Florida Catholic | Haitian Mission Children On A Mission

Haitian mission children on a mission

Service to fellow Haitians in Dominican Republic forges memories for local youths.

LINDA REEVES | FLORIDA CATHOLIC PALM BEACH BUREAU EDITOR

Published: 08.02.08

Vanessa Franscois, 18, loads a truck with baggage for a trip to Miami International Airport and then, Santo Domingo. “The hardest thing about the trip was watching the kids fight over food and other items. Back here in America, you don’t see kids fighting over used clothes and food that we have every day.”
LINDA REEVES | FC

DELRAY BEACH | Children and teens from a Haitian mission church here are back from a mission trip of their own during which they worked with other Haitian children in the Dominican Republic.

The trip was an experience not soon to be forgotten by the youngsters – who said they learned lessons along the way – and the priest who took them.

“They spoke in Creole,” explained Jessica Formul, 18, a participant, about the children she met while on the trip who touched her heart in a special way during personal conversations. “They wanted to know what we were doing in our lives. They asked what they could do to be like us. I told them to pray and to go to school.”

LINDA REEVES | FC
“The children played with the kids there and fed them,” said Father Roland Desormeaux. Father Desormeaux is familiar with the area and visits in the winter and the summer taking clothes for the children.

Father Roland Desormeaux, administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Mission, accompanied altar servers and children from the mission’s youth ministry to visit Dominican sugar plantation shantytowns, where many Haitians work. They wished to serve the families who live there in extreme poverty and harsh conditions.

“It was beautiful,” he said. “They enjoyed it very much. It was great. I took our children to bring some hope to the children there.“

The priest also hoped that his children would learn lessons.

“The reactions give me a lot of hope,” he said about his youths and the success of the trip.

Twenty-one children participated in the weeklong mission. A team of adults chaperoned the youngsters, who ranged in age from 9 to 19, and arranged details right down to weighing luggage and marking bags with bright red ribbons before their July 7 trip from the Miami International Airport.

Formul took time from her summer vacation to participate. “I plan to study medicine at school and I think this will be good for me,”

She will enter Florida International University in Miami this fall with goals of being a doctor and serving the poor.

“We played with the kids, talked to them and their families and visited homes,” she said. “Their homes weren’t very nice. The roofs were leaking. The floors were sand. They didn’t have inside toilets. There was no running water. It is an experience I will never forget.

“I learned that I should appreciate all that I have. I have to value everything. I don’t buy as much as I used to.”

A two-hour plane ride took the group to the Dominican Republic, which is on the eastern portion of Hispaniola, the island it shares with Haiti. According to Lonely Planet travel guide, the residents there are 98 percent Roman Catholic and most speak Spanish.

“They were all Catholic,” said Formul. “We asked them if they believed in God, and they said they prayed often. The people were nice and appreciative. A lot were spiritual. They built churches in the places we visited.”

Home base for the young missionaries was Santo Domingo, the first city built by Europeans in the Americas. There they stayed in a modern hotel and spent one day sightseeing in the city, which is known for beautiful beaches and historical sites.

“The children played with the kids there and fed them,” said Father Desormeaux. “They distributed clothes. Our days were 7 a.m. to 8 p.m. They had one day for themselves. One day we took 48 kids to the beach. Only one out of 48 had been to the beach.”

Sugar, along with tourism, is a major factor in the local economy. Sugar plantations are situated throughout the country, especially around Santo Domingo. For the most part, plantation workers are Haitians, who come to the country seeking employment.

While jobs are scarce in the Dominican Republic – with 60 percent of people unemployed – jobs are virtually nonexistent in Haiti, one of the world’s poorest countries.

The pay is less than $5 a day, and the work is demanding with long hours. The workers live in camps, known as bateyes, with their families.

Father Desormeaux is familiar with the area and visits in the winter and the summer taking clothes for the children. On this trip, the priest brought funds to purchase local food – “rice, beans, peas, chicken, a pig,” he said – and a makeshift kitchen was organized outdoors with an open fire and a pit.

“We supervise and get everyone to help,” said Father Desormeaux.”

More than 2,000 people were fed at the first bateyes visited according to the priest. “There are about 600 to 700 at the second bateyes, and about 200 to 300 at the third,” said Father Desormeaux.

“Some don’t have water,” he pointed out about the living conditions on the shanty settlements. “Some walk four to five hours to get water. One time when I was there, I rented a truck to bring water to the people.”

“The hardest thing about the trip was watching the kids fight over food and other items,” said Vanessa Francois, 18. “Back here in America, you don’t see kids fighting over used clothes and food that we have every day.

“The best thing about the trip was seeing the kids happy.”

The young missioners’ parents helped their children pack bags full of gifts for Dominican and Haitian children, including toys, soap, candy and hair ornaments.

“My daughter went on the trip,” said Saincluse Gabriel about Suzie Joseph, 21. “She told me she wants to be a nun missionary. This will give her the chance to experience mission work. It is in God’s hands. If she wants to be a nun, I think that is wonderful. If she wants to do God’s work, that is good.”

Gabriel, a native of Haiti, came to Florida for a better life and a career in nursing.

The children left their cell phones, computers and modern conveniences behind.

“I will miss the TV,” said Godnela Latus, 12, who snuck her favorite stuffed toy in her luggage as she prepared to leave the country. “I want to help people who are less fortunate than I am.”

Besides service work, the mission trip included daily prayer, Masses, fellowship and nightly discussions.

“I gave them a chance to react to what they experienced during the day,” said Father Desormeaux about the nightly youth gatherings.

From everything he heard, Father Desormeaux said the children from his mission were amazed at the poverty of the island and the fact that life there was about surviving and not much else.

“We told our kids that they could eat when they were hungry, but our kids would not eat until everyone was fed,” explained Father Desormeaux.

Francois is happy that she went on the mission and wants to go back.

“It hurts to leave the kids there,” she said. “They were happy that we were over there. It wasn’t the food or the clothes. They were happy that we knew they were there. Seeing the joy in their faces – showing them that they are not alone – it was a great experience.”

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