Only blocks away from the empty palace grounds are what remain of Holy Trinity Episcopal Cathedral. Our team and others from the Haiti Connection conference toured their large temporary sanctuary and school that take up all of the usable property. Both the music school and classes continue for students.
Holy Trinity students listening to the symphony
We were fortunate enough to arrive when Les Petite Chanteaurs (Boys Choir) and Holy Trinity Symphony Orchestra were practicing for an upcoming event. What a treat it was to enjoy their music! Sadly, a HUGE cathedral bell—one of the only remaining artifacts from the original cathedral—was recently stolen. How the thieves were able to move such a massive bell is unimaginable. The bells have now been walled in with cement to prevent further theft until the cathedral is rebuilt in years to come.
The bells from Holy Trinity (photo from 2011)
Last, but certainly not least, St. Vincent’s is steadily showing signs of rebirth:
St. Vincent’s now has its very own library which is slowly being stocked with books
Kathy tested out the new sound-proof audiology booth that is set up in a dedicated space to serve the deaf children
The storage room that we cleaned out and organized two years ago has been converted to a music room that will soon be shared with computer lab The Red Thread is helping to establish
The water purification system is up and running
Claurrician, a student at St. Vincent's operating St. Vincent's new gift shop, and John, a friend from West Tennessee Haiti Partnership. The shop sell's student's work, including jewelry, artwork and handbags
Journeyman working in the new brace shop
The brace shop
The brace shop shares space with the new clinic
The building will house an expanded pharmacy and multiple clinic rooms
As soon as these areas are furnished and stocked, it will be open for business, serving St. Vincent's students, staff and the community
The new facility will house both permanent and visiting medical teams year round
Looking into a clinic room
The view from inside the clinic looking out
And, to our delight, the children are growing up! They are each a year older and happy. New faces abound as well. The school is now running at full capacity for the current space. And yet there are still children waiting to get in the doors of this very special place in the heart of Port-au-Prince.
The team had a great experience at Epiphanie Episcopal on Sunday morning during our last full day in Haiti. Due to our dependence on drivers and the unpredictable Haitian traffic (forcing us to muster our patience), we arrived about half way through the service. Despite our tardiness, we were able to enjoy everything, even though our understanding was limited. (The Creole CDs that some of us are using were helpful, but we’ve got a long way to go!)
They provided us with a Book of Common Prayer that paralleled the French with English that was extremely helpful. And a young woman in front of us was kind enough to us find the passages in the book and kept us on track during the service. (Merci, mademoiselle in the red & white skirt!)
Unfortunately, Fr. Sadoni did not deliver the sermon that day as it was an opportunity for one of the lay leaders to give the message. He was a very passionate speaker and the crowd at the church hung on his every word.
Epiphanie's sanctuary
Following the service, we looked around for the St. Vincent’s children. When we didn’t see them, we asked Fr. Sadoni about them and he shared that the kids worship at Holy Trinity, the cathedral for the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, where there is a mass specifically for children.
Four days earlier, we were able to visit Holy Trinity’s temporary school and see the remains of the cathedral. It is within walking distance of St. Vincent’s, so we took off on foot, led by John Robert, our English-speaking guide from St. Vincent’s.
What a spectacle we must have been, strolling through downtown Port-au-Prince like the rats following the Pied Piper of Hamelin! For many of us, it was our first time actually walking the streets among the chaos and busyness of the nation’s capital. It was very different from our normal vantage point as passengers of various vehicles. In some ways, it was terrifying due to the extensive media coverage of the riots and unrest from weeks prior, the footage still fresh in our minds. Yet, in the same breath, it was exhilarating to be a part of the pulse of the city, brushing shoulders with street vendors and buyers, stepping onto rubble-strewn walkways and over heaps of trash.
Holy Trinity Cathedral exterior prior to and post January 12, 2010
(photo credits: Poverty Initiative & Alec Bersch)
When we arrived at the Holy Trinity School, we came into the courtyard and looked around, amazed at the concrete jungle surrounding us. In the heart of the city, this same property had once housed an amazing cathedral, rich in history and well-known for it’s murals and cultural heritage, and a large school with enrollment of over 1,200 students. Now, it is a maze of small crowded classrooms on the ground level filled with teachers and administrators doing the best they can to educate the children with very minimal resources.
By the time we visited, little remained of the original structure. Thanks to the internet, we are able to catch a brief glimpse of the “before” and the “after” (prior to the clearing of the site.)
(photo credits: Episcopal Café & Smithsonian)
Most of the murals were completed in the 1950s and were painted by some of Haiti’s most renowned artists.
The mural pictured above depicts the baptism of Jesus’ baptism. After January 12, only portions of the mural remain. Great care has been taken to preserve the remaining murals as the rest of the building is demolished.
The Rev. Fernande Sanon Pierre Louis
As we walked the grounds, we were greeted warmly by The Rev. Fernande Sanon Pierre Louis, Haiti’s only female priest and the principal of Holy Trinity School. She was kind enough to give us a tour of the temporary facility during which she shared her account of the earthquake and following weeks.
She is an extremely passionate woman who cares deeply about the 1,000+ students still at Holy Trinity. Her animated account of the earthquake and aftermath was absolutely heartbreaking. How it must have hurt for her to recount her story to us, unannounced strangers who showed up one Wednesday afternoon. Rev. Louis teared up frequently during the story as did many of us. (Read her full account on the The Episcopal Diocese of Maine’s website.)
As Rev. Louis showed us around the campus, she shared her frustration about the state of the temporary school. While she is appreciative of the structures, the rebuilding of the school was done while she was recovering and without her input. The arrangement of the classrooms is not conducive to learning since classes are so close together with short walls causing the sound to bleed from room to room. (We can only imagine how loud it must be when school is in session with 1,000 students!)
Her deepest concern was how this would affect the children’s learning and performance that was a great success prior to the earthquake. She spoke with such pride about how Holy Trinity was able to add academic grade levels each school year before 2010. The children passed the national tests with flying colors and it is clearly her goal to return the level of learning to what it once was.
We share this passionate woman’s desire for children to have the best opportunities in life. We have no doubt that Rev. Louis will find a way to give those opportunities to each and every one of the students of Holy Trinity. Likewise, we will work together for the health and well-being of the children of St. Vincent’s.
The remainder of the recent Haiti trip (mid May) was a whirlwind of activity for Kathy, Tom and the team. After spending 2 days in Gramothe, Petionville and Thomassin visiting the villages, school, clinic and orphange, most of the team traveled to Port au Prince for a few days.
Beginning stages of the Presidential palace demolition
Sadly, the conditions are no better there than what we observed during our trip back in March. There appears to be little progress in demolition (with the exception of the palace), rebuilding and general living conditions. The tent cities are still filled to the brim with homeless people and the tents themselves are barely weathering the rainy season. The heat and pollution were, as Tom put it, "unbearable". Electricity was spotty at best, thus our lack of blog posts during the actual trip.
Church of the Three Crosses
They visited the sites of several heavily damaged churches as well. The team dubbed the one pictured above "Church of the Three Crosses" since all signage identifying the building was destroyed. The woman in the foreground was begging for food, water and money, a common occurrence in Haiti.
The Rt. Rev. J. Zaché Duraçin
Bishop Duraçin speaking with the Diocese Task Force
During their stay in Port au Prince, Kathy and Sally were privileged to meet the Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti, the Rt. Rev. J. Zaché Duraçin. They met at his office in Petionville and shared information about The Red Thread Promise, the Diocese of Olympia (WA), the Diocese of Louisiana (LA) and St. Paul's Episcopal Church-Lakeview (LA). They also discussed the desire of both of the American diocese to partner with their Haitian counterparts on a project in Haiti.
The remains of Holy Trinity Cathedral
Kathy in front of the cathedral entrance
The brightly colored stones in the background are what remains
of the cathedral's once famous murals
Church rubble with temporary open air worship space
Church bells recovered from the rubble
Bishop Duraçin talked about the destruction of the Holy Trinity Cathedral, which Kathy and Sally were able to visit, and Holy Trinity's Complex, which includes elementary, music and trade schools. The cathedral, once known for its' beautiful murals, has been reduced to ruins. Thankfully, the schools have resumed classes in temporary buildings while plans are made for a more permanent site.
Rubble that was once Holy Trinity's School Complex
Temporary classrooms at Holy Trinity
Following their meeting, beautiful young voices filled the room from a boy's choir that was practicing behind the crushed church in a tiny building that survived the earthquake. A sole cellist from the music school practiced in the temporary outdoor school area. According to Kathy, "it was very moving to hear these children singing and playing music in the midst of everything they have endured."
Cellist practicing
Following further tours of the city, Kathy and Sally returned to the states and re-acclimate to their lives in Louisiana and Washington state while Tom, Randa and Noor remained in Haiti for 4 additional days.
Please read our next post to hear about the architectural team's trip to the port city of Jacmel and the exciting project over the horizon.
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