Jakmel

At noon on Friday all of the sisters currently residing at Leocaide Convent, the postulants, including the postulant who is currently living and working at a different location, and our driver loaded the convent mini bus and headed to Port-au-Prince.  I found the drive to be enjoyable, we passed through mountains, through busy town centers, and at times got beautiful glimpses of the sea.  It took us six and a half hours to reach the Holy Cross convent in the capital where we were warmly welcomed with wonderful Holy Cross hospitality.  

Early the next morning, we set out for the city of Jakmel which is in the South of Haiti.  When we passed through the village of Fondwa I happily announced that I had been there before ( in  Sept 2011  and April 2011. ) Our first stop in Jakmel was the promenade by the beach.  The walkway along the beach is relatively new and I was quite impressed with the view as well as the mosaics and other art forms that adorn the path.  The pictures do not capture the true beauty.    I was grateful to walk the beach for a few minutes with my feet in the ocean.        

We spent a lot of time driving through Jakmel and some neighboring towns along the coast enjoying the scenery until we reached a river at which point we decided to turn around and head back towards Jakmel.  Early in the afternoon, we stopped at a convent and asked a sister who lives there, if we could eat our lunch in their yard.  The sister was very gracious and allowed us to sit on their porch, use their tables and chairs and showed us to the restroom.   

After lunch, we visited a rural area outside of Jakmel, where several years ago for a few years Sisters of Holy Cross lived and worked with and among the people.  One of the sisters I live with had lived there and she spoke fondly of her memories.  People  were so happy to see her and they asked for sisters by name who had lived there many years ago.  We saw the house, which was next to a chapel, which was beside an even smaller and older chapel.  When the sisters were there they provide for the spiritual needs of the people as the closest parish church is a distance and a priest would come only periodically.  There were people in the chapel joyfully singing Haitian hymns while we were there.            

Later that afternoon, in Jakmel we met a priest, who is the brother of a Holy Cross sister.  He showed us the inside of the cathedral which has not been operating since the 2010 earthquake when it was significantly damaged.  After that,  he was happy to show us a brand new church on the outskirts of the city.  The new parish church is very modern and looks to me like it could be in any US suburb; he did not have the church key with him but we peeked in through a window.     

We returned to Port-au-Prince that evening.  The next morning after attending Sunday liturgy and eating breakfast we made the journey back to Cap-Haitian.  We stopped  a couple of times along the way, once to greet the family of one of the postulants as we passed through her hometown.  We arrived, grateful for our adventure, for the experience and for the gift of community.    

Orphanage Update

Last week we welcomed a new baby boy to the orphanage.  We had said that we were full and the sister in charge had no intention of accepting any new children before the start of the new school year in September, but upon hearing the story and reflecting upon his situation, he was welcomed.  Everyone already loves the little guy.


Many blessings!