We started the morning bright and early. Out by 7:30 am
headed to mass. We attended mass at a roofed, wall less church which serves a
parish and a seminary where Reiser Relief sponsors seminarians. The mass was in
French and Creole with a few key parts in English to keep us engaged. The
singing by the choir was sweet and melodic and even though I didn’t understand
the lyrics of the songs, the melody came across… joyful and happy, a lullaby
for the soul.
After witnessing the kindergarten graduation of the local
school, at the same location, we peeled ourselves off the metal chairs to which
we had fused via water displacement. Some of our white team members, well okay
they are all white, were even whiter and pastier.
We continued on our journey to Cardinal Stepinac Children’s
Home. A home for children (some are earthquake orphans and others need to be
here for their safety and wellbeing). This home is run by… guess who?...nuns. We
have seen nuns every day we have been here, sometimes the same ones, but most
of the time, different nuns, from different orders, nuns of different colors
and sizes, local nuns and nuns from far-away places, older nuns and younger
ones, but all with one single purpose, to help the least of the least. The nuns
that run this place, Sister Liberija and Sister Ana from Croatia, receive no regular
funding, they rely solely on benevolent benefactors, and, like sister Liberija
said, God’s budget, a budget run on faith and the unwavering belief that once
the cupboards are empty they will be replenished somehow. It reminds me of the
story about Jesus, some fish, some loaves of bread and five thousand hungry people,
the only difference is that this is happening now, here, and not 2,000 years
ago in a faraway land. And I guess that’s what I will take with me from here: everyday
miracles by everyday people.
Paul Christians
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