Youth

“Let the Children come to me”

At daily Mass in Jeremie yesterday morning, our priest referenced Jesus’ words from the Bible, Matthew 19:14, “Let the Children come to me.”  Later in the day, one of our team members commented that was her favorite bible verse.

I reflected back over our day in connection with that verse—

Throughout our morning service yesterday, we listened to the sounds of crying babies in the nearby orphanage.

We waved to many beautiful children along the roads and in their tiny homes built into the mountainside staring wide-eyed at our vehicle as we made our made our way to visit St. Anne’s Church in Basse Voldrogue.

When we arrived at St Anne’s we were greeted by dozens of smiling and laughing young preschool children in their matching uniforms—eager to sing for us, learn our names, and play with us.  And as the day progressed, we went from classroom to classroom meeting the older and far more subdued students who were studying hard in their small unlit classrooms.  Some had walked many miles to school, even crossing a river to get there.  Some children were standing outside the school witnessing the action but unable to participate as their parents couldn’t afford to send them to school.

And we met the amazing young priest, a child himself, recently ordained and given the responsibility of running this large parish and school, and more recently since the hurricane, also inherited the responsibility of rebuilding the church and rectory which were destroyed during Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.

Our day ended with an evening visit to a hospital in Jeremie where we met three incredibly young doctors not looking older than children themselves, that were working selflessly around the clock in conditions most American doctors could not even imagine.  Solar suitcases had just been installed in many areas of the hospital, so the doctors were thrilled to have light during the night to do surgery and tend to their patients.   And the children they were attending to….from tiny babies to tiny children…each with a story of their own that they were unable to share with us…

I climbed into bed with images of these “children” of all ages—the young ones filled with innocent dreams and hope that their country will serve them well and the older ones working to be sure those dreams come true.  With that, I was able to sleep.

“Let the Children Come to Me.”

Ann Brau