Overwhelmed

Thursday, October 18, 2018

We have been given the okay to get back out to work today- thank God! We started our day with morning Mass, had our breakfast and headed out for our day. Our first stop was Terre Promise School in Cite Soleil, still one of the poorest areas of Haiti. While we were greeted very warmly by the students that were there, we were saddened to learn many students were not in school today because the parents were afraid to send them after the protests on Wednesday. The area has many gangs so safety for the children is very important. That is not something we see in our quiet little area of White Bear Lake, Minnesota.

Our next mission was our first water truck delivery of the day. We got to work with the other team that is sharing the guest house here. It was so nice to get to know them and to work side-by-side. We were barely off the tap-tap when children came rushing toward us. Some were naked, some were partially clothed. But all were needing to be held and loved. Some of us held and played with the children, some of us helped with distributing the water and helping the people carry the containers back to their homes. These are not the kind of homes we think of back in Minnesota. These are huts probably no bigger than some of our closets at home and have just dirt floors. They are often made of whatever can be found to make walls and a roof. I, again, wondered what it is going to take to get this country and these people back on their feet. When we arrived at our second water stop, the poverty was worse than the first. Again, we held naked or partially clothed children and played with them while others helped with water distribution. Everyone agreed that it is heartbreaking to see people, our brothers and sisters in Christ, living this way.

Between our water delivery stops, we visited Fleri Farm. Our guide told us that the farm covers 28 acres and explained how they are working to help the surrounding neighbors instead of compete with them. One way is to help the people learn how care for the soil and improve their ability to grow crops. He talked to us about they care for the soil and about their plan to plant cover trees to protect smaller plants like basil that is being grown on the farm. It was very interesting for a city girl like me!

Our last stop of the day was at Fr Tom’s high school where we were very warmly welcomed. We were treated to music and dance! One of the students got Mary, one of our team leaders, to dance with him. The rest of the students thought that was great and gave tremendous applause. Fr Talbot told the students about Minnesota. They liked hearing about snow and skating and skiing and sledding. But just like the students on Tuesday, I think they were pretty skeptical when he tried to explain ice fishing! Our spirits were definitely lifted by these students!

It has been raining heavily tonight, something that I have not seen in Haiti before. My thoughts turned back to those shacks we saw at the water delivery stops. The people would get wet sitting in those shacks. The rain water would have flowed through their homes turning their dirt floors into mud. There is no place for the people to go for shelter and who knows how long it will take for the mud to dry out. How can people live like this? How can people let other people live like this?

Lynn Arcand

Friday, October 19, 2018

We were early “Reiser’s” this morning and went to Mass at the Missionaries of Charity. Missionaries of Charity was founded by Saint Mother Theresa. It was a joy to celebrate Mass with the sisters.

Our morning mission was at Missionaries of the Poor, a home for severely mentally and physically handicapped men and women. We were treated to a wonderful tour of the grounds. When I was last here, they had just installed a water filtration system and a solar power system. They had also completed new dorms for missionary teams that would like to stay there and serve God’s people. Now they are building a new chapel. Very unfortunately, we were unable to work with the residents because they are sick. They have had flu-like symptoms for two weeks and several of the brothers and other workers have sick, as well. Please pray for them that they would have a quick and full recovery.

Our afternoon mission was visiting a home for sick and dying babies.  At our team meeting tonight, the words “heartbreaking” and “sorrow” were used to describe our day. One of our team members is a doctor, I am a nurse and another team member is a children’s mental health worker and still another is a dietician. We were overwhelmed. It was very hard to see babies and children that are so severely malnourished. A couple of the children have pneumonia. Many of us were stunned to see the children, trying to figure out where to start working. I am reminded of the story of the star fish. We could really only help one baby. There are other rooms with older children that are healthy but this also brings sorrow because many of the children are there due to the parents’ inability to care for them. We spent our time feeding the babies and holding them or playing with the older children out on the playground. Some of us cried as we watched Fr Talbot baptize children that might not survive their illness. It is so sad to see what their small bodies have gone through in their short time on earth.

Lynn Arcand