Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Cap-Haïtien ( Fides News Agency) - Despite years of political upheaval, the earthquake in 2010 and the COVID-19 pandemic, children in a rural community 10 miles south of Cap-Haïtien are not losing faith, and thanks to the support of a Catholic school they are able to attend classes from kindergarten through grade 13, as well as a new vocational school.
It is St. Marc School, established at the behest of the Catholic nonprofit organization Hands for Haiti, in Tremessee in the rural areas of the northern Caribbean island, with the goal of helping students and their families build and hope for a better future.
"What I witness when I visit the Tremessee community is to encounter a people who are materially poor but spiritually rich and who radiate a simple joy," said Daren Bitter deacon of St. Matthew Parish, a missionary in Haiti. "In the communities of St. Marc School and the Missionaries of the Poor orphanage we serve, the children are healthy as they have food as well as shelter to live in, they have access to education and medicine; outside of the communities we support this is not the case," he stressed.
Last Sept. 15, hundreds of people from the Tremessee community, including local church leaders, community partners, teachers, staff, and students, took part in the inauguration of ten new primary/secondary school classrooms and six new vocational school classrooms that will offer programs in agriculture, carpentry/joining, welding, and construction, in addition to the current sewing program.
Last Sept. 15, hundreds of people from the Tremessee community, including local church leaders, community partners, teachers, staff, and students, took part in the inauguration of ten new primary/secondary school classrooms and six new vocational school classrooms that will offer programs in agriculture, carpentry/joining, welding, and construction, in addition to the current sewing program.
Esteem and appreciation were expressed by the Archbishop of Cap-Haïtien, Launay Saturné, who was unable to attend the celebration: "I would like to thank Hands for Haiti for all the work done to help create a magnificent Catholic campus for primary, secondary and vocational schools in Tremessee. The impact is very positive for the whole community," the prelate said.
Deacon Bitter echoed this sentiment. "The long-term impacts will be huge. In the short term, it has brought a greater sense of community and pride and has definitely deepened the roots of the Catholic faith in this area. It's not just about education and opportunity, it's about giving hope."
At the school, which has been run since 2017 by Father Leon Sejour, a Haitian from the Archdiocese of Cap-Haïtien, there are about 60 full- or part-time Haitians working as educators, cooks, security and maintenance staff.
During the past summer, students from Saint Marc's first class graduated and a new vocational school opened this fall. "Students are also now receiving faith formation and families have moved closer to celebrating sacraments."
Haiti is the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 12.2 million people who have continued to experience decades of violence and increasing food insecurity exacerbated by armed gangs blocking supply routes. On Sept. 26, 2023, gunmen fired on the Mirebalais hospital north of Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince, (see Fides Agency 9/28/2023) occupying and firing on several buildings, damaging the intensive care unit for newborns during the siege.
(AP) (Fides News Agency 9/10/2023)
