Written by: Sister Marilyn Minter and Sister Inga Borko
As all of you know, the situation in Haiti is still very violent, especially in Port-au-Prince. Roads are blocked, gang violence has increased, families have dispersed to the hill country, and many are still dying from hunger and lack of medical care. We read in The New York Times that there was a massacre in Cité Soleil, a section of Port-au-Prince. About 200 people were killed by a gang whose leader believed they were voodoo practitioners responsible for his son’s death.
Jacmel still remains relatively peaceful, but there is no way at this time to get there since all airports continue to be closed, and major roads are blocked. We kept discerning what is ours to do in all this, and then we hear, “This is the way; walk in it…” (Isaiah 30:21)
We have a connection with the Carmelite Sisters in Santo Domingo, introduced to us through a Mercedarian Sister we met in Jacmel a few years ago. At that time, we needed to purchase medications from the Dominican Republic because Port-au-Prince was under the control of gangs and the roads were blocked. Since then, we’ve been purchasing our medications through the Carmelites, who send them to the border in Haiti, where our driver picks them up. We do this a few times each year. The Carmelites have a home on the Haitian side of the border in Anse-à-Pitres.
In April 2024, we visited the sisters to send supplies and medications to Felician Mission: Haiti. This time, we felt a strong calling: “This is the way; walk in it…” We knew our people needed to see our solidarity and presence with them. With this in mind, we asked for permission to travel to Santo Domingo in the first week of December to purchase food, hardware, medications and personal hygiene products. We also sought approval to cross the Dominican border to reach Anse-à-Pitres, Haiti.
Monday, December 2
With permission granted, we began our journey. We arrived safely in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. We were picked up by a friend we knew from Haiti. We were struck by the heat, which was very different from Miami.
Tuesday, December 3
The Lord guided us every step of the way. We were ready to begin searching for the hardware, household and personal products we needed, and God led us through one of the Carmelite Sisters, the director of the school. She kindly offered her English teacher to accompany us, translate when needed and take us to the best places to find what we needed. We spent the entire day visiting markets and stores. Meanwhile, we placed our order for medications for the Mother Angela Mobile Clinic, arranged for the money to be wired and waited for the transaction to process. It was a full day.
Wednesday, December 4
We had other important items to purchase for Felician Mission: Haiti. Sister Inga had a great idea to ask the director of the school if she knew someone who would be available to drive us to these places. Again, God provided an angel to assist us. Angelica was another English teacher in the school, and she was willing to use her car to take us where we needed to go. We needed to buy food products and a drain-cleaning machine for our septic tanks. Can you imagine us explaining this in Spanish using a phone translator?
After two trips to the food store, we headed to a large hardware store. We found many smaller items we needed, but when it came to the drain-cleaning machine, we were unsure which one to choose. Thankfully, our friend Eric Moyer, who always helps us with these things, was available for a FaceTime call. We showed him the machines, and he guided us to the right one.
Now it was time to pack boxes, seal them, and mark them for our journey to the border to deliver everything. The medications we had purchased arrived as we were packing. We had many boxes to label. More angels arrived to help us pack up the 20-seat van to be ready for the journey the next morning.
Thursday, December 5
The day we had waited for and dreamed about had finally arrived. Sister Nuirka, our major contact over the past few years, traveled three hours to be in Santo Domingo by 6 a.m. to accompany us to the border with their driver, Arcadio. The road first offered views of the blue Caribbean Sea, and then lush green mountains led us to the border. Before crossing over, we stopped at a parish where we learned that the van had to be repacked into a different pickup truck. The van we had did not have the legal permission to cross into Haiti. Another Carmelite Sister arrived from Haiti and took us and half of the boxes to their home in Anse-à-Pitres. After unloading, she returned with their driver to collect the rest of the boxes. This journey took us eight hours.
Finally, the moment came when Jean Philippe, Fritz and Dr. Valcin arrived after an eleven-hours of travel—it was a joyful reunion with our Felician Mission: Haiti family. The Carmelites’ hospitality was at its best as we were all welcomed and treated to a delicious meal. Believe it or not, everything fit into the mobile clinic. After visiting and sharing stories, we pinched each other to confirm that it really happened.
The Carmelites also wanted to share their work with us. They have a medical clinic with doctors and a full-time dentist, which they are expanding. What touched us was their response to the urgent needs before them. Together with the Dominican Catholic Church, they built houses for Haitian families who were deported from the Dominican Republic and found themselves back in Haiti with nothing. We visited the site and listened to their stories.
The New York Times had an article titled “Desperate Haitians who Fled to the Dominican Republic are Being Sent Back in Cages.” We personally heard these experiences from the people we met. They are proud of the houses that had been built by the Catholic Church and were happy to show them to us. There is no electricity or running water. Most are women and children. In our hearts, we saw ourselves there: accompanying and empowering the people; teaching them to sew and bake bread; helping them earn a livelihood; and creating a community in which one cares for the other.
The next day, after early Mass, we left to return to Santo Domingo, and our people began the trip back to Jacmel. They arrived thirteen hours later at Felician Mission: Haiti in Jacmel. “It is for those with a journey to make, and on it the redeemed will walk.” (Isaiah 35:9)
