Memories of Haiti: Lessons in Coping

By Edith Young West

This book will introduce the reader to a remarkable people who have much to teach us about the skills of coping in the world that confronts us . There are many life lessons to be learned through these glimpses into their daily struggles. In these pages the author hopes you will come to appreciate the joys of living and working among a people you can never out give despite their poverty.

Though this work was originally written in 1999 from memories and from a 1977 personal journal, it now includes updates on the lives of those we have observed over the years. Knowing the Haitians , we may begin to understand how many are able to survive the most devastating of blows such as the recent earthquake of 2010. Though we bring much assistance and compassion to this land that is sorely needed we need also to learn the lessons its people can teach us of persistence, endurance and the value of people over things. Haiti will survive !

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Dec 14, 2010
• ISBN: 9781426945656

Edith Young West

The author is a retired professor of psychiatric nursing, a former public health nurse and missionary with OMS International Haiti, WI. My husband and I presently reside in Apex, North Carolina with our daughter, Lura following my retirement from the Department of Social Services of Stanislaus County ,Modesto, California . Our daughter, Mary lives in Frisco, Texas with her husband . We are proud grandparents of three, including Corey, a Bronze star Iraq war veteran recently married ; grandson Cameron, at Texas Tech. ; and granddaughter, Cara, who achieved a coveted spot as a Texas Rangerette to continue her dance and drill career. Our extended family includes our Haitian "adopted son and daughter"and "granddaughters" whose careers bring us much joy.

Book preview

Memories

of

Haiti

Lessons in Coping

By

Edith Young West

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© Copyright 2011 Edith Young West.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written prior permission of the author.

Printed in the United States of America.

isbn: 978-1-4269-4564-9 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4269-4565-6 (e)

Trafford rev. 12/03/2010

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To Corey, Cameron and Cara:

Galations 6:7 Pa tompe tet ou, moun pa pase. Bon Dieu nan jouet. Sa gnon moun simin se sa li va rekolte

Acknowledgement

With grateful thanks to Sarah Lein without whose skill and patience this small book would never have reached the publisher.

Contents

Chapter 1: Impressions Of Haiti Written September 2, 1977

Chapter 2: The Haiti Connection (Haiti Recalled)

Chapter 3: Enlarging Our Comfort Zone

Chapter 4: Fritz

Chapter 5: Petionville

Chapter 6: Chipper, A Baby Bird

Chapter 7: Home On The Compound At Vaudreuil

Chapter 8: The Undelivered Letter - God’s Passport

Chapter 9: Border Crossing

Chapter 10: Fre’Marciel - A Gran Moun

Chapter 11: Partnership With The Great Physician

Chapter 12: Kor Medikal

Chapter 13: Fording The River – God Answers Prayer

Chapter 14: Marbial

Chapter 15: A Caribbean Holiday

Chapter 16: President for Life

Chapter 17: Ti Bois Or Little Wood

Chapter 18: Port-Au-Prince, Home to the OMS teens

Chapter 19: Beware Of The Lowly Aspirin

Chapter 20: The Painting I Never Bought

Chapter 21: Our Haitian Extended Family

Chapter 22: Up Date: Haiti 2010

Chapter 23: Lessons Learned In Haiti

Forward

January the twelfth of 2010, News Flash! Haiti has suffered a massive, destructive earthquake! All eyes are turned to this small country now on every front page and crowding the media. A tragedy, yes, but in a very few days we began to get amazing encouraging words from missionaries and nationals alike who told of an unsurpassed miracle in spite of great suffering. In the midst of rubble Haitians were raising their hands and their voices in prayers and praise to Bon Dieu , asking God for forgiveness for their country. Great crowds were filling the streets before crumbling churches. Three days of prayer and fasting were declared by the president, replacing the annual Mardi Gras celebration. We first went to Haiti in 1977 as a family, my husband, before that in the 1950’s. Never had we seen such a wholesale turning to the Lord. We had loved Haiti and the Haitian people for many years, but most Americans knew little of this land that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic no more than seven hundred miles from Florida. In the province of God this tragic earthquake has turned the attention of many to the sufferings and needs of this country. We are grateful that so many have responded to offer assistance to Haiti and its people. We hope in the process those who have been given a glimpse into this country will not only learn compassion but also have their eyes opened to the precious lessons these people can teach us.

I would like to open for you a window into the lives and dreams of this very different culture. As a missionary from 1977 to 1981, I came to admire traits of the Haitian that enable them to withstand circumstances that most of us would find impossible. Haitians are a very resilient and persistent people. Having nothing, they are yet a very giving people. People are much more important to them than things and events than schedules.

The pages that follow will provide snap shots experienced by my family with our Haitian brothers and sisters primarily between 1977 and 1981 but also early contacts and those experienced to this day. During these years we were privileged to experience some aspects of our very own Blind Side by bringing a young seventeen year old Haitian girl into our home and sending her to college, participating in her wedding, and watching her mentor her own daughters who have since become doctors. In the following pages we will begin our journey in the Haiti of 1977, a time when Haiti was actually safer than the streets of Miami.

*** one ***

Impressions Of Haiti Written September 2, 1977

After long years of preparation we have arrived in Haiti as a family. God has been at work in our hearts creating a special love for this land over many years. It was my intention to write a daily diary of my impressions of this country. Already I have been here a week and three days and only now have time to gather my thoughts. I recall the rapid flow of scenes and impressions from the landing of the DC-3 of Missionary Flights International that brought us from West Palm Beach, FL. We settled down at the quiet landing strip of Cape Haitien, unloaded what had come on our first load and began our wait for the customs official, who having heard the plane overhead, would know to come out from town in due time. From the landing strip can be seen in the distance the high mountains with the easily identified Citadel emerging atop a 3,000 foot crest. In the far distance what appears to be gray clouds are really far ranges of mountains. Otherwise the growth is similar to familiar plants of our home in Florida.

As we wait, we renew ties with those missionaries who have come to welcome us. After a space of time we are met by the customs official, fill out cards of entry as our boxes and suitcases are being opened and superficially examined by customs aides. Once this process is begun it goes quickly with the chatter of Creole. Our emergency barrel lid is opened briefly. When the pungent aroma of garlic salt escapes from a cap that must have come loose, there is much excited chatter and a rush to dispense with this object! The two new bikes for our girls bring delight to the eyes of the customs personnel as they are ridden off to the dwan (customs). I can tell they will enjoy keeping them for awhile. Actually we feel fortunate that all else has passed without a fee.

We join the other missionaries in the mission vehicle caravan and drive over the roads in various stages of disrepair. Along the way I wonder if my daughters for whom this is their first trip to Haiti are seeing and mentally recording all their eyes behold. I find I don’t want them to miss anything; the women with their baskets balanced on their heads; the families crouched in darkened doorways; the donkeys piled high with bundles; the tiny mud baked huts; the mountains with contrasting shadows and sunlight. We are told that the bridge is out and we must go the back way. Before long we reach the road from Cape to Vaudreuil. Having ridden this road on past visits I am greatly pleased to find it vastly improved. The compound is as I remember it from our last brief visit in 1974. Our first day we are a bit in the fog due to the night-long packing siege before our eight AM arrival at the West Palm Beach airport.

We stayed on the compound from Monday to Thursday and while there we had each meal at someone else’s home which gave us a good chance to visit each family. Right away I was pleased to note that both Mary and Lura were off to get acquainted with the other missionary children. Mary was anxious to get some sandals so she could be in style. In town the sights and impressions pile one upon another so rapidly they are hard to describe. Along the crowded narrow streets, doorways are tightly closed at noon, but soon they begin to open up and where you thought the town deserted tiny doorway shops appear. Some merchandise does not appear to have had a turnover for many a year. Other things are bright and shiny. We go from doorway to doorway looking for precious items such as tooth paste or a special kind of shampoo and when we locate two of the same items on a shelf we consider ourselves fortunate and both are purchased. We are also looking for material to provide clothes for school. There are few ready-made clothes to be found. Some exclusive shops have clothing they have made largely for tourists.

The process of getting school clothes requires first finding the right material in a small dry goods store, guessing at the amount required and taking it to the tailor up weakened stairs to a sewing center where a room is full of young men and old, busily tailoring individual orders. A young man measures the student, shakes his head. There is not enough material for the style she wants. Off we go again to locate more material.

Cape Haitien is a quietly busy town. Narrow as the streets are one can find parking usually in front of the doorway of the store where you wish to do business which certainly can’t be said for most of our stateside shopping. One gets the impression of no wasted space in the town. Each doorway is part of a crowded wall of sometimes crumbling, sometimes brightly painted or tiled business. Everywhere there is begging in a gentle sort of way. Even if you refuse you get a friendly Bon Jour and God bless you Missus. I long for a magic