Offered for your reflection by Thomas Hutter based on his visit to Haiti
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“If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time. If you have
come because your liberation is bound up with mine, then let us work together.”
Lilla Watson, Aboriginal Elder
I am your neighbor. I have come from a history of
enslavement and oppression, dictatorships, hurricanes and earthquakes. Yet, I
bring forth a people of remarkable resilience and a deep faith in God. A people who conduct themselves with great
civility, humility, respect and patience. A people who have endurance,
hospitality, share all they have, and always offer a ready smile that will
brighten any heart.
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| Thomas (in blue) learns about a school in Latremblay, Haiti (K. Foy) |
Just like you, we do for ourselves what we can. We do not
need your pity or your judgment. We do not really even need your mission trips
to come and “save us”, as well intentioned as they may seem. However, if your
feelings arise from your desire to be in unity with the plight of the poor,
than we welcome that. If you can understand that we want to create a better
place for our family and our children, than please be a part of that, too, with
your solidarity.
If you can imagine what it is like to suffer from over 50%
unemployment and to be thankful if you get even one meal a day of rice and
beans; if you can fathom life in a 5 x 8 foot makeshift shack with your spouse
and 4 children—with no electricity, no indoor bathroom, and no running water,
than you can begin your journey of solidarity with us.
If you can challenge yourself to trust in God alone, as we
must when our beloved family member is ill, knowing there is no medical aid
available or afforded—our first and only option is to pray to the Lord. It is
this absolute reliance upon God for our every need of every day that amazes
those who come to visit our island. And challenges this same visitor to embrace
our all-loving God more fully. In fact, we cling to Him! This is the source of
our joy, our patience and our big smiles despite our nearly insurmountable
challenges.
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| Street scene in Port-au-Prince (K. Foy) |
If you can come to understand that “purchasing is always a
moral—and not simply an economic—act”
(Pope Francis), you will better understand what it means to be a good
steward of all the rich material blessings God has bestowed upon you in the
United States of America.
You see, when a visitor to our land approaches any artist
kiosk, and purchases just one of their paintings, that will mean his family can
eat that night. And his having walked for two hours across town to set up his
stall outside your mission house will then have been worth it.
If you wonder why we have piles of rubbish on the street, or
why so many of our streets are still gravel and full of pot holes with washed
out ravines, even five years after the horrible earthquake, you will ask
questions to come to understand how little there is to tax here and so little
with which to create any revenue to handle basic community functions.
If you would listen, you would hear the stories of so many
of our “Haitian Heroes”. You would hear about our school teachers who show up
to work each day even though they have not been paid any salary for over three
months. This is an expression of the depth of the teacher’s love for the
student and belief in the power of education.
You could hear about Dr. Michele Brutus of H.E.L.P.
Foundation talk about his return to his beloved native Haiti as a
commitment to Christ present in his fellow Haitians. How he built up a medical
clinic and hospital in the poor neighborhood where he grew up. How this was all
reduced to rubble on January 12, 2010 in the horrific earthquake. And how he
went ahead with resolve and understood that education was so greatly needed.
From the destruction, Dr. Brutus built a new school and medical clinic. How
this same visionary, in conversation said he has no money to pay his staff of
25. “Yes, I am concerned. But I know God will provide. He always does.
Therefore, I am not discouraged. The word discourage is not in my vocabulary.”
You would see Pastor Jordan
and his protégé Kikinu walk amidst the poor village of Vaudreuil US and a
Maryknoll sister from Kenya )
have just created a co-op for 14 women. They will also show you the newly
secured plot of land to create a community garden, too. This to try and counter
the malnourishment that is all too evident in Vaudreuil.
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| Replica of "Neg Mawon", a symbol of Haitian liberty (K. Foy) |
If you could spend even more time in a listening presence,
you could hear about the self-sacrifice of Felder and Gerolde of the local Pax
Christi work of Sakala (“This can be there”). Learning how as volunteers they
work tirelessly to secure peace in the spirit of Christ amongst the poorest in
Port au Prince’s slum of nearly 300,000 who call Cite Soleil their home. They
work with youth to involve them in education and awareness, sports, and a
community garden—all directed towards keeping them from joining the violent
youth gangs that bring so much fear into the slum of Cite Soleil.
If you could come and join us in our all-important Sunday
worship services, you would find that we are dressed in our very best. We often
have to start our walk to the church before 5 am to for the 6:30 am Mass. You
see, if you get there after 6:15 am all the seats are taken. Many who see us
are stunned at how we can be so well dressed and pressed and clean, when we
have no running water! And our sheer joy all throughout the two hour long
Mass—fully singing, fully participating, and sharing out limited resources at
the offertory. We know that our very existence is reliant upon God’s favor. Our
praise flows to Him above in all things good or bad. People are in disbelief to
hear that just after the earthquake in 2010, many of our people were in the
streets on their knees singing praises to God Almighty. That is what the
psalmist meant when he wrote “Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!”
These are all reasons why we make Sunday Mass the center piece of our day.
Sometimes we hear from visitors that they do not realize how
much material trappings can get in the way of a pure relationship with our
Creator, a loving and personal Savior. We sometimes hear from Americans that
success is created by being “in control”…of finances, retirement planning, and
household. How paradoxical then that the Americans approach centered on self
and independence is what leads you away from the true fulfillment and abiding
joy of a total trust that God provides for everything. You see, without all the
“stuff” that can clutter your life, you must trust totally in the Great One
above. “Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in
barns, and yet your heavenly father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable
than they?” Matthew 6:26
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| Boys at Ft. Jacques (K. Foy) |
So with humility and encouragement, we write this letter
from Haiti .
To seek your union with us in this regard, too. To come to our embrace of God
in all things and our knowledge that ultimately we are not in control. And that
our Creator has all things in His great plan—all well taken care of. So, you
can let go of your worries about things that do not matter—and release the joy
and peace and ability to smile like us, even amidst the tremors of life, the
hunger in your belly (or soul), amidst unemployment or under-employment, in
going home to a small tent filled with a large loving family.
So when your hospital is destroyed, or you have no food, or
sit without work for another month, or cry out in pain, or walk to church for
two hours—you know deep inside you are not alone. Nor is it in vain. You are
intimately united with the Christ, the Savior. We invite you to be united with
us in this one great Body of Christ.
The Haitian Heroes then are why the former prime minister of
Haiti [Claudette Werleigh] would
tell you that the message to share about our Haiti is one of hopeful
encouragement, and not so much images of despair and squalor.
Will you give my Haiti your solidarity, your
prayerful support, your sharing in stewardship, maybe someday even your own presence?
Come and see for yourself! In Christ, we are one body, you and all of us in
this special place called Haiti .
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Following are some
agencies that provide critical support in helping Haitians help themselves.
Please consider them in your giving decisions.
Food for the Poor www.foodforthepoor.org
Catholic Relief Services www.crs.org
H.E.L.P. www.helpinconline.org
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers www.maryknollsociety.org
Maryknoll Sisters www.maryknollsisters.org
All content in this reflection is solely that of the writer. Photos provided by Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
All content in this reflection is solely that of the writer. Photos provided by Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
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