Author Archives: Felician Mission: Haiti

On Thursday, July 3, “Water with Blessing” women met again to continue their formation as “Water Women.” This time it was to work with their children, teaching them the importance of using clean water. Their were 22 children present with their mothers.

As always, we began our formation time together with prayer and the sharing of the Word of God. The children shared beautifully what they heard from the story of the healing of the paralyzed man.

After the presentation and reading of the booklet, mothers and children colored the pages together. There was also an opportunity to win a prize if they answered the questions correctly.

Both mothers and children liked the meeting and asked when we would have the next one.

On Tuesday, June 30, we celebrated Sr. Marilyn’s birthday and feastday, as well as the end of the school year with our kids. 

In the morning, we had Mass with a special blessing for Sr. Marilyn, after which we shared her favorite carrot cake with those who came for Mass.

At 3 p.m., the party began. We began with a prayer and a blessing over Sr. Marilyn. We then acknowledged the two students for being the highest in their class–a boy and a girl. They received a special prize.

Then we introduced the party goers to BINGO! This game brought them alot of joy because we made sure everyone received a prize! They love BINGO! It looks like we may be playing this game every so often at future parties, so we now need to search for more prizes.

    
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On Sunday, June 28, we received a nice surprise from our friend and teacher, Madam Omanie. She sent us a delicious Haitian dinner. It was a real blessing and gift from God!

   
    
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Now that it is summer vacation time and the kids are finished with school, we asked a few of our older boys if they wanted some work. We taught them how to put the tape around doors and corners, as well as how to keep everything clean. We also waned to be sure they cleaned up after themselves each day. They did a great job painting, which in turn is now helping them pay for school next year.

From our rooftop, the Lord shines upon Jacmel.

One day, a month or two ago, we went to see our container that was located at the Pastoral Center. To our surprise, it was not in its place. We soon learned that it had been moved because they needed to expand the building. We were happy about that since the container was right next to the entrance of the chapel, and we thought it was an “eye sore.” No one had told us it was moved, but we were grateful that they had moved it for us.

On Saturday, June 20, we knew we needed to go to the container to get some medical supplies that we wanted to share with the hospital, and we needed to clean out the container to prepare space for the next container which would be coming sometime in July. When we opened the container, we realized what had happend when they moved it–everything was turned over and tossed about; it was a mess. We were so shocked that we didn’t think of taking pictures! We got right down to work and began to move and go through boxes.  Please remember that it is 95 degrees here in Haiti everyday, starting at 10 a.m. 😅  We realized that this was going to take much longer than we expected. 😰

  
We thank God for Fritz who helped! 😎

Now that school is finished and summer vacation begins, “Friday Night at the Movies” also begins. The kids and teens enjoyed “Alvin and the Chipmunks,” translated in French, of course.

On Friday, June 19, we had our follow-up meeting with our second group of Water Women. They have been using the Water with Blessing filters and buckets for the past three months. This meeting was a  time for faith-sharing from the Gospel of John 8:4-26 (the woman at the well), their experiences of using the buckets and filters, with whom they are sharing the purified water,  and their difficulties.  It was amazing to listen to their sharing, especially how grateful they are for the filters and buckets for they see how their children and their neighbors do not have the sicknesses they had before, such as typhoid and cholera, because of using dirty, unclean water.

  
We checked their filters and buckets to see if they are working properly and kept cleaned. Afterwards we all drank a cup of purified water from the buckets.

We then gave them new filter covers that were made by our dear Felician Sisters in the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Central Convent, Livonia, MI. We thank you our dear sisters for sharing in the Water with Blessing project here in Haiti.

While Sr. Victoria is with us, she has been a great help in the Mother Angela Clinic pharmacy. She is making order, doing inventory and helping us with the many medications that have been donated by various mission teams during the past six months. We, too, have been helping to count pills and prepare them for the clinic.

Today, June 17, is the deadline for Haitians who have been living in the Dominican Republic for many years or who have been born there from Haitian parents to show proof they are documented citizens living in the Country. If they cannot show proof, they will be deported back to Haiti. Many  Haitians have not lived in Haiti for years; for many, they have lived in the Dominican Republic their whole lives. This may effect 1/2 million Haitian people. Many  of them do not even know the Creole language. 

Please pray for our Haitian brothers and sisters who may be deported from the Dominican Republic! 🙏