Enjoy some of the day-to-day happenings shared by our Sr. Vicky DellaValle as she continues ministering in Haiti with the Sylvania Franciscan Sisters! The blue building to the right is the sisters' house. I get really excited every time her emails arrive--so I hope you enjoy them as well.
March 19, 2013
St. Joseph
Church is the main parish for all the
people living Pestel and its surrounding villages. Today many people from our village of Ferrier went to
St. Joseph’s to
celebrate. I’ve never celebrated Saint
Joseph’s Day like I did today! On this weekday morning, the church was
packed with people wearing their Sunday best. Most walked or rode motorcycles. We
had a really good choir, two drummers,
and three groups of dancers! Little
girls wearing beautiful white dresses and flowers in their hair danced during
the entrance procession. During the
offertory a group of women wearing turban-type head dresses danced their way to
the altar with a huge basket. After communion
young women wearing long chapel veils danced
in the sanctuary The bishop of the Diocese of Jeremie presided. After the Mass, girl scouts and boy scouts processed outside where they marched through the
main street of Pestel to the beat of drums. We followed behind them for a while because that was the only
road that leads back into the
village. Three of our parishioners were
hanging out the back of the Rhino. We tried to get them to sit inside but they
like to sit on the rim. No one fell off
so I guess they’re used to it!
The Haitian people have had one natural disaster after the
other and have been faced with continual oppression and injustice from other
countries and their own leaders throughout their history. Yet
nothing seems to lessen their
enthusiasm for celebrating their faith.
I guess when you suffer like that you either lose your faith or it
becomes deeply rooted and real. Meci, Bondye! (Thank you, God!)
Sr. Jo drove the sisters to church on St. Joseph's Day in the Rhino, a type of SUV that looks like a little jeep with two seats and a pick-up space in the back that can hold three more people.
The boy scouts and girl scouts marched through the village on St. Joseph Day.
March 28, 2013
Holy Thursday morning I had an experience which reminded me
of the true reason why we are here. After
our prayer service on Palm Sunday, Sr. Fidelis had
explained to the people that the sisters would be having some days of prayer on
Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Of
course, you know what they say: “We make our plans and God laughs.” At 7:45 A.M. on Thursday, someone knocked
at the gate. It turned out to be the
mother of Jilmack, a young man who works for us here at the house. She had her two older children with her and
her little three-year-old baby girl. The little one had banged her chin and had
quite a gash. Sr. Fidelis called Sr. Jo who came right away with her first aid
kit. While the mother held the baby, Sr.
Jo cleaned and bandaged the wound. Sr. Fidelis and I assisted her with whatever
she needed. The brother and sister
watched quietly. Gradually the baby
stopped crying, reached for her mom’s face, and we knew all was well. The final step was a tasty reward— lollipops
for the children and “manman” (mom). This type of thing has happened many times.
In fact, something similar happened when I was here two years ago. Our carpenter
fell from the roof where he was working, injured his arm. and was in terrible
pain. He came to our convent and Sr. Jo actually put a temporary splint on it until
he could get to the clinic. Sr.Jo is not a nurse but growing up with a mom and
sister who are nurses, she learned a lot which comes in very handy here. If our clinic isn’t open, it takes people several
hours to walk to the clinic in Pestel. Our
clinic is only opens only once a week. W don’t have money to keep it open more often. The rest of the week the nurse travels
throughout the various villages teaching health education which is sorely
needed here, and has helped a lot. For instance, after the earthquake cholera
was brought to Haiti for
the first time through infected visitors.
Because our medical team has been teaching families how to protect
themselves from infection, fewer people have been getting ill from cholera.
I was so touched by this experience this morning. It was beautiful to see how when someone in
our village is in trouble, the first people they turn to are the sisters. It is
our presence with them that is most important.
They know that we are here because we love them and they are not afraid
to reach out to us when they are in need. Our Holy Thursday started out very
differently from the way we planned it and it couldn’t have been any more
grace-filled than it was.
April
2, 2013
Our Easter Services were very simple but I really enjoyed
them. I was most impressed by the
Stations of the Cross which we prayed outside on Good Friday. Sr. Fidelis had purchased plaques of the Stations
of the Cross and some of the parishioners hung them on trees along the path
through the village. We walked from
station to station praying and singing in full voice. As we went along, more and more latecomers
joined us. Nature in the village is so
beautiful that it just enriched our prayer.
I must also say that having a hen, four baby chicks, and a rooster
processing along with us was certainly a new experience for me!
The sisters joined the villagers as they processed through the town on both Good Friday and Palm Sunday.
April 22, 2013
Water Missions International was here for two weeks drilling
for wells to provide clean drinking water. The water they found in the first
site was salt water. They drilled in three more sites but found only rock. Everyone was disappointed but there is still
some hope. They are going to look for
other methods of drilling which may be more successful in this area. If they find them, they may return to try
again. Please keep this intention in
your prayers.
Banave, an old friend of Sr. Fidelis, came to visit
recently. He was looking for work; we
were looking for a translator and for someone to help Sr. Jo and me learn Creole. Banave is very proficient in English so he is
now working with us. Sr. Jo and I have
classes with him twice a week. He also translates for our KPA
meetings with the leadership team. KPA—Christians
Progressing Together—is a group begun by Sr. Fidelis to help the Haitian people
to help themselves. Five leaders meet with the sisters weekly to discuss the
needs of the people. Then the leaders
meet with a larger group of KPA
members to discuss the issues. For instance, they built the clinic we have
here. The sisters helped them to write a
grant request. They started a sewing center to provide job opportunities for
the villagers and organized a gardening project. Most recently, they have been working on
helping people who lost their homes through Hurricane Sandy to rebuild. All
these things are helping the people of the surrounding villages of Pestel to
better their lives.
I started teaching my classes again and really enjoy my
students. In addition to teaching the adults and a group of high school
students, I teach English to the
children in our village parish school twice a week. There are 36 children in two grades—first and
second—but the ages vary. There are two
teachers. It’s quite a challenge. No one
speaks English so I need to know the words in Creole and English so that I can
explain to the children what they are learning. To keep the children’s attention,
we do a lot of singing and use a lot of drama. Since this is quite a novelty
for the people, other children and adults stand at the doorway and watch while
I teach. For those of you who know me well, having an audience is not exactly
my piece of cake but I try to focus on the children. It gets chaotic at times but so far so good!
The village chapel, St. Rose of Lima, also serves as the one-room village school where Sr. Vicky teaches English twice a week.
May
2, 2013
Last Sunday we had a very special celebration in our village
parish—Sr. Jo‘s 50th jubilee.
Two days before the celebration, Sr. Fidelis and walked through the
village to watch and photograph a
pre-jubilee music rehearsal in the chapel. We stopped to visit a family on the
way. As we were leaving, we saw a hen
with four tiny chicks. They were such cute little balls of yellow feathers that
I attempted to pick one up. Bad
move! The mother hen was not happy, to
say the least. She came at me with a
passion! Needless to say, I didn’t get
to pick up the chick but I did get to experience what it means to be “henpecked.”
All of us—villagers included—got a good laugh.
We also stopped to visit an elderly parishioner. His house was badly damaged by Hurricane
Sandy and is in the process being repaire.
While we were there, four boys from my English class came along and
said, “Good Morning” in English. I was
thrilled—even though it was afternoon. They
came with us and started singing some of the songs I’ve been teaching them in
class. That was a teacher’s delight!
This home was badly damaged by Hurricane Sandy. The KPA leadership group is helping to repair it.
Sr. Vicky and her students stopped to chat and to sing several of the English songs she taught them.
For Sr. Jo’s celebration, the parishioners planned
everything together with the assistant
director of the chapel. The chapel was decorated with balloons, a banner
made by Sr. Fidelis, and lovely plants picked and arranged by the parishioners. The sisters paid for most of the celebration
but the people took up a collection also.
Fr. Parnell, our pastor, came from Pestel, to celebrate Mass and praised
Sr. Jo all through the liturgy. Four of the little girls did a liturgical
dance.
After the Mass there was entertainment! The children sang a
special song they created for Sr. Jo. A
woman parishioner sang abd danced. There were also prizes—little pieces of hard
candy. The sisters received a special prize—“tablet” (homemade peanut brittle) which
I love! After that we had a feast of fish sandwiches and soda or juice! The assistant director gave Sr. Jo a special baked treat along with a card from her family. It was a birthday card, but that didn’t seem
to matter. It was a really nice day and
a lovely tribute to Sr. Jo!
May
3, 2013
If you found two cows in your front yard, would you stop to pet them?
The other day our neighbor Tyjo parked his two cows in front
of our yard when he came to get water for them.
I was coming school and started gently talking to the bigger cow, moving
toward her to see if I could pet her. She got scared and started backing away
so I headed toward the house. When Sr.
Fidelis and Tyjo came out, I told them that the cow was afraid to be petted. Tyjo
insisted that she would be fine. Sr.
Fidelis also wanted to pet her so back we went.
As soon as the cow saw us coming, she got scared and started running —straight
at us, horns and all! You’ve never seen two middle-aged women jump out of the
way so fast! To quote Sr. Fidelis, “That
was a little too close for comfort!” In the meantime, the smaller cow took off
in the opposite direction. Tyjo took off
after her when he realized that she was in his garden enjoying his newly
planted yams.
Vicky DellaValle, OSF
