Two St. Agatha Parishioners recently returned from a one week mission with the St. Rock Haiti Foundation to Haiti to assist in a clinic to provide support to the 25,000 people living in the mountains just outside of Port-au-Prince. Catherine Liberles, a nurse at Mass General Hospital in Boston, and Jack Riley, a Social Worker and currently the Operations Manager at St. Agatha’s, spent a week working with four other volunteers and the Director of the St. Rock Haiti Foundation to address the virtual absence of health care in this picturesque, but poverty-stricken area of the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

After a grueling 2 hour drive from the Port-au Prince International Airport, the group began its 2 mile ascent up the mountain on a rocky and unpaved road to the St. Rock Clinic which is fully funded and operated by the St. Rock Haiti Foundation. The area is completely without electricity and running water, and is accessible only by foot or extremely durable 4-wheel drive vehicle, of which there are only two on the entire mountain.

The living conditions and the virtual absence of health care were astounding. Although the St. Rock Clinic provides a doctor and a dentist one day per week and a full-time nurse, high blood pressure, infections, scabies, anemia and malnutrition are alarmingly common. In a four day period the team of volunteers, which included Dr. Ruth Johnstone of Canton and was led by Ralph Stowe, Director of the St. Rock Project, saw 373 patients. Operating from 8:00 A.M. to 7:30 P.M. each day the team provided not only basic health care and medication, but also worked to extend hope to a group of people who so desperately need it.

The group also visited the St. Rock Catholic Church for Sunday Mass which was celebrated by Fr. Cabioche, a priest from France who has ministered to the people of Haiti for 42 years. The Mass was breathtakingly beautiful, led by a children’s choir which was inspirational. The fervor of the faithful was palpable.

There was also a visit to St. Rock Catholic Elementary School which was completely built by donations from generous benefactors from outside of Haiti. There are 315 students and only 7 teachers, who earn the U.S. equivalent of $35 per month. The tuition at the School is $2.50 per year, which many families cannot afford. The students all wear a uniform which is specific to their school. For most students this also is their “Sunday Best” which they wear to Church and special events. The students also receive food at school, and this is another incentive to attend, since many families struggle to provide adequate food for their families.

The group also visited an orphanage run by the Daughters of Charity, founded by Mother Teresa. There they were able to spend several hours trying to comfort babies and very young children whose lives had just begun but appeared to be headed towards a premature end. The courage, faith, and optimism of the Sisters, staff, and volunteers were a reflection of God’s goodness. Absolutely nothing diminished their fervor – not illness, not insect infestation, not malnutrition, not despair. Their heroism was inspirational.

Catherine and Jack experienced poverty and destitution in visits to the city of Port-au Prince, where garbage was collected and burned on local street corners; where violence bred by desperation was endemic, and where hopelessness and despair hung in the air with the smell of the burning garbage. They witnessed the anger, fear and frustration of a country torn by violence and “assisted” by the presence of the tanks and machine-gun laden “peacekeepers” from the United Nations.

By contrast, they also witnessed the courage and faith of the people of St. Rock, who know that as God’s children they are entitled to a more secure and fulfilling life. They met people whose joie-de-vivre was a source of tremendous inspiration. These people, who by our standards have little to rejoice about, were optimistic and thankful. They were gritty and determined, and they steadfastly refused to yield to the obvious temptation to concede defeat.
They were the very definition of what Jesus taught in the Beatitudes:
“ Blessed are the poor, theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven”. They were what we would consider heroes – they were people who lived lives which defied all odds which inspired others, and which reflected the goodness of God,

At St. Agatha Parish, we will soon have the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of the people served by the St. Rock Haiti Foundation. We, as a community of Faith, can pass the baton to others, or can receive the torch, accept its obligations and act on its mandate. Knowing St. Agatha Parish and its history of assisting the downtrodden, the answer is clear: We will answer the call. We will be a beacon of hope to those who are most in need of our support.