Today, March 6, was the first day of meeting with our new staff for the Mother Angela Mobil Clinic. Our staff members are Dr. Yves Derisier, MD; Norma Salom, RN; and Rosemanie Desamours, Pharmacist. We are expecting to get our Toyota ambulance next week. It is exciting to prepare to meet this great need of bringing a mobil clinic to the poor in the mountains.
Tonight at 5 p.m., we had Mass celebrating Ash Wednesday. Many of our kids attended, as well as some adults from the neighborhood. Before the final blessing, those who would be coming for catechesis were given a special blessing. We will have four groups for catechesis, ranging from ages 7-19. Catechesis will be held on Thursdays and Fridays in the morning and in the afternoon. Of course, classes will be offered in Creole. We need the light of the Holy Spirit to speak through us in Creole.
We are blest to have two new priests as our neighbors on the third floor of our building. Fr. Valcin and Fr. Elicien were invited to come to the Diocese to serve the parish of St. Micheal’s. We now have Mass everyday in our chapel.
This seems to be the request we have been hearing from our children, and we know we need to respond. For the past few weeks, our kids have been attending Mass with us and want to begin catechesis. Some of the children and young people who come to us are Protestant, Baptist, or not practicing any faith. Only a few of them are Catholic. We tell our young people to go to church services with their parents. Please pray with us as we discern what we must do.
Every Friday and Saturday, the Felician Sisters Artists Haiti gather for activities; and we are rejoicing that we now have a group of girls with a special arts and crafts project just for them. The girls are learning how to make floral paper art. We remember doing this when we were children. Their hope is to make paper flower decorations, which they can sell for church and other celebrations. In Haiti, there are not that many real flowers for decorating, so they depend on paper flowers. As you can see from the pictures, these flowers are beautiful.
After the art activities, the kids enjoy some organized sports.
Today’s reading from James 4:15 is one of the first phrases we learned in Creole, “Si Bondye vle.” Haitian people use this very often, especially when something is planned to happen or they expect to meet you another time or day. We wonder if this is from the difficult life experiences they have. They seem to accept all things that come their way whether good or bad. We are learning a lot from our brothers and sisters. “Si Bondye vle.”
It can be difficult to find a desert place in missionary life. There are always needs to be met and people at the door. However, once a month, we need to hide ourselves for solitude in order to gaze, contemplate and consider the Lord’s power and presence in our lives. This Sunday was such a day. The Lord is kind and merciful (Ps. 103).
On Friday and Saturday, a group of young teenagers meet in order to have art classes with the children in our area. This group of teen artist was formed after Sr. Francis’ visit last December. We were able to give the group many of the art supplies that came from Our Lady Queen of Peace, Maywood, NJ. They are very proud to be called Felician Sisters Artists Haiti; they wear our Felician t-shirts with great pride.
On Wednesday, February 12, at 8 p.m. the container that was sent through the generosity of Ann Zon and her team from the Buffalo, NY, area arrived in Jacmel. Ann, is a former Felician Sister who always wanted to be a missionary but could not. She left the Felicians but continued to have a missionary heart, going to Nicaragua many rimes a year. When she heard that the Felician Sisters have a mission in Haiti, she contacted us and offered to help by sending a container. Half of the container was filled with donations that Ann gathered for the poor and the other half was filled with medical supplies collected by SM Giovanni from Livonia, MI.
The next morning, the container, filled with 990 boxes, had to be emptied within a few hours since the truck and the container needed to be returned to Port au Prince. With the help of a few strong friends, we did it in two hours. Boxes and medical supplies were everywhere. We needed to store these boxes and take them back to our house where we have the clinic office and medical supply room. The rest of the boxes went back into our container. Boxes that were full of clothes, shoes and toys were distributed to the poor in the mountains. As you can imagine, we have been very busy this past week.🚚
Felician Sisters of North America Mission: Haiti 