It was with a bit of trepidation that we faced our first full day of mission work in Port-au-Prince. You can imagine why that might be as our first destination was called “The Home for the Dying”.
Take a moment to picture in your own mind just what that might mean and you can feel a little bit of what we were feeling. Happily, as you will read further on, our fears were somewhat assuaged.
After a breakfast at the Guesthouse (which included soup) we all packed into the back of the truck and started our journey. Just the trip itself was an adventure as was pointed out in our moment of sharing in the evening—they don’t have the same social structures that take care of something as ordinary as garbage. Sometimes it’s the little things that we come to appreciate.
We arrived at the Home around 9 am and went up right away to be with the people. The immersion brought us out of our comfort zones and was quite intimidating as one of the missionaries pointed out later this evening. We spent some time with the people before it was time to go to Mass.
Participating in the Haitian Mass with hundreds of Haitian children (the sisters offer Catechism classes every Sunday) was a great cultural experience. Although we didn’t understand every single word that was prayed, we were able to share in the great fervor of the Haitian people and it was beautiful.
After Mass, some were able to take some time to help feed some of the more feeble patients and then we had our own break for a while. During this time, Joel, a teacher and choir director for the Haitian kids, came to offer a bit of a Creole lesson, which most of us took advantage of.
So a little word about the Home for the Dying…despite the name, not everyone there is actually dying. It is also a home of convalescence for sick people. One of the missionaries summed it up nicely with the word “joy”. These people, although sick, live with a lot of joy and we actually ended up having a lot of fun playing card games with them, giving them a “spa” treatment and trying to communicate through a language barrier. So, although we were intimidated to begin with, it became a very beautiful and fun experience!
We returned to Walls and enjoyed the pool, the showers, downtime and dinner before we got together and shared our experience. Tomorrow will be our first encounter with the Children at the Missionaries of Charity Children’s Home. Please keep us and all the people we meet in your prayers!
