Mialta Miracle

On February 16, I received a call that Mialta Miracle, the director of our Reiser Heights School in Haiti, had died.  He was 65 years old and spry as a 25-year-old man. 

I first met Mialta just less than two years ago when my sister Joyce and I made our first trip to Haiti.  After a long beautiful (and frightening!) trip up the mountains above Port au Prince, we ended up at Reiser Heights School, which is literally perched on the side of the mountain.  Mialta was a simple man with little education who had taken on the extraordinary job of running a school of about 350 students in a poor rural area of Haiti. 

Initially, we had our doubts about Mialta.  He spoke no English, so our only way of communicating with him was via translators.  We were never quite sure we were getting an accurate account of what was happening at the school, and every time we saw Mialta, we peppered him with questions by way of our translators.  But he always had an answer for us, he always came through with what we asked of him, was always willing to trudge through brush and up steep dirt hills to allow us to meet families of his students.  And he always had a smile on his face.  On a trip to Haiti last May, we asked him if he was Catholic.  He looked to our interpreter, then looked to us, and with the biggest smile you could imagine, he said, “Wi!” 

The next day, dressed in his Sunday best, Mialta took us even higher up the mountain to see his church and the kind priest who ran it.  They were obviously great friends and both had only the best interest of their small mountain community at heart.   From that moment on, we knew Father Reiser had picked the right man for the job after his first trip up the mountain nearly 20 years ago. 

Joyce and I were back up to Reiser Heights today for our first visit since Mialta’s death.  We got to offer our condolences to his very large family, we were able to see his grave right behind the school and the large sign posted on the side of the school remembering their wonderful director and leader of their mountainside village.  We even got to see photos of the funeral including the incredible procession of family and friends as far as the eye could see that followed behind Mialta’s casket as it was carried to his final resting place on the mountain.

The simple, dedicated, spiritual man has left an empty spot on the side of that mountain that will be difficult to fill.

God bless Mialta Miracle.