Author Archives: Felician Mission: Haiti

We now have two groups in our language program. Due to the size of the group and the varied ages, we separated them. This makes it much easier for planning activities and conversation. We also have adults who come to us for learning on an individual basis. Norma is a nurse who works in the hospital here in Jacmel. She is interested in working with us in our mobile clinic. Our afternoons are full, and we do not finish until 8 p.m. We rejoice to see how our students appreciate the little things, such as having their own notebook, pencil, crayons, a coloring book. Most of all, they enjoy manje (eating) rice and beans and a glass of water. Every evening we see young people outside our door, under the street light, studying because in their homes they have no electricity. Here in Haiti, you share everything.

On Sunday, May 5, after Mass in the Bishop’s chapel, Bishop Launay Saturnè blessed the new Felician mission car. After the blessing, Bishop Launay placed a Benedictine cross on the mirror.

A Haitian priest told us that the three virtues of a missionary are patience, patience, and patience. We have come to learn that is so true. It was 4 1/2 months ago that we bought our car. During that time, we needed to wait for our franchise, and today we finally were able to bring our new car to Jacmel.

In the afternoon of Wednesday, May 1, we traveled to Port au Prince. We stayed overnight at the home of our friend, Yvon, because we went on Thursday morning to the Nissan car dealer to get the car. We finally saw our Nissan Patrol. We needed a car with 4-wheel drive in order to handle the roads in Haiti. We will be traveling to the mountain chapels, visiting the people where there is the most need and, hopefully, we can soon begin a mobile clinic. We will also need the car to bring volunteers from the airport and to places for their mission experience. The car is an 8-passenger vehicle, but we know in Haiti you fit many more people when it comes to a ride. We know this personally because we need to do that to go anywhere.

After we saw the car and signed the necessary papers, we had to wait for the inspector so we could get vehicle stickers and plates. On Thursday he never showed up, so we needed to stay another night in Port au Prince to wait for him to come on Friday morning. He was supposed to come at 9:00 a.m., but he arrived at 11:30 a.m. The inspection took three minutes! We were then finally on our way to Jacmel in our new Felician mission car! Thanks be to God!

Today the Diocese of Jacmel celebrated our patronal feast of Saints Philip and James. The space where we celebrated in the cathedral was decorated with beautiful flowers, fruits and vegetables. It was a glorious celebration with all the faithful in Jacmel. After Mass, in the afternoon, we traveled to Port au Prince in the hope that we will get our car tomorrow.

Today, April 30, the Diocese of Jacmel celebrates with great joy as they blessed and broke ground for the new Cathedral. The USCCB (United States Catholic Conference of Bishops) is providing the funds to assist in this building project. Archbishop Thomas Wenski, Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Miami; his Chancellor, Sr. Elizabeth Ann Worley, SSJ; and representatives from the USCCB were present. Archbishop Bernadito Auza, Papal Nuncio for Haiti, and Bishop Joseph Lafontant were also present. The building project is hoped to be completed in eight months. Today we realized that the new cathedral will be right around the corner from where our new convent will be built. As we walked home, a police car stopped and offered us a ride. This was a first for us–to be in a police car in Haiti.

We knew by the smiling faces of our students and the joy in their voices that serving rice and beans at the end of class was the right thing to do.

Preparation for our English classes can be challenging at times. For example, yesterday we needed to sharpen pencils for our students, and we realized we needed a pencil sharpener. We are used to electric sharpeners or to mechanical pencils that do not need to be sharpened. We borrowed a small sharpener from the pre-school, but it stopped working so we had to use a knife to sharpen the pencils. We tried to buy a sharpener at one of the shops in town, but they had none. As always, God was good to us because later that afternoon we found a few sharpeners in box of school supplies. We even found some mechanical pencils which had been packed in the container. The things we take for granted…

Everyday we pray for direction about what to do and what not to do. This is not easy to discern. We try to listen to the voice of the Good Shepherd in every circumstance and through the people around us. There are many needs here in our midst. One very important need is to a have mobile medical clinic, especially for the people in the mountains where they have no medical help. Please keep this in your prayers that, if it is God’s Will, it will become a reality.

We see that young people need to have certain basic skills in order to get a job, and one way that helps is knowing English and having computer skills. For this reason, we started our English class, which has over 20 students who come faithfully everyday for class. We had to refuse a group of young adult men who came last week because we have no more room. We see the need for volunteers so we can have another session beginning in June and July. Our students come to us hungry; and we all know that when you are hungry it is difficult to learn, so we are discerning what can we do. Right now we share with whoever comes to our door hungry, asking us for something to eat. This happens everyday. We are giving thought to serving rice and beans just for our students. Please pray that we know what is ours to do.

We have two sewing machines and a lot of brown, beige, white and black material in our container, so we are considering having sewing lessons. Today we had a man who fixes sewing machines take a look at our two machines. It cost us a small fortune, but now they work very well. We know that we will need a few more sewing machines. We already spoke with someone who can help give the classes. Please pray that we know what is ours to do.

A few days ago, we had the opportunity to visit the Nursing Program at Notre Dame University here in Jacmel. Knowing how excellent, professional and efficient the Nursing programs are at Madonna University and Felician College, for Notre Dame University, there is just one word that comes to mind–simplicity. The school was destroyed because of the earthquake and still has not been rebuilt. They relocated to an open-spaced area, having classrooms with tin roofs; but last Fall Hurricane Sandy destroyed some of their classrooms, and they are still being reconstructed. This did not stop the Nursing Program; the professors and students are committed and dedicated to working together for the health and dignity of all Haitian people.

The nursing lab is very simple; it has one “dummy” for all the students to use for practice. On the shelves, we saw a few medications and practice machines. The program is working very hard to educate their students. The library has French, English and Spanish medical textbooks, but there are few shelves. The students who cannot afford books learn there, as well as those students who have no electricity in their homes.

On Saturday evening, we went for Mass that celebrated the first year Nursing students who received their “habit” (uniform) to continue for clinical practice in the hospital here in Jacmel. There were about 80 female students in the class. The Mass was beautiful, and the singing by the students was glorious. Bishop Launay Saturne reminded the students that they have been given a mission as Christians to be healers of both the body and the soul.

How we wish that someday Madonna University and Felician College could walk in relationship with Notre Dame University here in Jacmel!

Today we joined Felician Sisters and Associates throughout the world in celebrating the 20th anniversary of Blessed Mary Angela Truszkowska’s beatification through special prayers and a special Mass in our chapel offered for all Felician Sisters. We baked cookies for the children and youth that come to us for English class so that we could celebrate this special day with them.