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| Arkansas Catholic illustration / freevectormaps.com |
As residents in the southeast United States prepared for Hurricane Matthew’s landfall, Catholics in some Arkansas parishes were already bracing for the worst more than 1,800 miles away — news of mass destruction in Haiti.
Hurricane Matthew swept the Caribbean nation with 145-mile-per-hour winds and rain Oct. 4, leaving behind more than 1,000 dead and an estimated 300,000 affected, according to Catholic News Service. The hurricane also wreaked havoc in the western Atlantic, including Cuba, the Dominican Republic and the U.S. in Florida, Georgia, Virginia and the Carolinas.
Six parishes in Arkansas have reached out to Haiti, a predominantly Catholic country, in the past, offering aid after the 2010 earthquake that left at least 300,000 dead, but also partnering with schools and churches for repairs and to help the Haitian people year-round, giving a real connection to our brothers and sisters in the universal Church.
“After it occurred we were able to make contact with them that day” after Hurricane Matthew hit, said Deacon Ronnie Hoyt, the Haiti mission leader at St. Vincent de Paul Church in Rogers. “We felt horrible for them when we heard that. They are a hopeful people too. They said, ‘Hey, we’ll do what we can.’”
Devastating loss
In 2007, parishioners at St. Vincent de Paul began sponsoring sister parish St. Francis of Assisi in Bombardopolis, a mountainous village with about 40,000 people in northwest Haiti. Since that time, there have been 15 schools that serve about 2,500 children built that sometimes double as churches throughout the Bombardopolis region. Hoyt said they go beyond just building structures and fund the schools. About 950 families and individual parishioners contribute to Haiti.
“Going to Haiti and visiting the people, they live such a simple life and we go there thinking how they have so little and how do they do without. That’s not what you experience when you go there,” Hoyt said. “It’s inspiring how they take care of each other, how they support each other … your whole social life is centered around the church. Everything they have — social, health care, education, food — the church provides that.”
After high winds and heavy rain overtook the village, Hoyt said he received an e-mail from Father Rodolphe Balthazar, the former pastor of St. Francis of Assisi, who explained the damage: “School buildings were heavily damaged, the convent had major roof damage, one of the church buildings in Defoj was heavily damaged, roofs were ripped off many homes, most plantations were completely washed away by the heavy flooding and mudslides and trees are down all over.”
Though there were no deaths reported from the hurricane at the time, Hoyt said there were at least five cholera deaths in Bombardopolis after the devastation. According to an Oct. 10 Catholic News Service article, health care workers were concerned about a cholera outbreak because “of a lack of water and sanitation.” In 2010, U.N. peacekeeping troops introduced the water-borne disease and since then almost 10,000 cholera deaths have been reported in Haiti, the article stated. There is a local nurse in the area and organizations like Catholic Relief Services are helping provide medical aid, food and clean water, Hoyt said.
On Oct. 13, St. Vincent de Paul flew in pastor Father Ricardo Dieujuste and Father Balthazar to celebrate the Oct. 15-16 Masses and create a recovery plan. Within two weeks, parishioners raised $57,000 for rebuilding Bombardopolis, Hoyt said.
“It wasn’t ‘poor us,’” Hoyt said of the pastors’ plea to the people at St. Vincent de Paul. “‘Anything you can do for us you can be assured it’ll be used to care for the people.’”
There were at least two schools that were completely destroyed, and Hoyt said the priests and community leaders are assessing the damage at each school. Mission leaders at St. Vincent de Paul will then prioritize what buildings need immediate assistance. Each project will be done one at a time.
“We’re taking it slow,” Hoyt said. “It’s going to take a lot of money to rebuild.”
Helping Haiti
Five other Arkansas parishes support missions in Haiti, but they were unharmed from the hurricane. St. Mary Church in Hot Springs supports Bishop Sullivan School at St. Andrew Parish in Colladere, within the central plateau region, which is largely protected from major natural disasters. There are 471 children who attend the school, and Wally Marroy, a Haiti mission committee member, said the church just finished building a dormitory and funds are still being raised to finish the payments. St. Mary parishioners, along with St. Louis Church in Camden and Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Magnolia, donate to the school monthly and through special collections.
There are no plans currently for donations to go to hurricane victims, but Marroy said parishioners can donate to Catholic organizations like Caritas if their parish does not have a specific collection.
“The Haitian people live with adversity every day of their life; their political situation is horrible,” said Marroy, who has visited Haiti several times in the eight years since St. Mary’s began supporting the school. “They’re very, very good people. Where we go to church, they pack the church on Sundays. Their Mass is 2½ hours long and they are not leaving early when it’s over. Everyone is still singing and having a good time. They appreciate church, they appreciate religion, they appreciate everything we do for them.”
Marroy said former pastor Father T.J. Hart led the charge for St. Mary’s Haiti support and brought Camden and Magnolia parishes on board as well. Father Hart also led a fact-finding mission in Haiti for Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in North Little Rock (Marche) while pastor in 2014. Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioners support Sts. Peter and Paul Parish and school in Marmont and St. Joseph Mission in Pablacol. Jim Fulks, committee coordinator, said the parish was not damaged by the hurricane because of its inland location. However, Accilien Clinton, a Haitian student in his second year of medical school supported by 15 Immaculate Heart of Mary parishioners, gave part of his money sent by the parish to his aunt, who sustained significant water damage in her home in Port-au-Prince.
“This coming month we’re going to reimburse him,” Fulks said. “The main thing he told me was water completely came all the way in the house and ruined all of their food. I think that’s kind of a common occurrence down there. Not only damage to their houses and stuff, but it destroyed their food.”
While the country rebuilds from this latest tragedy, Fulks said as Catholics, we should follow Christ’s teachings to help our brothers and sisters.
“Jesus tells us to help people in need; that’s what our mission is at church,” Fulks said. “In my opinion, there is no bigger need in any country than the people in Haiti.”
