Deacon's Diary

Moment of Grace

2012-02-24T17:19:00.003-08:00

February 21,2012 Moment of Grace

Earlymorning, sunrise. Pere Kesner steppedout of his room onto the veranda. I wasalready there looking out at the beautiful morning. Let’s say Morning Prayer together. We gather our prayer books and bibles,English and Kreyol, and the English/French Book of Common Prayer. It’s quiet. The noisy activity of the day hasn’t yet begun. We pray together, sometimes in English,sometimes in French. We read from theKreyol Bib La. We sing together hymns inthe French Hymnal. A bird in the treejoins in. A close moment of grace. God is present.

Simplicity

2012-02-24T17:15:00.002-08:00

February 20,2012 Simplicity

Whilewalking this morning to visit a family, I passed by five women doing the familylaundry. Basins of all sizes werescattered on the ground under a big shade tree. The water source, an area with showers and faucets, was just a few stepsaway. Piles of clothes surrounded eachwoman, as she sorted. They scrubbed,rinsed, and scrubbed some more until the clothes were clean. The women seemed to be enjoying their work;nobody looked stressed, in spite of their difficult life. The women talked and laughed among themselvesas they worked, probably catching up on the village news. What I saw in the short time I visited was areal women’s camaraderie where each woman shared the same challenges of dailyliving. Although life here is verydifficult without electricity, running water, safe housing, and food scarcity,I see simplicity of life that allows time to enjoy one another.

After Carnival

2012-02-24T17:13:00.002-08:00

February 17, 2012 AfterCarnival

Carnival at Ste. Marie Madeleine is over. School is closed, teachers have gone to theirhometowns for family celebrations. Thereis a quietness about the area that I haven’t yet experienced. I’m enjoying quiet time and especially amenjoying one on one time with Gastina. We’re working on language; she is helping me with Creole and French andI’m helping her with English. She issuch a precocious child for 10 years old! I suppose it’s a result of the hard life she has had in her ten shortyears. She is also learning simplecomputer skills by playing computer games and writing, using Word. Today Anna joined her in playing computergames, and then Christian joined in. Thethree played very well together, no problems. I watch them play and share one mini laptop and call to mind that thesethree children are the poorest of the poor. Gastina had severe malnutrition when I met her shortly after theearthquake, two years ago. Anna and herfamily lived in a blue plastic tarp tent until Ste. Marie Madeleine Church andSouth Florida Haiti Project gave them a home to live in. Twelve year old Christian and his familymoved into the Nouvo Bidaw Houses. Hismother, seeking a better life for him, had given him to a family in Port auPrince. Christian was very unhappy andwas returned to his mother. He nowattends our school and will live in the Children’s Home. South Florida Haiti Project has made a hugedifference in the lives of Gastina, Anna, and Christian. Leisure time following Carnival has beenblessed time, giving me what I need just at the moment I need it.

Carnival at Ste. Marie Madeleine

2012-02-24T17:03:00.001-08:00

February 16,2012 Carnival at Ste. MarieMadeleine

Today is my birthday! And yesterday was Carnival at Ste. MarieMadeleine. People were preparing formore than a week, practicing dance routines and creating costumes. Festivities began early, around nine in themorning with music playing and amplified loud so that it was heard throughoutthe community. The small porch at theentrance of the Director’s office served as a stage. The children were delighted, screaming withjoy, when Director danced. By ten o’clockthe school yard was crowded with people who came to celebrate Carnival, thecelebration prior to Ash Wednesday and Lent. Carnival is a major event here and is celebrated all over Haiti. All businesses close, schools close,everything shuts down. It’s the finalparty before Lent.

Children, in costume with their facespainted and glitter sparkling in their hair, sang and danced. Some wore long beads, New Orleans style. They had so much fun! The main attraction was our young dancers,preteen and teenage girls who danced cultural Haitian dances. I amazes me that girls so young can dance aswell as they do, moving in the tradition of the Maroons. Gastina and Anna were a part of the danceline. Our boys, Kiki, Gregory, Gibsonand friends performed a comic routine depicting life in the Haitiancountryside.

The party went on through the afternoon,stopping for Evening Prayer, and then continued until nine o’clock. Everyone had a great time, so did I! (We have not had Internet for overweek. I’ll post this as soon as I can.)

Some Days Are More Challenging

2012-02-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

Some days are more challenging than others. We have been without Internet for fourdays. I miss the convenience of keepingin touch with family and friends and keeping up with what’s happening. I’m learning that there are degrees ofinconvenience. When I turned on the shower faucet and there was only a gurglingsound, now, that’s inconvenience! It’stoo late to call anybody, and then, who would I call? So now I know how the people I interact withevery day feel at the end of a hot day. If they haven’t planned ahead and brought water to their homes, theycannot bathe. Hot and sticky from insectrepellent and sun screen, I use facial wipes and go to bed. I am tormented during the night bymosquitos. They bite my arms and buzzaround my head. I turn on thelight. “I’ll get that sucker!” But no mosquitos were in sight. Back in bed, wrap in a sheet to cover exposedskin, but now I’m too hot. I go back tosleep. It’s morning…still no water. I see Guy and tell him in my broken Kreyolthat I have no water in my bath. Hetells me, I think, that he’ll take care of it and turns a valve on the side ofthe building. Still no water. I ask Guy to bring me a bucket of water andhe does. All is well. Now I’ll bathe. I step out of the shower and am greeted bythe biggest, blackest, ugliest, furriest spider I have ever seen. It’s in the doorway between the bath andbedroom. I’m trapped! I stand there staring at the spider. I think it’s staring at me. I don’t know what to do, so I wait for it togo away but it doesn’t. If I try to steppast it, will it attack? I waitlonger. It doesn’t move. It’s looking more and more harmless, so Imove slowly and try to step around it. As I do, it scurries under the bed. Oh great, now I have a big black ugly spider under my bed. I sit down and catch my breath, while keepingan eye on the floor around the bed. Iknow if I go out to the yard where the cooks are preparing the school lunch,they will know what to do.

So, I go and tell the cooks and Jabon that I have a bigblack spider under my bed. They alllaugh. They think it’s funny! Jabon takes a broom and heads up to my room. He pulls out the bed from the wall and thespider runs up the back of the bed and wants to settle on the headboard. Jabon sweeps it back to the floor and thenwhacks it with the broom, and it’s a dead spider. I ask if it bites and learn that it indeeddoes bite, quite a venomous bite. So,challenging…but in the end, all is well.

Wedding at Ste. Marie Madeleine

2012-02-09T16:33:00.000-08:00

I’m sitting in my favorite place at 5:00 in the afternoonlooking out at the boys playing soccer with their new ball and listening to thechoir practicing. The wonderful sound of singing drifts from the school andfills the whole area. It is so amazingto me that all the social life here in Bondeau centers around the church. It is a wonderful tribute to Pere Kesner. Most people find their joy here with peoplefrom the parish and most people attend all the services, Wednesday, Friday, andSunday.

Yesterday afternoon our music director, Jonkensi, betterknown as “Mystro”, and his long time companion, Islande, were married here witha grand celebration. Pere Kesnercelebrated a High Mass with incense, and lots of singing. Our visiting seminarian, Sam Owen, from Yalewas Best Man. The classroom/church wasdecorated with blue and white ribbon chain, and white paper doves. Beautiful drawings of doves were on the chalkboards that are used for the classroom, but were aptly decorated for thewedding. (I continue to be amazed at the artistic ability here in Bondeau.) Parishwomen had been preparing food all day and immediately after the ceremony, ahuge buffet dinner was served with all the Haitian favorites, followed by delicioussweet wedding cake. In keeping withtradition, a champagne toast was offered for the bride and groom.

Today…another day. A mothertalked to me about having her 12 year old boy stay at Kay La Pou Timoun Yo”,The Children’s Home. She can’t afford tokeep him and had given him to people in Port au Prince, but he was very unhappythere. I have proceeded with having a schooluniform made and talked with the School Director about his attending our schoolbeginning Monday.