H.O.P.E./Haiti

Hope & Rebirth Fundraiser!

BACKGROUND

Our outreach to Borgne, Haiti began in 1995 when Joseph Pierre, a Corpus Christi parishioner, asked the parish to consider an outreach to his hometown. Prior to that, Corpus Christi had a twenty-year history of giving money to Sister Isabel, a sister who worked in Cite Soleil, a slum in Port-au-Prince. Groups of parishioners had visited Haiti throughout the years. Now it was time to do more than just give money. We went from charity to solidarity. We wanted to know the people!

Our work began with the building of a health clinic in 1996. In 2007, eleven years later, we opened a hospital in Borgne! Throughout the years, we have worked in solidarity with the people of Borgne, helping them to build a grain mill, improve wells, increase training for teachers, build water purification systems, improve sanitation with composting toilets, acquire mules for transportation, and bring solar power to the hospital.

Our structure has changed as well. The Haiti Outreach incorporated under the name of H.O.P.E. (Haiti Outreach Pwoje Espwa) and now includes representation from universities, local businesses leaders and churches. Spiritus Christi Church continues to be passionate about Haiti and is active in visiting Haiti and fundraising.

Letter from Dr. Thony to Spiritus Community

Dear Spiritus Community,

It is my privilege to greet you again and say a very special thank you on behalf of Borgne and the surrounding communities. In the spirit of love for our neighbor, our paths have crossed for a very long time and together we have seen improbable and even miraculous things.

As one recent but truly memorable example, last month I had a visit from a mother and an 8-year-old girl. The daughter is this mother’s only child; and her birth by cesarean at that time did seem like a miracle in a little mountain town where years earlier this would have cost her and her daughter their lives. This woman brought her daughter to the hospital so that this cute little girl would recognize me as her benefactor. The words used by the mother to thank me moved me greatly and I immediately thought of you. It is a beneficial complicity between the staff of Borgne and you. A collaboration for the good that so many of you, like H.O.P.E.’s founder Rose-Marie, have devoted so much of yourselves to bring to life.

The trials of recent times are truly unprecedented, devastating, diverse and numerous for Borgne and for the entire country of Haiti. I have no doubt that everyone in this world lives with their share of uncertainty and pain. After all, ASB still remains open only because of the unlimited power of love and truth. Thanks to kind-hearted people like you, we have asserted our resilience; and for the good of many others like this beautiful little girl. I firmly believe that this strength of resilience is fixed on unshakable pillars like love, and truth.

Sometimes the storms of everyday life are so powerful that we may feel no other path beyond discouragement. Sometimes, after working so hard, we let ourselves believe that this needs to be the last effort we make. Let me tell you that the path of good has no limits and that only love, true love, can make a difference in today’s world. I don’t need to remind you where true love comes from. And it is not for me to tell you what the truth looks like.

Today, the world is within everyone’s reach because of technological advances that create auxiliaries even to replace human intelligence. However, as we clearly see, our world has not become safer or more just. On the contrary, threats multiply and knock daily at every door indiscriminately.

What we know together is that love and truth do not change, they do not modernize; but it is the way of making them manifest and putting them into practice that must change. Merchants of misfortune and lies are constantly adapting and changing their strategies. It is up to all of us to continue the fight to save the world. Lies and wickedness have united to undermine what we have built together. Truth and love can rebuild more beautifully. 

I firmly believe this today and I will always believe it. In the darkest hours, I still believe in the light; and I learn new lessons while hoping for the dawn. Thus, I have always learned and understood that we must think carefully and seek the real truth. There is no face that represents lies and truth. There is no specific vocal timbre to tell the truth or to tell lies. It is up to all of us to develop the skills necessary to understand that the untruths of the liar are simply that – they are lies. 

The human reality is that in the face of the challenges of time, the practice of good is, and will remain, fragile. Only an ongoing fierce, persistent and resilient struggle will enable happiness in this world. Like this little girl, Borgne or any other corner of the world needs us not to give up. Let us join forces once again for the next mile. For the love of our fellow men, women and children – and for the truth.  It is worth it.

May God bless you all and guide you on the paths of the love and the truth.

Yours in faith,

Dok Thony

To learn more about H.O.P.E./Haiti, please visit: www.hopehaiti.org.