Diversity

A world treasure

By Sr. Patricia Kay, O.L.M.
May/June 2010

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Haitian mothers and their children in happier times before the earthquake struck. Photo by Scarboro missioner Kate O’Donnell. Haitian mothers and their children in happier times before the earthquake struck. Photo by Scarboro missioner Kate O’Donnell.

The consciousness of the world is being seared by the ongoing witness of courage, resiliency, patience, and spirituality of our brothers and sisters in Haiti in response to the disaster that came upon them in January. Situated as their island is on a geological fault, the shift of huge tectonic plates beneath them and the resulting earthquake caused a terrible death toll and total destruction of much of the country’s fragile infrastructure all in a few seconds. And as we have seen, the aftermath was horrific.

True enough, we have all heard of natural disasters like the great tsunami of 2004 and ongoing wars in places like the Congo where in recent years millions have died in the fighting or from hunger and disease. Yet we scarcely can remember any other event that in a few seconds caused such terrible death and destruction as did the earth shifting beneath Haiti. But as we saw the pictures of the dead, the wounded, the abandoned children and the total devastation, something else soon became the story: the Haitian people themselves. From a history of slavery, revolution, oppression, and poverty, they had forged an indomitable spirit that now came to be recognized by a world in awe.

We of the OLM community have had the privilege of living in less developed parts of the world where we witnessed desperate poverty with its accompanying hunger, disease and high mortality. In countries such as Brazil, the Philippines, Nigeria, and Guyana, as well as in relief work in highly troubled areas, we came to know how the poor suffer, and in each place we experienced their incredible courage, faith, and care of one another.

Ours was the unique opportunity to experience the indigenous cultures of diverse peoples. Ours was the special privilege to share their food, their stories, their songs, and the different ways they looked at life. All this was enhanced by sharing their languages even if imperfectly. We were witnesses to the attitudes and the strengths of peoples so like the Haitians. We can each speak names of individuals who taught us so much just by the way they responded to hardship even as the brave Haitians give witness to the entire world today. Stephen Puddicombe of CBC Radio in one of his broadcasts told of a mother in Port-au-Prince with an untreated broken leg staking out a few feet of space under a tree where she protected her three little daughters in the terrible days after the quake.

Ours was the unique opportunity to experience the indigenous cultures of diverse peoples. Ours was the special privilege to share their food, their stories, their songs and the different ways they looked at life.

Canada has a very special bond with the Haitian people. Many of their diaspora emigrated to Quebec and other parts of Canada speaking their creole language and the French of the colonial rulers of the past. And of course, even our present Governor General, Michaëlle Jean, is of Haitian origin.

All of us now are called to be one with these suffering Haitian people, to carry in our hearts our brothers and sisters crying out for love, understanding, and healing as they set about building a new life. We pray for the wisdom needed for their just resettlement, for constant consultation with Haitians, and a sustained effort to gather consensus even as generous donors and interested countries gather to help make plans for the country’s future. And each of us is called to continue to help in any way we can as we celebrate the indomitability of the human spirit that the Haitian people now manifest to us all.

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