Haiti/St. Marc’s,
Trouin Miracle Moments
Gail
Moulton and Caroline LaBorde
January 30-February
5th
Bishop Rob Wright’s devotional for the week of February 8th,
spoke to Gail as she reflected on her 10th trip to Haiti. She has taken
the liberty to use parts of his
comments, which are italicized, as she wrote for the two of us.
“Everybody wants a mountaintop experience with God, that shining
moment of bliss and wholeness. But look at Jesus' life and you'll see that
plain things like his baptism and prayer brought him to life-changing intimacy
with God, ...while he was praying, the appearance of his face changed, and his
clothes became dazzling white. Luke 9:29
With God, miraculous moments are often born of mundane practices:
Stillness. Service to neighbor. Generosity
born of compassion. “
Since 2005, the Haitian Hope
committee, the family of St. Francis church and friends across the country have
been with us miracle by miracle starting with the feeding program for the
students when we learned most of the students did not eat at school. Keeping our eyes focused on
God’s calling us to serve others, we stepped out on faith with your prayers and
financial support. We thank you.
Caroline and I started in 2006 and
2007 going to Haiti. Each time we have flown in we have wondered, what will the
airport look like? This time we were greeted with a brand new airport. The
entrance was full of colorful Haitian art, and workers in attractive uniforms to
welcome you to this tropical land called Haiti. It was so much fun to see the
changes and how proud everyone was of this new airport.
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
We filled Pere Michaud’s truck and
Wilson’s van. Most of us were pulling two 50# suitcases and wearing backpacks. The
Virginia group was going to put up solar panels and do electrical work, so they
had extra cases….piled high, up to Trouin we went and were greeted so warmly by
Kercia, Pere Michaud’s wife, Georgette and many of our longtime friends. Settling in we discovered new sleeping
quarters, 2 new bathrooms , mosquito netting
and screens on the windows……mundane items
in the USA, but a mountain top gift for us. Living Waters for the
World provided good drinking water. This is huge! Keeping hydrated and
having clean water is a MUST.
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
Though roosters crowed and dogs
barked all night, the cool nights for sleeping
were gifts. Even though we stayed
up late each night, we were ready for 6:30 morning prayer, breakfast and
then on to our jobs.
Three round beds of green plants
enhance the flag pole where the students gather by grade, Mondays, for opening
exercises. ….They sing the National Anthem, church songs and then are dismissed
to classes grade by grade. We had seen
this done in Cheridant back in 2006 and
most recently at the public school in Trouin, so we were glad to see this happening at our school, too. We
hope that the staff will also use this time for a minute of teaching:
……importance of trash pick-up, importance of good
hygiene , etc. …..
Caroline and I worked on the library
again, refreshing, reorganizing and did some reteaching as to how to use the
library. We visited classes, Caroline
reconnected with students and teachers, we did some small group idea sharing
with the Kindergarten teachers and spent time listening and watching life at
St. Marc’s Episcopal School. The teachers now have uniforms also.
We got to participate in two of the
trade school classes, cooking and sewing. It seemed so easy for them, but for us
it would be advanced camp cooking and combining tailoring/sewing skills. The director of the school is excited about
the possibilities of a certified trade school developing.
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
The Virginia team with Haitian
workers put in hours getting the equipment ready for the solar panels, wiring
for lights in our new school building and working on getting the computer lab
functioning . Setting the pole and raising the platform with the solar panels
created a lot of excitement in the community.
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
Can you imagine ???????
Having lights to read books we are providing-
Students attending the computer lab-
Primary children interacting with computer learning activities
Older primary students learning the keyboard and doing research
Secondary students actually doing some word processing
Trade school students attending an IT class on Saturday
Parents learning on the computer at night-
Can you imagine???? It is all going to be possible!
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
Saturday was time for fun for some of
us .With Bishop Duracin arriving for the baptism of Lentz Fruitho and the
dedication of the new school building many things had to be done:
The school yard had been hoed all week in preparation for a garden
The street leading from Pere Michaud’s and the church was cleaned of weeds and trash
New School building was washed-
Living Waters For the World building needed paint touch ups-
Daughters of the King met and rehearsed for Sunday and updated their activities with Gail-
Children’s choir… learned This Little Light of Mine from Nicole Hutt, Leeds, Markham, Virginia-
Gospel and adult choirs practiced-
Decorating the church-
Student moved desks/pews into the church, swept and cleaned-
Band rehearsed-
American clergy and readers practice their parts, some to be read in French and Creole
“With God, miraculous moments are often born…”
Sunday was a glorious day. Bishop
Duracin, family and friends arrived. We
shared breakfast and then the procession of clergy, acolytes, servers, choirs,
baptismal family and friends walked from Georgette’s house to the church. This was a real photo op. About 275 people filled the church, stood
outside at the windows and doors to hear, The Word. We started around 9:00 and finished around 11:30.
Daughters of the King
The music was magnificent. Nicole did
a great job with the children. She is a
French middle school teacher and we called her the energizer bunny. She did
some teaching and singing like she uses in her classroom.
Kercia and Baby
A representative from each church
received a plaque, similar to the plaque placed on the new school
building. Our classes are filled with
children who are desperate to learn.
Some still walk 2-3 hours each way to school, do homework by flashlight
and keep a spotless clean uniform.
Pere Michaud and Plaque
The Bishop blessed each room…miracle moments
We had lunch, that I am sure had been
cooked during the night at different
stages.
A beautiful table was set with
potatoes in all forms, beet salad, hard boiled eggs, lettuce and tomatoes,
bananas, plantains, beans and rice, bread, peanut butter, piklis, chicken, and
goat served with soft drinks. All cooking was done over small fires with many pots….advanced, advanced camping.
“With God, miraculous
moments are often born…”
Then a late afternoon and evening
trip for” Kanaval” 2013 in Jacmel. Amos
got us seats at a second floor balcony so we could see the hordes of people
swaying and marching, tooting horns following the floats. “Kanaval “ is the
expressive culmination of the Haitian soul”, declares Minister Duputy. The energy is like electricity, powerful.
Monday, our final day pushed us to
finish up, pack, take our final pictures and give our final hugs for we would
be leaving at 5:00 am for the airport. Our new Virginia friends and our Haitian
friends have strengthened us, given us mountain moments as we continue to walk through valleys
calling God and saying, we are here Lord, what will you have us do?
“With
God, miraculous moments are often born…”
