Raising Haiti

:: “We have seen Chiara Lubich’s conviction become a visible reality when brotherhood is lived among people”

The Focolare community at Mont-Organisé, aided by Canadian counterparts, enjoys a lift as a variety of social projects get off the ground

FOCOLARE MEMBERS FROM CANADA continue to visit and support Mont-Organisé, a small town in Haiti nestled in the mountains near the country’s border with the Dominican Republic. Here a resilient people is renewing its country, bringing Gospel-based life into its educational, sociopolitical and cultural institutions. Despite a legacy of rampant corruption, ruthless deforestation and an illiteracy rate of 55%, there is much hope.

“We have seen Chiara Lubich’s conviction become a visible reality when brotherhood is lived among people,” said Wilfrid Joachin, mayor of the town from 1995 to 2000 and community leader. “We are more convinced than ever that if the Gospel is lived, it leads to mutual love, which generates the presence of Jesus in our midst (see Mt 18:20). It is he who will bring about the solution, just as we are witnessing here, to all social problems, even in this country which ranks as the poorest in the Western Hemisphere.”

As this community grows, more and more projects are coming to fruition. Schools have been founded that now educate more than 600 students in grades one through six, with continuous financial support from the Focolare community in Canada and AMU (Association for a United World), the Focolare nongovernmental organization. Students have a high success rate in passing the official state examinations, and over the next five years, secondary grade levels will be added.

A network of trust and consultative relationships among those who have new ideas and project proposals is being woven into the region’s political organization. Currently there is great excitement about a new project, initiated by the municipality and led by Joachin, that seeks to ensure that government programs meet local needs and involve local citizens in the decision-making process.

The Mont-Organisé municipality has been divided into 11 zones, where local representatives meet with the mayor and a parliament member to prioritize proposed projects. The officials then obtain funding, and those involved feel that it is “their project.” They happily show off the new Health Care Centre and solar-powered streetlights that give the village a modern look.

Another Focolare-initiated project is the international Adoption at a Distance Program, overseen by local Focolare members who act as a selection committee to direct aid in each area. As of 2009 there are more than 300 children in Haiti who benefit.

Mary Laframboise, who together with her mother in Toronto sponsors two children through the program, visited the Haitian community last summer.

“I heard that the children were coming from their homes and nearby mountain villages to get their photos taken and write their yearly letters to their sponsors, so I went to the area,” she said. “I inquired whether they thought that the boy I have sponsored for about ten years might be coming. They looked at their list and said I was standing right next to him, just as he was starting to write his letter to me! It was such a joyful moment. Thelex, now 20 and finishing secondary studies, looks healthy and happy.

“Then I met Amide, the 14 year old girl for whom my mother is ‘godmother.’ Amide wanted me to meet her family,” Laframboise continued. “To my great surprise, I was given a live chicken! It was another joy-filled moment. Amide told me she wants to be a nurse.”

Among the biggest changes in Haiti, where the Focolare has held 12 Mariapolis gatherings since 1989 (three at Mont-Organisé), has been a change in mentality and behavior. For example, men have begun helping with household chores, contrary to local custom.

“The other day my wife and I went to the city to buy a sack of onions. We started carrying it together but I thought it would be better if I carry it on my head as she is pregnant,” shared Mercius Aristil, a member of the Focolare community. “The custom here is that men don’t do this, but since this was an act of love for her, I did it.”

“My wife and I try to live unity, and we can see others imitating our example,” Prévois Célucien added. “My neighbor never helped with the household chores, which he perceived as humiliating. Seeing me, however, he began doing the same. One of his little daughters is often crying;
now he takes care of her and buys clothes and shoes for her.

“I saw another neighbor who is over 60 sweeping in front of his house for the first time. This was always done by his wife before.
He now goes to gather wood for her to cook with.”

— With Brigitte Sass, André Weis and Mary Laframboise

"Local authorities: Focolare’s Brigitte Sass and André Weis visit the mayor of Savanette, Marcel Oremus (second from left), and the former mayor of Mont-Organisé, Wilfrid Joachin."