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Almost the entire roof
had been blown off the 7 room building. It was a
sad sight. Part of the roof of the church had been
lost, but repaired--in a manner of speaking. All
the classes, K to 5, were being held in the church.
Damage to school at Chaineau
In communicating with the
sister parish for Bonneau, I was told that in 2002, they
had raised $50,000 to build the school at Chaineau.
Now, the school was unable to be used. We returned
to Bonneau after sunset. Fortunately, I
had listened to the advice of one of the sisters, and I
had taken a flashlight--which helped us descend.
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The next morning, Pere
Renald took me to Anse-a-Foleur to meet with Pere Chepa.
After a short discussion about parish problems,
I started up the path to Dity with one of the young
assistants. That walk is one of my favorites in
all the Diocese. A two hour hike, mostly level,
along the River St. Ann, with mountains and forests
rising up from the river on both sides. It is
necessary to cross the river 11-12 times, depending on
who is counting.
Construction of school at Dity
(a chapel of Anse-a-Foleur)
We arrived in Dity about
1:00. Pere Chepa is constructing a 6-7 room
school, with the assistance of Amor en Accion. The
block walls are almost finished, but the roof expense is
going to very great. I think there are 4 classes
that are being held in the church.
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We arrived back in Anse
about 3:30. Then Pere Chepa took me back to
Bonneau to spend a quiet Mardi Gras Tuesday night with
the sisters.
Wednesday morning, we
celebrated Ash Wednesday together at the
church of St.
Joseph in Bonneau.
Then we prepared to go to PdPaix.
The return trip was
supposed to be simple, because there was no rain, no
mud, no engine problems. Both Pere Chepa and Pere
Renald were driving their vehicles to PdPaix, but it was
decided that I should ride inside a truck, so that meant
riding with Pere Chepa. He was transporting 3
speakers, a little generator, and several people for the
upcoming pilgrimage to Chansolme.
At Berger, the tide was
fairly high, and Pere Chepa had to drive thru the surf.
After another 10 minutes, we reached an area called My-ee
Gote (I think). When Haitiens pronounce the name,
it sounds like "My God!!"---with good reason. It is a
large area about 30 ft across--part river water entering
the ocean, and part ocean water entering the river.
Because the tide was incoming, the level of the water
was about 4-5 feet deep. Pere Chepa started
across, but in the middle, the engine died.
Water started entering
from the holes underneath the floorboard. I was
sitting in the front seat in the middle, Pere Chepa to
my left, Jean Marks to my right. Jean kept saying,
in Kreyol, "lift up your feet, lift up your feet."
In the first place, there was no room to lift them under
the dashboard. In the second place, the water kept
entering until it was above the seat--above my waist in
a sitting position. So lifting my feet would not
have accomplished much.
And there we sat, for
about 20 minutes, until Pere Chepa agreed to pay several
young men to push us out. I was told afterwards
that the young men gather at this spot every high tide
to take advantage of those who get stuck. When we
were finally on dry land, Pere Chepa asked me if I had
gotten any pictures. Sorry, no.
Somehow, the engine
started, and we were off again. We made one stop
in LaPointe to pick up some other supplies for the
pilgrimage. Pere Chepa had taken off his shoes at
Myee Gote, so he was driving and walking bare-footed.
As he got back into the truck after loading the
supplies, he closed the door on his left foot and toes.
Nothing broken or bleeding, but much pain. We
decided that this was the first suffering for Lent 2008.
We arrived in PdP about
noon, just as the Angelus bells were ringing at the
Cathedral.
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