Sr. Felicity and Sr. Ann Kateri with Christian, their translator, on one of the steep paths that wind through the neighborhood.
As I shared in the previous post, the Haiti mission trip has various components. In addition to the construction project, a medical team composed of several RNs, a nurse practitioner and a doctor saw over a thousand patients in the week we were there. This team comes back twice in between the larger January trips. In addition to working on one of the construction crews, I also served as priest-chaplain for the team, and celebrated morning Mass, and led evening Holy Hour for the friars and sisters and any interested lay team members who wanted to join us. For the second year in a row, I had the privilege of baptizing a Haitian infant, this time the daughter of one of the helpers in the medical clinic who asked nurse Sharon (below) to be the godmother.
Baptism at which Sharon, one of the regular nurses on the medical team, served as godmother.
The CFR Sisters who joined us for the trip worked pretty much full time in evangelization: among the patients waiting at the medical clinic, with students at the nearby Catholic school, in homes and on the streets.
Sr. Felicity and Sr. Ann Kateri distributing miraculous medals during a visit to the nearby school run by the Little Brothers of St. Therese, who hosted our team.
Another major aspect involved purchasing, packing and preparing a massive food distribution to 400+ families in the neighborhood. The afternoon of the food handout as many of the different crew members as were able worked together to help this activity run smoothly and peacefully.
400 families wait in line for the food distribution. St. Therese Church, staffed by the Brothers who hosted us, is in the background.
All hands on deck for the food handout!
One additional special detour on this year's mission was a trip to Hinche (about a three hour's drive into the Haitian countryside), done at the suggestion of Br. Mano, the new superior of the Little Brothers of St. Therese. In Hinche, the Brothers have a cassava processing facility. The Franciscan Friars of the Renewal, Franciscan Mission Outreach and Friar Suppliers have all pitched in to support a project in which the Little Brothers of St. Therese will designate a portion of their large tract of land in Hinche to be used free of charge by impoverished families to cultivate cassava (seedlings and yokes of oxen to be provided), which can then be processed at the Brother's facility without any cost to the families.
Peeled cassava roots waiting to be pressed, dried and ground at the Brothers' facility.
A yoke of oxen to be used by poor families to prepare the soil for cassava planting.
Me with Jackinson (one of my fellow crew members) and his two daughters.
Charlie Moran, our team leader (in the yellow shirt), with the amazing construction team: Greg (left), Alan (center) and Bernie (right).
Bernie with Fritznell, our construction crew translator.
The Friar Suppliers 2013 Haiti Mission Trip Franciscan contingent together with Charlie Moran, the miracle man. Left to right: Br. Angelus, Sr. Felicity, Br. Crispin, Charlie, Fr. Herald, Sr. Ann Kateri, Br. Tansi.
View of the bay of Port-Au-Prince from the top of the hill of Riviere Froide in Carrefour.
From February 4th to the 11th we were with the Friar Suppliers on their ninth (I think) mission trip to Haiti. For the past four years the specific site has been the neighborhood around the compound of the Little Brothers of St. Therese (a Haitian order of religious brothers who serve the poor) in Riviere Froide, Carrefour, Haiti, not far from the capital city of Port-Au-Prince.
Riviere Foide, viewed from the hillside (above and below). People of the area wash and bathe in the river.
A number of different activities take place on these trips. There is a medical team that sees thousands of patients, and returns two times more each year between the January trips. They have saved lives, helped children overcome malnutrition and - through their repeated visits - been able to improve chronic conditions. There is also a food handout, and this year an evangelization component was added - more about those later. A big part of the trip, though, is the construction effort. This year we continued an effort that began last year: the building of latrines; a total of 150 were completed. The families did most of the work, excavating ahead of time pits about a square meter in area and going as deep as 20'-30'. Our teams then arrived in stages to first frame, then mix and pour the cement base, and finally to build a shelter on top.
Two of the homes where latrines were constructed (above and below).
A colorful mural depicting a funeral painted on sheet metal along one of the streets in the neighborhood.
My crew at work framing the base over the pit.
A latrine with the cement base already poured and set.
The carpentry crew adding the structure on top.
Br. Tansi, CFR and Br. Angelus, CFR, both of whom worked with caprntry teams - Br. Angelus at the base pre-constructing the walls, and Br. Tansi on site helping to assemble them.
I apologize to the friends and benefactors of Franciscan Mission Outreach for the lapse of over a month since my last posting in December.
After Honduras (the last post), I flew to Lima, Peru for a family wedding of some wonderful friends and supporters of our missionary efforts. I hope to post a few photos and video clips from that visit in the near future. Upon returning to the US shortly before Christmas I was waylaid by a pretty serious virus I had picked up somewhere along my travels, and got back on my feet just in time for the rush of Christmas activities that ran into the New Year. We departed for Haiti on January 4th (see the following post); I returned a week later to an understaffed friary that needed extra help covering overnight duty at our St. Anthony's Mens' Shelter. That brought me up to the departure for Honduras on Jan 23 (watch for the posts next week); I just got back to the US last night.
So, with God's help, I will try to keep you all a little more up to date on our activities!
Before, between and after the youth formation week and Guajiquiro mountain mission I had the chance to do a few other things in Comayagua. Among them were a formation day with the local Corazón Puro (Pure Heart) youth chastity group; three Sunday Masses, Confessions and a showing of the film For Greater Glory at the Granja Jesús Nazaret boys orphanage; and a formation talk for the staff at St. Benedict Joseph Medical Center. The photos in this post are from a trip into the nearby village of Matasanos, in the Mountains of Comayagua, where Missioners of Christ assist the Missionaries of Charity in working with a youth group comprising several local communities. This visit focused on Advent and included making Advent wreaths for the chapels in the different villages represented.
The Monday following the week of mission formation five youth teams headed into the mountains of Guajiquiro, La Paz to different villages in the parish of San Sebastian: San Juan, San José, San Miguel, Talanga and Guanacaste. We travelled in three pickups and dropped teams off at villages along the way. In each village there were daily programs for children, youth and families, and Mass, Confessions and Adoration when a priest was available.
Villagers in San Juan.
The team in front of the chapel in San José.
St. Joseph and the Child Jesus with sombreros in San José.
Stop along a bridge over a gorge (above and below).
San Miguel team with children.
I was part of the team that stayed in San Miguel (above and below), and celebrated Mass there daily, as well as in Talanga and another nearby village, San Antonio.
A view of the mountains from the chapel in San Miguel.
I was in Honduras for the last two weeks of November and the first ten days of December. I spent the first week in La Ceiba on the north coast, helping out in the very busy cathedral parish and doing some additional preparation for the Pan de Vida (Bread of Life) Eucharistic youth retreat planned for the last week in January, and a youth mission for Holy Week next March. My visit coincided with the annual national convention of Delegados de la Palabra de Dios (lay leaders who celebrate a Liturgy of the Word each Sunday in rural communities without a priest), hosted this year by the Diocese of La Ceiba. I was able to help fill in a little for Bishop Michael Lenihan, OFM (who also happens to be the national episcopal moderate for the Delegados) and Fr. Francisco, who accompanied the Delegados most of the days of their stay, by celebrating Mass in the Cathedral parish and three of its satellite chapels in the city. Additionally I was a guest on the weekly youth radio program and helped with Confession.
Following my time in La Ceiba I travelled by bus to Comayagua to assist the Missioners of Christ with a week of missionary formation for youth who just finished their academic year. Above and below are photos from the week of formation.
