reflection.

Hopefully, you are experiencing  joy, new-life and resurrection during this Spring and Easter season.  Happy Easter!  Many blessings!

         

Pilat Pictures

View of mountains from the second story of the school  

School in Pilat

From the second story of the main school building., the preschool yard

Catholic Church in Pilat

This bird was seen in the large tree in the middle of the school yard.  I think it slept in the tree.  

Finally, I successfully uploaded a few Pilate photos for you to see and enjoy!

It was great to see the children at the orphanage when I resumed my work there on Sunday.  I have a bit of a cold, so I am resting today.  I hope that you are well.  Many blessings!        

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.
  

Time

 

Haiti is not participating in daylight savings time this year.  It seems some years we spring ahead and fall back and some years we don't here.  Not changing the hour seemed to cause some confusion as did changing it last year.  I am now an hour behind my friends and family on the east coast (of the US.) I am now on the same hour as my friends and community members in New Orleans.

My experience during the past few days is one I really want to share and am looking forward to writing about.  Know that I am well.  I am very much enjoying my work and experience here in Pilat.  I will write more when I have the time to write well and a will post when I have an adequate internet connection, hopefully even good enough to upload a couple of pictures.  

Take care.  Many blessings!  

Plaj,Bèt, Semèn Pwochèn

BEACH/ Plaj

On Sunday we had our annual day at the beach with the children.  They were so excited to be going to the sea.  Some of the youngest children were excited just to go for a ride in the machin (the orphanage mini bus.)  It was a joy to be with them playing in the water, teaching a few to float on their backs, and just seeing them enjoy themselves.  For the children who arrived at the orphanage in September, this was their first beach day.  We brought with us all of the food and fixings for a delicious Haitian Sunday dinner which everyone enjoyed.  It was partly cloudy, but did not rain while we were at the beach and only a few drops of water fell when we were all in the machins on our way back to the orphanage.    

Animals/ bèt

Recently there have been animals in places where they are typically unwelcome.  This includes the mosquitoes in my bedroom, the tarantula in the play therapy room, the rat in the metal cabinet of the play therapy room, and the adorable little goat that wandered into church during morning liturgy at a nearby parish one morning last week.   I never expected that a rat would chew through the play dough containers.    They really do have sharp teeth!

Next Week/ Semèn Pwochèn   

Next week I am going to spend a week working in a different town where there are Sisters of Holy Cross.  I will work with preschool children who have recently been exposed to significant violence.  Please pray for the children and pray that the Spirit will guide me to know how to be a healing presence to them, their teachers and families.  

Thank you.  Take care.  Many blessings!  

Bwa Kayiman and Batay Vètyè

Several days ago, I asked one of the sisters for ideas of places I could go historical or touristy, on a Tuesday since that is my day off, and by myself if necessary since everyone else is working or busy on that day.  She said that there were two places close enough that the convent chauffeur would be available to take me in between his normal Tuesday responsibilities.

Yesterday morning the chauffeur and I visited Bwa Kayiman, which is the site where the planning as well a a Voodoo ceremony occurred which began the Haitian Revolution.  (here is a the Wikipedia link for more information https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bois_Ca%C3%AFman )We drove up the mountain and then walked a short distance to a hidden cave; two men showed us where to find it.  They showed us an old bridge nearby that they said had been built by slaves.

Then we spent some time in the yard, below.  There was a school group standing under a tree and a man was talking to them.  I listened to the end of his speech and as took questions from the youth,  grateful that he was speaking Creole (not French.)  His words seemed likely to inspire young people to embrace their culture, beliefs and traditions and not to allow the culture to be destroyed or repressed.        

Next we went to the monument of the Battle of Vètyè.   (Here is the Wikipedia link for more information:   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Verti%C3%A8res )

As a result of my outing, I found myself thinking about history and how so many people have experienced such terrible oppression and discrimination like slavery and being denied the right to practice their religion.  I found myself reflecting upon the concept of freedom and how so much blood has been shed to obtain it.  As I read on-line articles about Super Tuesday results yesterday evening, I could not help but feeling disturbed by the reality that there are Americans voting for a person who speaks of building walls that exclude others and sending refugees away.  Until we are all free of  prejudices,  hatred, and fear of the "other", then I am not sure that anyone of us is truly free.

I was going to put captions under the pictures, include more details and include a couple of other updates, but I am already a day late (according to my self-imposed deadline) and want to publish this tonight before the electricity goes off.  

I hope that you are well.  Have a good week.  Take care. Many blessings!