Monthly Archives: May 2013

You may remember us telling you about the parish community of St. Michael’s and how their church was condemned because of the damage done by the earthquake. The decision was made that the church needs to be torn down. This past Sunday, people were coming to the church building for the last time to bid farewell. Many groups were meeting inside and outside the church. Even though they do not have a church building, St. Michael’s faith community is alive and active. Hopefully they will get a twinning parish to help them rebuild.

As we visit the market and see the variety of fruits and vegetables, we are learning how to cook them. Our friend, Jeremine, taught us how to cook mirliton, and Romey taught us how to cook green bananas.
To make the fried bananas, you have to have a special Haitian press called a pez. We are enjoying Haitian food more and more.

Jacmel is located on the Caribbean Sea, which can be seen from our roof. The beach, where people go to swim, is about 15 minutes from our house by car. Many Haitians have never had the opportunity to go to the beach to swim and have fun. Our neighbors, Lelun, and her daughter, Cassandra, have never gone to the beach. This was the first time Cassandra was ever in the water swimming. What a joy it was to see the excitement in her face as she stepped into the warm sea! Clara and Gael also joined us, and we all had a good time.

The mission car is registered and has its own license plate. This has been a long process, but is is worth the wait. Here in Haiti, the car is truly needed.

Today we had the opportunity to meet with a doctor and four nurses who staff the Caritas Mobile Clinic. For two hours we listened to their experiences, gathered information, and saw where they store their medications for the mobile clinic. The meeting was very informative and helpful as we continue to prepare and work towards establishing a Felician Angela Mobile clinic. Our discernment led us to recognize that this is one of the greatest needs in the area of Jacmel. Neither of us ever thought we would be working in an area like this…”for my thoughts are not your thoughts and your ways are not my ways, declares Yahweh.” Isaiah 55:8

Tomorrow we are going to Port au Prince to return to the States for 10 days.

Today, after Mass, we visited St. Michael’s Hospital, the only hospital in Jacmel. The conditions are very bad; it is not very sanitary and it is crowded. Men, women and children are all together. There were patients with broken limbs, machete wounds, knife wounds, burns; victims of car accidents, and those recovering from cancer surgeries. We visited every patient and prayed with them. Sadly, there was one young gentleman who did not want us to pray for him.

When you are a patient at this hospital, you must bring your own sheets, pillow, fan (if you have one), and personal toiletries. One woman, who suffered from severe burns, had her own mosquito net. We are not sure, but we think you have to bring your own food also. We only saw one nurse on duty, sitting by the nurses’ station. The photos look much better than the reality we saw today. Any simple gesture of compassion was healing.

Due to the dirt roads here in Haiti, you have to wash your car frequently. Today, four of our boys from our school helped us wash the car. It was a great joy for them to do this.

We never know who will be coming to our door with a need, but we do know they will come. Today we a had a few kids with ear aches, some with scrapes and stubbed toes. Sr. Marilyn thanks God that she took a First Aid course before coming to Haiti. She is certainly using what she learned.

The kids look for any reason or excuse to visit out house. This is a good blessing. “Let the children come to me…” Mark 10:14

We are now in the rainy season in Haiti, and every night we have heavy rain. Tonight the rain seemed exceptionally heavy, together with thunder and lightning; and the winds felt like we were having a hurricane. Water was everywhere in the house. We tried to take a photo of what was going on outside, but the winds took hold of the picture. If this was not a hurricane, we are wondering what it will be like when we are in the hurricane season. When it rains like this in Haiti, we always think of those who do not have a roof over their heads or who are living in tents.

“Paul disputed, therefore, in the synagogue with the Jews, and with them that served God, and in the marketplace, every day with them that were there.” Acts 17:17

Once a week we go to the outside market to get our fruits and vegetables. When we first arrived in Jacmel, we would always go with someone since we did not know the language too well. At the beginning, people were surprised that we were doing our shopping in the marketplace. The people are getting to know us, and we know them. Now we are able to go ourselves, since we have the car and we know how to bargain. The people expect us to bargain with them. We know when they are asking too much for an item, and they are surprised. The market is a great place to practice our Creole. It is an even greater place to get to know the people and to evangelize.