Sister bears witness to Haitian struggles
Upon her recent return from Haiti, Michelle Denton, IHM, reflected on her most riveting experience.
“At an orphanage operated by Mother Theresa’s Missionary Sisters of Charity, there was a line of women waiting to give up their children,” she says. “These children were skeletal, with the huge bellies of malnutrition.
“Because of the severe malnutrition, the orphanage was the only chance they had to survive,” says Michele, who traveled to Haiti with a delegation from the World Community of Christian Mediation. Organized as a pilgrimage, participants bore witness to the unimaginable conditions of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere as they visited cities, rural areas and fishing villages.
Lack – of food, money, jobs, education, health care, potable water, basic sanitation, utilities – is the hallmark of Haiti.
“We were often approached by beggars,” Michele recalls. “We had been advised not to give anything to them, but rather work with one of the charitable programs and organizations that bring relief and desperately needed care to the country. Projects such as the IHM ‘Pennies for Progress’ initiative, which benefits the people of Fondwa, Haiti, or the St. Boniface Haiti Foundation, which provides health care, education and community support.
“One of the members of our delegation, a Haitian doctor, said that of all the needs in Haiti, education is the most pressing,” Michele notes. “If more people were educated, many of the current challenges could be met.”
In spite of the deplorable conditions, Michele reports on “pieces of hope.” Solar-powered traffic lights. Solar panels on some of the houses in rural areas to augment sporadic electricity. The spirit, faith and friendliness of the people.
“Just being there – even if our group didn’t actively change lives – we seemed to bring hope to the Haitian people,” Michele notes. “Our visit said that we care and will share our experience with others so that conditions can be improved.”
At Mass on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Michele renewed her vows as an IHM Sister. After she read her vows in English, a translator read them in Creole so the Haitian people attending Mass could understand what was happening.
