Rich Gosser

Today I hired William, an old friend and a good "chauffeur" to drive my friend Rosemary and me to Montrouis, a pleasant town about an hour and a half North of Port au Prince along "Naitonal 1", one of three national roads in Haiti. (It's hard to believe that there are so few roads in Haiti until you try to get somewhere here!)

The road isn't too bad for the most part and much of the drive is along a beautiful coastline dotted with beaches. We made pretty good time and I enjoyed getting out of Port au Prince!

We spent most of the day with Fr. Antoine Charles, a Haitian priest of the diocese of Gonaives. Fr. Anotoine's parish is "twinned" with the parish of St. Barbara's in my own diocese. Several years ago - after a lot of coaxing (well, maybe a bit of nagging) - I persuaded my long-time friend Fr. Paul Fitzmaurice, the pastor of St. Barbaras, to come to Haiti and visit St. Jean Baptiste parish in Montrouis. He and Fr. Antoine "hit it off" and I got to play "midwife" to the birth of "twins"! The relationship has been a good one and it's been a delight to watch it grow. Fr. Antoine is pictured below next to a new vehicle he got for the parish through a German organization that helps Catholic missions.

When I first visited Antoine I brought a translator because Fr. Antoine doesn't speak English. It turned out that the translator was so shy that he couldn't speak English in front of the group I had brought with me! Being shy myself I could understand, but that didn't help the situation! I struggled to communicate and Fr. Antoine never once made me feel self conscious. He only encouraged me. The next time I came I didn't bring a translator and ever since my Kreyol has improved "piti piti" (little by little)! Mesi Pe Antoine! (Thank you Fr. Antoine!)

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

Today is an historic date in Haiti. It was February 7, 1986 that marked the departure of Jean Claude Duvalier and the end of a 30 year dictatorship that began with the "election" of Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier. It was February 7, 1991 that marked the inauguration of Jean Bertrand Aristide, formerly a Salesian priest, who captured more than 67% of the votes in historic election of December 16, 1990, the first free and fair election in Haiti's history. After that February 7 has become the "normal" date for presidential inaugurations - at least on those occasions when Haiti's presidential elections have been held close to November (as "required" by the Haitian constitution of 1987)!

After winning a second election in 2000, Aristide was forced to leave Haiti in February 2004. I expected that there might be some demonstrations in Port au Prince today, but didn't think about it when I set out with my friend Rosemary to "stretch our legs" on the streets of Port au Prince. We walked without incident all over town starting at Hospice St. Joseph, down Rue Acacia, across Ave. Martin Luther King and then down Rue Popoulard all the way into the downtown. Crossing over at Rue Capois we walked past the Champs de Mas and climbed up the hill to the historic Hotel Oloffson (which provided the setting for Grahm Greene's novel, "The Comedians") where we had lunch (and a couple of cold bottles of Prestige, the Haitian beer that won a gold medal in a world competion many years ago).

We left the Oloffson and proceeded along Rue Christoff until we reached "Lalue" (Ave. John Brown) where we began the climb back to Christ Roi and Hospice St. Joseph. It was along Ave. John Brown that I remembered today is an historic date. Hundreds of marchers were coming in the opposite direction, demonstrating peacefully for the return of Aristide! There were Haitian national police along the route and riding admidst the demonstrators. The march was orderly and peaceful. We stood aside until the "Lavalas" (Kreyol for flood and the name of Aristide's political party) of Aristide supporters passed. Port au Prince was peaceful today, but the marchers were a vivid reminder to that, while it has been little known here in the 200 years of Haiti's history, this country longs for peace. I also recalled the words of the late Pope Paul VI: "If you want peace, work for justice."

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

I first met Fr. Rick Frechette, CP around 1992 when my wife and I began bringing groups to Haiti on what we called "reverse mission pilgrimages". (Unlike missionaries of another era who went to foreign lands to convert people to Christianity our groups generally consist of Christians from the US and the conversion we hope to accomplish is in THEM - the kind of experience that my wife and I had when we first came to Haiti 20 years ago this month!)

I was immediately captivated by his sparkling blue eyes, his impish smile, and his remarkable ability to articulate the complex realities of Haiti. "If we had ears to hear the cries of the poor like God does", he said, "the roar from this island would be deafening". Fr. Rick's religious community - the Passionists - identify closely with the sufferings of Jesus. On another occasion Rick said to me, "Being in Haiti isn't like touching the wounds of Christ, it's like being INSIDE the wounds of Christ". I confess that the first time I met him I announced that I'd like to be his shadow so that I could tag along behind him everywhere he went.

When I first met him, Rick was the director of Our Little Brothers and Sisters Orphanage in Kenscoff, above Port au Prince. At that time the orphanage had over 200 children in a beautiful setting of group homes that resembled a village of children rather than an institution. Rick joked about being the "unwed father of 200 children" and - in a sense he wasn't kidding. Each of the children has his last name and Our Little Brothers and Sisters makes a life-long commitment to them. Every child is educated from preschool through secondary and even university or professional school if they have the talent. Today OLBS has more than 500 children and is one of the finest such places in Haiti.

Rick was also the director of a children's hospital on the edge of Port au Prince called Hospice St. Damien. During the troubled years following Haiti's 1991 coup d'etat Rick agonized over life and death decisions and watched children die because medicines, supplies, even electricity and water were in short supply. At the orphanage there was no resident physician and some sick children there died because medical treatment at the hospital was too far away. At the age of 42 Rick decided that he could serve Haiti's poor children better if he studied medicine. He completed his medical training in the US while continuing to direct the orphanage and hospital in Haiti.

Rick returned to Haiti and continued his work at the orphanage and St. Damien hospital, a cramped space in an old 4 story hotel. I hesitated to take groups there. There was usually only space for 1 or 2 visitors to enter it's crowded wards at a time. But Rick had also returned with a new dream - to build a new St. Damien hospital that would be a first-class medical facility dedicated to the care and treatment of poor children. After several years and many challenges, the new St. Damien's hospital opened in December 2006 along Route Tabarre, behind the Port au Prince airport. I got to visit it yesterday!

The children admitted to St. Damien's are all seriously ill. Some are abandoned by their parents, probably because they believe that their children will die and they have no money to pay for a funeral. Sick though they are, I wondered if maybe this place seemed like being at the threshold of heaven. It's certainly an oasis in a desert of despair.

Touring the hospital was a great treat. Spending an unexpected hour or so with Fr. Rick and some of the volunteers at the hospital was a still greater treat! We talked about the work he does in Wharf Jeremie and City Soley where twice a week he takes his "mobile clinic" and enters what many describe as a "battle zone" and where shoot-outs between rival gangs are commonplace and where assaults by the UN "peacekeepers" here in Haiti have added to the suffering of what might well be the some of the most desperately poor people in our hemisphere. (The UN recently acknowledged that in one such shoot-out last July their troops discharged more than 22,000 rounds of high powered amunition in this crowded shantytown of houses made of wood, cardboard, and tin.)

One of my greatest satisfactions in working in Haiti or in support of development in Haiti is that I get to meet some remarkable people - not just a few, but a LOT of truly remarkable people. Among the many remarkable people I've met here, there are few as remarkable as Rick Frechette. I won't ever get to be his shadow. It's just as well. I could never keep up with him and don't have anything like his courage or compassion. I'm just happy to enjoy the privilege of knowing him as a friend.

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 2 comments

I first visited Hospice St. Joseph (HSJ) in 1990 when I came to Haiti as a member of the Washington Office on Haiti (WHO) delegation that had been invited by the Conseille Electoral Provisoire (CEP), the council of the Haitian government charged with organizing the historic 1990 elections that were the first free and fair elections in Haiti's modern history.

Formerly a tourist hotel called "Buddy's Place", Hospice had been founded by a priest from the diocese of Lafayette, IN and a Sister of St. Joseph from Tipton, IN. It's mission was to provide hospitality for guests from the US traveling to Haiti to visit "sister parishes" in Haiti and for guests from the rural provinces of Haiti who were seeking medical treatment in Port au Prince and had nowhere to stay.

The mission soon expanded to provide direct medical services to the Christ Roi (Christ the King) neighborhood around HSJ through an on-site clinic staffed by Haitian physicians. Today the HSJ clinic operates 5 days a week from about 9 am to 2 pm.

Hospice is situated in the section of Port au Prince called Nazon. Just down the hill from the gate is the bustling Christ Roi, open-air market where "ti machann" (market ladies) sell fruits and vegetables, chicken and turkey parts (dark meat only since it is packed and frozen in the US where palettes show a preference for white meat), and every imaginable household commodity.

Also for sale in the neighborhood is the ubiquitous "chabon" (charcoal) which is used for cooking, baking, ironing (yes, Haitians use irons heated with burning charcoal), and even dry-cleaning!

Charcoal is the cheapest fuel around since petroleum products (like natural gas and propane) all have to be imported from other countries. Once completely covered with dense hardwood forests, Haiti has become an environmental catastrophe with 98% of the original forest cover GONE. Hardwood trees were cut soon after the successful Haitian slave revolt defeated Napoleon's army in order to pay an indemnity that the international community imposed on the new Haitian Republic to compensate France for her loss of property - namely the 500,000 human beings from W. Africa who had been held captive by the French in the most brutal slave colony of the new World.

The slaughter of the Kreyol Pigs in the early 1980s resulted in a mass exodus of peasants from the countryside to Port au Prince. This produced an increasing demand for charcoal so those peasants remaining in the provinces - no longer having pigs to sell when they needed cash - turned to making easily transported charcoal to satisfy the insatiable urban demand for fuel.

The migration of people from the rural provinces also resulted in sprawling slums like the notorious City Soley, built on what used to be the garbage dump of Port au Prince. There more than 300,000 people are crowded into wood and cardboard shacks in a rat-maze of narrow corridors amidst fetid canals that serve as latrines and sewers and spew putrid water into those same shacks when those sewers flood and overflow during the rainy season.

City Soley today is too dangerous for foreigners ("blan yo") like me to visit today. Many people are also nervous about having to be around the airport for a long time, because it's an area where numerous kidnappings (for money) have occurred. In most parts of Port au Prince however, people go about their business as usual.

Today I went out with one of the directors at Hospice St. Joseph to shop for crafts. The streets were bustling with activity. Traffic moved normally. That is to say, in the seemingly endless, chaotic dance that makes first-time visitors to Port au Prince wonder how it's possible that anyone can get anywhere driving here!

Thousands of people were walking or riding the Tap-Taps, the ever-present mass transit vehicles that double as moving folk art and billboards of religious faith like the one below. "LaFoi, L'amour, L'esperans" (Faith, Hope and Love) - you've got to have them all - especially love - and MOST especially you've got to love Haiti!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

Port au Prince, the capital of Haiti, is a city of more than 2 million souls. It is so different from rural Haiti that it is sometimes referred to as the "Republic of Port au Prince" - a kind of country within a country. I arrived here at Hospice St. Joseph yesterday after leaving Fondwa around 9 in the morning. The trip from Fondwa takes about two hours with about half that time spent getting through Carrefour ("Kafou"), one of the crowded and densely populated suburban neighborhoods of the capital.

Not much has changed here in Port au Prince since my last visit in June 2006. The streets are congested with traffic - the omnipresent, overcrowded tap-taps moving people in all directions - pedestrians, open air markets and garbage. In spite of a campaign (funded in part by USAID) to provide people with jobs picking up garbage, it looks pretty much as it always has. I had a chance to ride up to a lookout above the city yesterday with two Americans I just met who were visiting in Port au Prince from Jeremie (in the far West of Haiti) where they are working with the Haitian Health Foundation and with an English Language "institute". The view is a familiar one to me now, but for them it was a "first time" experience. I enjoyed pointing out landmarks to them.

Port au Prince, Haiti - the view from Boutilliers

My wife Daneen and I visited that lookout on our first trip to Haiti in 1987. It always reminds me of the story of Jesus' temptation on the heights overlooking Jerusalem! The street vendors there have always been "devilishly aggressive" and they lived up to my expectations again yesterday!

This morning I went to mass at St. Louis de Montfort parish - a vast, city parish of more than 30,000 souls established 8 years ago. The pastor, Fr. Nicolas Gerard, is a friend of mine as are Sr. Eileen Davey and Sr. Helen Ryder, Holy Union sisters who work in the parish. Partners in Progress (through the "Skip a Lunch, Save a Child" program of it Rich in Mercy division) supports a "head start" program in the parish that provides early education and nutrition to about 70 pre-schoolers. The parish continues to grow with people flooding its poorer sections to escape even worse conditions in Port au Prince's notorious slum called City Soley, built on what used to be the garbage dump.

St. Louis de Montfort neighborhood

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

Yesterday I spent the morning at the St. Antoine School here in Fondwa with my friend Missy Owen. It was my second visit to the school in two weeks. This time I went to meet with some of the elementary school children and deliver to them Song Books, Story Books, audio casettes and photographs that came from Holy Trinity School in Ligonier, PA where I live! We also recorded some songs that the St. Antoine kids has prepared before our visit. Below is a picture of some of the kids pouring over a picture of their counterparts in Ligonier!

Haiti is only an hour and half flight from Miami, but in almost every way it is "a world away" from everything most of us in the US take for granted. Public education in Haiti exists, but teachers there are poorly paid and very often don't have a degree or any particular training in education. If you've completed a grade, then you're qualified to teach it even if you've only progressed one year beyond the grade you're teaching.

I was very impressed when I walked into the third grade classroom at the St. Antoine School. Written on the rudimentary chalk board in French was the statement: "Education is the foundation for all change". It's a powerful statement. Most Haitians I've met would agree.

Although getting an education - especially a good education - is extrmemly difficult here, just about everyone I know here attaches tremendous value to education. On the one hand it's a teacher's nightmare here. There are few books. Classrooms are poorly lighted and overcrowded. Children often spend hours walking to get to school - most often without breakfast. (There are some kids who attend the St. Antoine School who must walk as much as three or even four HOURS to reach the school and - trust me on this one because I know from experience - the walking is VERY rugged!)

On the other hand though I would LOVE to have a chance to teach some of the young people I know here. They have such a desire to learn. They work so very, very hard in spite of the obstacles. I grew up in a family that instilled in me a love for education. I've always loved learning. I've been privileged to attend some very good schools and earn several degrees. If I'd been born in Haiti, I don't know if I would have had the energy or endurance to complete elementary school. There are kids here who are as gifted - or more gifted - than I. They will never have the same opportunities as I've had. It's my privilege though to help level the playing field for them somewhat by supporting some of the initiatives of APF and our other collaborators in Haiti. Education IS, after all, the foundation for change.

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

My friend Meredith suggested that people reading this blog might like to see what it looks like here in Fondwa from up on the road to Jacmel. The picture below was taken along that road looking down on the Fondwa road. The structure to the right along the road is the APF Visitors' Center where I'm a guest. The others living here include three long-term volunteers, the community of Sisters of St. Antoine, and assorted staff people. I hope this gives you all some better idea of what it looks like here!

Fondwa Road - APF Visitors' Center

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

APF, the Association of Peasants of Fondwa, began in 1988 when Fr. Joseph Philippe, a Haiti member of the Congregation of the Holy Ghost (Spiritans), returned to his native community and invited some of his neighbors to sit together and talk about their lives in Fondwa. Fr. Joseph is a man of great vision and seemingly boundless energy! He had a vision for how the people of Fondwa could help themselves and, and in the process, create and test a model of sustainable development that could be applied to other parts of rural Haiti. He knew it would take time, and patience, hard work, and much help from outside of Haiti. But visionary leadership was the most important ingredient and he had PLENTY of that!

Fr. Joseph tells a story about the early days of APF. (He won't tell me if it really happened as he tells it, but like all stories, it contans a truth whether it really happened or not!) After the original APF group had been meeting for some time one of them said to Fr. Joseph: We should write down what we say here. Will you buy us a notebook? Fr. Joseph replied, I know where they sell notebooks in Port au Prince. They cost $1.25. I don't have $1.25, he protested. Fr. Joseph looked him in the eye and asked, How much DO you have? I have a nickel. Put it on the table. Looking at the next man Joseph asked, “How much do YOU have?. I have 10 cents. Put it on the table, was the response. By the time they had gone around the table they had $1. Then Fr. Joseph said, I have a quarter. Now we can buy a notebook! APF was founded on that principle - that by pooling resources and getting some help from the outside, the community could take responsibility for itself and together accomplish what no one could do by himself!

Today APF has over 400 members divided into 23 groups. Nineteen of the groups come from the different "habitations" (neighborhoods) in the Fondwa region. Four other groups are not geographically based. Two are women's groups. The other two are youth groups - AJF (Association of Youth of Fondwa), comprised of youth from the Tomb Gateau area and "Kojedaf", comprised of youth from the Belvue 1 area.

Both youth groups have about 30-35 active members. Each elects officers and conducts regular meetings. Both are active in community projects such as reforestation, "capturing" water (improving natural springs and collecting water in cisterns or piping it to public fountains), road repair, and building public latrines.

With financing from B.U.S.T. and some additional help from PIP the Kojedaf group has constructed a "hang out place" (gazebo) close to the APF visitors' center. Kojedaf has a small gasoline generator and regularly provides evening cinema (via video tapes) for its members and the children living in the area. Its members participate in beach outings together and have also visited sites of historic significance in Haiti such as Cap Haitian and the Citadelle (a fortress built to defend against a reinvasion of Napoleon's army after it suffered defeat in the Haitian revolution).

AJF has no meeting center of its own, but hopes to build a public place where people can gather and students can come to study. It has planted more than 30,000 trees and built several public "showers" near water sources where people can bathe in relative privacy. (Privacy as we know it is unknown in rural Haiti.)

AJF Youth Group

Young people comprise the majority of the approximately 8 million people living in Haiti. Human capacity building is one of the highest priorities for APF and one of the greatest needs in Haiti. The future of Haiti, like the future of all countries, belongs to the youth and Haiti's greatest asset is the energy and talent of its young people. With that in mind it's no wonder that APF sees education and youth formation as the principal tools that can help people help themselves build sustainable communities!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

The electrical system at the APF Center in Fondwa is a patchwork of three separate solar energy systems and a gas-guzzling generator. On good days it works pretty well and the solar charged batteries provide enough electricity to charge cell phones, run the satellite modem that gives us access to the internet, and power our laptop computers. In the evenings, providing there's gas, we enjoy illumination in addition to the technology "perks" between the hours of 6 and 9. After 9 pm it's "lights out"! Since the sun rises here this time of year around 6 am, that's when our day begins.

The last two days both the electrical system and the satellite internet service have been "fussy". I've also had two very full days of meetings and activities! Both have conspired to prevent my posting much to this web log!

I've been spending much of my time walking to places - well, it's mountainous Fondwa so I've spent much of my time CLIMBING to places! While walking I've enjoyed the almost constant companionship of two young men - Inel and Gito - both of whom are APF "animators", men who work with the groups of peasants providing technical support, information, and encouragement.

Inel can be quite the character! He's one of the directors of the radio station (Radyo Zetwal) and a member of one of the two APF "youth groups". Today the US ambassador (Janet Sanderson) stopped by Tomb Gato, one of the "habitations" or neighborhoods in Fondwa to visit the "izin kafe" (coffee factory) where "Haitian Bleu" coffee is processed. Inel was there with his tape recorder looking just like any reporter from the New York Times or Washington Post!

Gito is both personable and smart. His education ended after the 8th. grade because his family didn't have the money to pay for him to complete secondary school. He hopes for something better for his son who is enrolled in the St. Antoine preschool. He also hopes someday to build a little house for his family. A two room house with tin roof and maybe a "gallery" (porch) would cost about $2500 or $3000. Today he told me "I'm 30 years old. I have three dreams: to have a real wedding, to complete my education, and to build a house for my family. I'm 30 years old and I haven't been able earn enough money to realize any of them. Gito's story is one repeated hundreds of times over. It's not lack of industry or ability that keeps him from realizing his dreams. It's lack of opportunity.

The "fussy" electrical system and internet connection are just annoyances for me. The lack of opportunity for Gito is a REAL problem.

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

In rural Haiti humans and animals alike struggle to survive and compete with each other for food. At one time the "Kochon Kreyol" (Creole Pig) played the role of "piggy bank" for Haitian peasant families. This black, floppy-eared, curly-tailed species of pig thrived on the excess of avocadoes and mangoes that was available when rural Haiti still have much of its now vanished forest cover. When a family needed cash - whether to send a child to school or pay for a funeral - it could sell a pig, effectively "cashing in" its "piggybank" and have the needed funds. The Kochon Kreyol was the banking system of choice for Haitian peasants.

In the early 1980s our own US Department of Agriculture suspected that some Kreyol Pigs MIGHT be carrying a strain of "African Swine Fever" and (perhaps believing that pigs really CAN fly) requested "Papa Doc" Duvalier to allow the destruction of the ENTIRE population of Kochon Kreyol! For a price the dictatorship acceded to the request. The result was mass slaughter of the "piggybanks" of Haiti. For the peasants it was a catastrophe and amounted to a complete "decapitalization" from which the peasantry has never recovered.

The slaughter of the pigs lead to more intense deforestation, because - having lost their savings - the peasants turned to cutting trees and making "chabon" (charcoal). Even fruit trees fell to the axe since the excess fruit was no longer needed to feed the pigs.

You see some pigs in Haiti today, but there are almost NO Kochon Kreyol. Species from Jamaica are adaptable to the climate, but the excess of mangoes and avocadoes that once fed the Kochon Kreyol is gone. Raising pigs is difficult. There isn't enough land to grow food for them and imported food, sold in Port au Prince, is expensive.

Most peasant families have at least a few chickens and you often see chickens on board tap taps, riding to market on their way to becoming someone's dinner! Goat meat is popular and goats can survive by eating almost anything, but they can be destructive of crops and can make reforestation efforts more difficult because the hungry goats can devour newly planted seedlings. Sure-footed donkeys and occasionally horses carry heavy burdens, sparing the backs and necks of women and children who also carry heavy burdens (usually) on their heads.

Pets are seldom seen in Haiti. They are kept only if they perform "guard duty" or some other useful function. Here at the APF Center we have "Lucky" and "Madam Lucky", two dogs who "guard" the premises mainly by barking loudly at anyone passing by during the night. We also have a cat - "Cherie Soupe". I think that our Haitian hosts aren't sure that Cherie is worth her keep. She's a bit small to go "head to head" with some of the rats, but she does well in mortal combat with the (giant) cockroaches (palmetto bugs) that abound. I'm not sure if she's squared off with any of the tarantula-like, hairy spiders that seek shelter in the Center during the rainy season.

Today my friends Missy and Becky suspected Cherie Soupe of bringing fleas into their rooms (where she has been enduring a kind of "Martha Stewart" imprisonment for annoying the wrong people!) For her misdeeds Cherie suffered the indignity of a cold bath. I had my bucket bath this afternoon too. Cherie, I know how it feels!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

"Bonswa tout moun" (Good afternoon everyone!) is heard each day around 2 pm when "Radyo Zetwal" (Star Radio Station) begins its daily broadcast in Fondwa. Next the community radio station broadcasts the Haitian National Anthem and then begins its regular programming.

For the majority of people living in the Fondwa region - with its 20 "habitations" scatterd over the mountains and valleys - Radyo Zetwal, operated by APF and staffed by volunteer youth, is the most important source of information after "telejol", or "word of mouth". Francy, one of the directors of Radyo Zetwal, estimates that about 90% of the people living in the Fondwa region have radios or access to a radio.

Each day Radyo Zetwal broadcasts from about 2 pm to 8 pm with a mixed schedule of programming that includes music, news, public service announcements, "distance learning", and the occasional paid advertising.

Francy Innocent, manager "Radyo Zetwal"

Tastes in music vary and Radyo Zetwal offers something for almost everyone! Kompas music is most popular, but the radio station also plays selections of "misik angaje" or music that urges people to "become engaged" in the struggle to build a sustainable community in Fondwa. Other regular programming includes information for a healthy life. Each broadcast focuses on a particular "maladi" or disease and provides information about the symptoms and treatment options for each.

Johnny Osalus, music director "Radyo Zetwal"

Radyo Zetwal also broadcasts information about the various activities of APF in the community. A goal of these braodcasts is to invite community involvement and to increase community understanding of the APF development model. Occasionally the radio station does live interviews with community members to spotlight the benefits that people perceive in the ongoing development work of APF.

Lionel Etienne, technical director "Radyo Zetwal"

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

My wife Daneen and I have been bringing folks to Haiti since 1992. Our own first visit here was in 1987 and the experience made a profound impact on our lives. We wanted to share the power and potential of visiting Haiti with others and so began our "reverse mission pilgrimages" to Hatii. (We call 'em "reverse mission" because, unlike missionaries who travel to foreign lands for the purpose of "converting" people, traveling to Haiti often results in a profound conversion for the participants.)

Rural Haiti offers plenty of opportunities for conversion. The trip out from Port au Prince is physically taxing. The ride up the mountain, along narrow roads that wind and climb offers plenty of opportunities to exercise one's faith! The breathtaking vistas that punctuate the ascent can surely nourish the soul. The struggle to assimilate a different language and culture stretches the mind. I began thinking that this time in Fondwa can be for me a kind of Mind, Body, Spirit "fitness retreat"!

There's no need for a fitness instructor in this part of rural Haiti! Even to visit the nearest neighbors involves climbing! Yesterday I went to the nearby town of Jacmel with my friends Becky, Missy, and Meredith. Our trip began with a climb out of the Fondwa valley to "Anba Tonnel" where the Fondwa Road connects with the main road leading to Jacmel. Although parts of the Fondwa Road are paved, those parts are also VERY steep. The unpaved parts of the road have become rocky and rutted, more suited to legs of nimble goats one sees occasionally than to the legs of the "blan yo" (foreigners). The mile or so walk, first thing in the morning, makes for a great "workout"!

At Anba Tonnel we climbed into a "tap tap", one of the mid-size trucks that haul people along the road between Jacmel and Port au Prince. Since the tap-tap was already filled we had to stand for most of the hour-long trip. Bouncing over the mountain road and holding on "for dear life" while occasionally being enveloped with diesel fumes, was a workout of another kind. Finally arriving in Jacmel and being deposited at the bus stop we still had another 20 minute walk into the town! Yep, no need to join a gym here, or ride an exercise bike, or run a treadmill! Fitness is built into daily life. Only the strong survive.

Jacmel is a lovely little coastal town, a center for Haitian art and crafts, and an ocean lover's paradise. It's always refreshing to visit and a day spent there is always a "mental health day" for volunteers and visitors from Fondwa. Our entourage of four enjoyed a beer at the Hotel du Place, where the local Rotary Club has been meeting for over 100 years! We collected packages from Pittsburgh for Becky at the Lynx Air office and then wound our way through the market heading south towards the beaches. Our goal was a little restaurant called "La Crevette" where the view of the ocean is superb, the Prestige (beer) cold, and the food delicious.

After treating my friends to lunch I invited them to visit an "old friend" of mine Boss Samedi, a 70+ year old craftsman and sculptor in wood. I first met Boss Samedi a few years ago when I first visited Jacmel. In his "atelye" (workshop) there's a cast iron band saw that was made in Altoona, PA (about 75 miles from my home in PA) over 100 years ago. Originally it was powered by a steam engine! It's now been converted to run off a conventional electric motor. Boss Samedi is a self-trained artist, who has trained more than 30 other "boss ebenis" (woodworkers) in his shop. I don't know what will happen to his saw or his "atelye" after he passes, but for now he's in robust good health for his years! I look forward to bringing him a photo of him working at his saw the next time I visit Jacmel.

"Boss Samedi" at his 100 yr. old bandsaw

The trip home from Jacmel began with the 20 minute walk back to the bus stop. There we mounted another tap-tap with about 30 other people and at least a dozen chickens and assorted sacks of fruits and vegetables. As we piled out of the tap tap at Anba Tonnel clouds were gathering, threatening rain. It was about 5 pm and already the sun was beginning to set. We began the climb down the Fondwa Road and it was almost dark by the time we arrived at the APF Visitors' Center where I'm staying.

Mind, Body, Spirit - each day brings new challenges to grow in each of these areas. Perhaps we should offer an alternative to "reverse mission" trips to Haiti. Perhaps we could market Fondwa as the new "Mind, Body, Spirit Fitness Camp"!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 2 comments

"Ora et Labora" - Pray and Work - may be the motto of the Benedictines (who educated me through grade school, through college, and with whom I had the privilege of working as a math professor for 30 years!), but it also describes the lifestyle of the Sisters of St. Antoine of Fondwa, a recently born, indigenous community of religious women here in Fondwa.

The mission of the Sisters of St. Antoine is to bring the "good news" of God's love to the poor through their prayers and their direct service. The community was founded on October 4, 1996 - the feast day dedicated to St. Francis of Assisi - and follows a Franciscan way of life. The inspiration came from two Haitian women - Sr. Carmelle Voltaire and Sr. Simone Achillle - who shared a common vision to work with the poor majority of Haitians living in rural provinces like Fondwa.

The Sisters are responsible for a several of the APF "projects" that PIP supports. Sr. Simone is principal of the St. Antoine School that this year enrolls almost 600 children. Sr. Carmelle directs the APF clinic in Fondwa and is responsible for the hospitality program for visitors and volunteers who come to Fondwa. Both Sr. Carmelle and Sr. Simone are responsible for the Fatima House Orphanage. They have a special fondness for children and a real gift for restoring malnourished children to health.

Two recently "professed" members of the Sisters' community share in the work of the St. Antoine School. Sr. Claudette is director of the school and Sr. Melissia teaches in the primary school.

For the Sisters the day begins with personal and communal prayer at 6 am. Their workday is full - VERY full. Evening brings more prayer accompanied by singing! I'm especially attracted to the singing - in Kreyol and in French - and try to join the Sisters for prayer as often as I can!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

A few years ago the Florida Sun Sentinel did an in depth story titled "Haiti, the Eroding Country". It highlighted the environmental devastation that Haiti has experienced. The statistics are sobering - even staggering. It is estimated that Haiti is 98% deforested. That deforestation results in the loss of topsoil from Haiti's mostly mountainous lands. Among countries in the world Haiti ranks LAST on the "Environmental Sustainability" index. Flying into Port au Prince the other day I was able to catch a glimpse of the mountains on Haiti's Northern "hand". The scene of environmental devastation - seen in the image below - was unmistakable.

In Fondwa the peasants tell me that 30 or 40 years ago the mountains were covered with trees and they grew coffee. They still grow a little coffee in Fondwa, but the mountains are no longer covered by trees. The Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF) has worked hard for more than a decade and a half to reverse the continuing loss of forest cover that has put Haiti in a state of environmental catastrophe. APF operates 10 tree nurseries where seedlings are carefully cultivated so that during the rainy season they can be transplanted to the mountainous slopes. Trees like "chadek" (a grapefruit-like fruit), acacia, mahogany, and eucalyptus breathe new life into the eroding mountains. Around the natural springs that dot the Fondwa valley, APF has been planting trees and bamboo. Without this effort the amount of groundwater available from these sources would contiunally decrease. Since 1988 APF has planted more than 500,000 trees. Many more are needed!

Today I visited one of the nurseries operated by APF. Maintaining these nurseries is the job of APF "animators" who work with the 20 or so APF groups from each of the 20 "habitations" (zones) in the Fondwa region. My friend Becky and I joined the animators in transplanting seedlings from the ground where scattered seeds had been sprouted to plastic sacks filled with soil where they could be watered and protected from the sun.

In late April, when the rainy season has begun in earnest, the sacks of seedlings will be carried to waiting slopes all over the valley. On May 1 all the children at the St. Antoine School are given a "holiday" so they can all join in the tree planting!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 2 comments

Visitors to Fondwa often remark how good the road is after turning South in Leogane to begin the long and winding climb along the Jacmel road into the mountains that divide the Southern "hand" of Haiti into North and South. After some truly breathtaking vistas one arrives at "Anba Tonnel" and makes a sharp turn onto the Fondwa Road that leads into the Fondwa Valley past the APF Visitors' Center.

In 1988, when the APF began to meet and talk about life in Fondwa and the challenges facing its residents, the community decided that constructing a road would bring the greatest benefit to the community. They began to work on improving what I've sometimes described as a "two foot wide ditch". About 30 men formed a "konbit" (the kind of "work group" that Haitian peasants have traditionally relied upon to get fields tilled for planting or crops harvested at the end of the rainy season) and created the Fondwa road using their hoes and picks. After some time APF was able to secure help from the Pan American Development Foundation (PADF) to pave portions of the road and to install retaining walls to prevent the road from sliding down the steep mountain slopes. (Trust me they're plenty steep. I've only walked a few of 'em but speak from enough experience!)

Wind and weather (including heavy winds and heavy rains during the hurricane seasons) have taken a toll on the Fondwa road. Deep ruts and "tire eating" rocks mark some portions of the road and even walking over those parts has become treacherous, especially when it rains.

Periodically members of APF take up their farm implements - the same picks and hoes they used to create the road in the first place - and contribute a day's work in order to make the road a little less treacherous. Yesterday was one of those days. The picture below shows the "konbit" that worked on portions of the road near the St. Antoine School.

When I first began working with APF I didn't understand the importance of the road. After all, folks here don't have cars to drive. The value that the road gives to people living throughout the Fondwa valley is ACCESS. In order to sell their produce women carry it - usually on their heads and occasionally on donkeys - to the local market in Tomb Gato along the main road that leads to Jacmel. Wednesdays and Saturdays are market days in Tomb Gato. On Tuesday I was awakened at about 2 am by the sound of women and children WALKING along the Fondwa road. A few had candles to light their way. (None of the donkeys had headlights!) Most just picked their way over rocks and ruts along the road. The road needs a lot of improvement. Still it provides MUCH better access for people in the valley than they had before APF made it a priority in 1988. It is, without question, a most important community resource!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

Today my friend Becky Newlin, a teacher at Oakland Catholic HS in Pittsburgh who has been working as a volunteer in Fondwa since September 2006, invited me to visit her 9th. grade English class at the College St. Antoine. ("College" in Haiti signifies a secondary school. The community of Fondwa is one of very few rural Haitian communities to have not only a good primary school, but also a good secondary school.)

The St. Antoine School is supported through grants from Partners in Progress (PIP) and Family Health Ministries (FHM), a collaborating organization based in North Carolina. This year there are about 600 students attending classes from kindergarten through the last year of secondary school. The academic year 2006-2007 marks the first time EVER that young persons in Fondwa can COMPLETE their secondary education without leaving their home community!

Becky Newlin is teaching English at the St. Antoine School to seventh, eighth, ninth, and tenth graders. I had the delightful experience of meeting her ninth grade class this morning! At first they were shy or maybe a little bored, but Becky and I had conceived a project that won their interest. I've brought 6 disposable cameras with me to Haiti with the intention of inviting students at the school to take pictures. Becky and I asked the class to divide into 6 groups of 3 students each. Each group gets a camera and can take 27 photos that tell a story of their lives in Fondwa. The group decides what pictures are important to them. Becky will return the cameras to me next week and I'll have the pictures developed (with lots of "dupes") so that I can bring them back when I return to Fondwa (with a group of 10 "reverse mission pilgrims") during the first week of March. Each group will compose brief "captions" for the pictures and together the class will prepare a book of photos to share with the schools in the US that are "partnered" through PIP with the St. Antoine School. The students got excited about the project and their excitement was infectious! I'm excited to see the fruits of their efforts and learn from them more about life in Fondwa! Below is a photo of the class together with Becky their teacher.

Becky Newlin's Ninth Grade English Class

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 4 comments

Well, it's good to be in Haiti! The flight from Ft. Lauderdale was smooth enough for me to sleep most of the way! The airport in Port au Prince - once the scene of mass confusion and near chaos - presented no challenges. A pleasant "red cap" - Theodore - helped me retrieve my checked bags and load them onto a "chariot". Passing through customs went smoothly and Roody, the excellent and reliable driver for the Association of Peasants of Fondwa (APF) was there waiting for me as I exited. After a brief stop at the APF office and lunch with Fr. Joseph, C.S.Sp., the founder and coordinator of APF, Roody and I and Roody's friend Edmond were on the road heading for Fondwa!

For some time work has progressed slowly on a "bypass" around the ever-present traffic jam in "Kafou", the crowded suburb of Port au Prince towards the South West. On this trip I got to experience it for the first time. There were few other vehicles, possibly because there isn't yet much of what can pass for a road! We bumped and rattled our way around Kafou before reaching the relatively good road beyond. Soon we turned south and began the climb over the mountains that mark the region of Fondwa. My arrival there began with a joyful reunion with various friends there including Becky Newlin, a Pittsburgh teacher who's spending a year in Fondwa teaching English in the St. Atoine School and helping in the formation program of the Sisters of St. Antoine, a new, Haitian religious community of women.

My time in Fondwa is already "booked up" with activities and meetings! On the top of the list for today was visiting the construction site of the new Motherhouse of the Sisters of St. Antoine. We lunched at the APF restaurant in Tomb Gato and made our way back down the Fondwa road, detouring briefly to visit the source of water for the APF Guest Center where I'm staying. A cold-water, bucket shower felt pretty good after all the climbing we did here in the mountains of Fondwa. Tomorrow I'll make a visit to the Fatima House orphanage - another "mission" of the Sisters of St. Antoine. My thoughts now are turning towards the possibility of a cold - well, cool - Prestige, the award-winning Haitian beer!

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 1 comment

No I'm not in Haiti yet. I'll overnight in Ft. Lauderdale on Sunday and depart for Port au Prince early Monday morning. I should be in Fondwa Monday afternoon. The pre-travel chaos has died down somewhat and I'm getting excited about traveling to Haiti again.

It's not only the thought of seeing my friends in Fondwa that's motivating me. After an unusually mild winter, the temperature dropped and it's been snowing here in Western PA for two days! The thought of being in Haiti for a couple of weeks is seeming like a pretty good idea now!

"Deye Mon Gen Mon" (Beyond the mountains are more mountains.) View from Fondwa, Haiti.

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment

When I decided I needed to spend some time in Haiti to strengthen my relationships with our friends and collaborators in Fondwa and other parts of Haiti, it seemed like a good idea. Deciding to spend three weeks in January and February enjoying Haiti's winter warmth seemed like a GREAT idea given the usual weather in Western PA during those winter months. Now - less than a week from my departure date - I'm asking myself "What was I thinking?"!

Most of December all of January have been unusually hectic. Our loyal and generous PIP donors kept the PIP "staff" (consisting of myself, my wife Daneen, and Romayne our stalwart volunteer) busy with end-of-the-year donations. The PIP board kept us busy preparing reports for the PIP winter board of directors meeting. Herault Beauvais, the APF liaison between Fondwa and the APF office in Port au Prince and newest PIP board member, came back with the PA board contingency and is spending two months studying ESL (English as a Second Language), although for Herault it's actually a third language since all educated Haitian know Kreyol and French! I scheduled meetings with the Humility of Mary Sisters, a group of International Development grad students from the University of Pittsburgh, and the U. of Pitt chapter of "Engineers Without Borders" all for the two weeks immediately preceding my scheduled departure. What WAS I thinking??

rich • Jan-Feb 2007 Leave a comment