NewsletterHaitiJune 2017 | Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto

by Sister Rosemary FryIt is good to be able to write to you again to give you news of our projects in Haiti.

I had a wonderful visit with the staff and children at the Project to Help Poor Children, high in the mountains above Port-au-Prince.

The children had prepared a program of song, dance and skits to welcome me and we all had great fun laughing at some of their antics.

However there was a more serious note to it all. The skit was more like a morality play and the moral was that each person should be treated equally with respect.

The songs and dances were very typical of Haitian culture. It is heart-warming to see it being preserved and celebrated with these children.

Song, dance and skits at Project to Help Poor Children in Port-au-Prince.

This year, because of your generosity, the three little children I told you about in my last letter are now living full-time at the orphanage.

Their mother is contributing there by helping with the cooking. This will help the other six children in this fatherless family to eat as well.

In a phone call since I returned to Canada, I learned that the little girl, Wood Belinda, has been very ill and in hospital

with sickle cell anemia. This is a hard illness to have

in Canada and so much more so in Haiti where frequent blood transfusions are almost impossible to find and medicine which she will need for the rest of her life is expensive. Always there is more to do and more children to help.

Now there are two young boys waiting to come to stay as soon

as there is more money available.

These three children are now at the orphanage.

A few months ago, a special and gentle lady, Marie, died quietly on her way to the hospital. She was part of our lives since the early ‘90s when Sisters Lorraine Malo, Mary Alban Bouchard and myself first went to Cap-Haïtien.

Before we arrived there, she lived in the streets begging with her three young children. Another Sister arranged for the children to be adopted into a family in Holland.

One day, Marie asked me to find out if her children were alright. At the same time, the family who had adopted them was trying to find their mother. Finally, after much searching, they were reunited and the family came from Holland to visit Marie on two separate occasions over the years.

They also provided money for Marie to live in a tiny house and eat each day. Marie loved to cook and many other poor people in her neighborhood shared in the food she prepared. In the midst of all the destitution in her life, Marie never complained.

Her most common phrase, which will stay with me forever, is not easy to translate into English, but it goes something like, “It is God who knows” or “If God wants.” It is something like our own “God willing.”

When I heard that Marie had died, yes, I was sad for myself but so joyous for her.

She would now know the joy of being with the loving God she had depended on for her whole life.

I also imagined the reunion she would have with Sisters Lorraine and Mary Alban who also loved her dearly.

Thank you for being with us and supporting us in this work for the Haitian people. World news tells us of so many desperate situations in many parts of our global community and can make us feel helpless to relieve the

suffering that enters our lives each day through the media.

I hope this letter helps you to know that you have made a difference and changed our world for the better in such a caring way.

2Haiti NewsletterJune 2017

In Cap-Haïtien, the Haitian people themselves are continuing to do an excellent job managing the programs that help so many young people finish school and learn a skill or trade to help themselves and their families.

Desly, whom I have known for many years, is

finishing a college degree in economics and a certificate in car mechanics.

This homeless young boy who slept wherever a relative would give him a corner for all these years is now set to support himself and his younger brothers and sisters.

Sisters Lorraine Malo and Mary Alban Bouchard.

My Farewell to Marie

Update on Cap-Haïtien Programs

3Haiti NewsletterJune 2017

We continue to support the work at Sacred Heart Centre, founded by Sister Rosemary Fry in Cap-Haïtien. This is an excerpt from their letter which accompanies the annual report they sent to us.

EducationOn behalf of Rayjon Share Care Sarnia, I would like to express our thanks for your continued support of education and adult programming at the Sacred Heart Centre in Cap-Haïtien.

The work that began with the passion and guidance of Sr. Rosemary continues to assist those in need and promote the values of education, respect, dignity and compassion.

Thanks in large part to your generous support, 155 students in elementary and high school were enrolled in the tuition support program, and four more participated in vocational training. Five students completed their high school education in 2015-2016 – an important and laudable achievement.

In April 2016, members of Rayjon’s volunteer

monitoring team were able to visit the Sacred Heart centre and speak with some of the students. The students expressed their deep gratitude for the assistance they have received and shared with us their ambitions for the future, as well as the challenges they continue to face.

Additional ProgramsModifications made to the preschool program have been well-received and are serving to expand the holistic nature of the services provided at the centre.

With access to quality child care, tuition support for older children and effective treatment

for malnourished children under the same roof, parents are now able to participate more fully in literacy and life skills programs designed to give them the knowledge and skills they need to better care and provide for their families.

It is our hope that the education and care received assists in breaking the cycle of poverty and that beneficiaries grow in self-confidence and capacity.

Sacred Heart Centre Updatefrom the CSJ Leadership Team

Learning life skills.

Children in the Sacred Heart Centre’s nursery program.

The nutrition program.

Sisters of St. Joseph of Toronto101 Thorncliffe Park DriveToronto, Ontario, M4H 1M2Phone: 416-467-8070 | Fax: 416-429-7921www.csj-to.ca