By Tanya Connor | The Catholic Free Press
People in the Worcester Diocese who work with people in Haiti are considering what to do in the wake of Wednesday’s assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse.
“I heard it from … our kids in Haiti,” Jean Dupuy, president of Hand in Hand for Haiti, said Wednesday night. “They called me this morning.” He said these students, sponsored by people here, went to school, where the principal told them school was closed because the president had been assassinated. The school had been open in the summer to make up for time missed because of the pandemic and violence in the streets, Mr. Dupuy said.
Hand in Hand for Haiti, a nonprofit organization, was formed to continue the education program in the Les Cayes Diocese that was part of the diocesan Haitian Apostolate through December 2019. At the time, Bishop McManus announced that the apostolate would refocus on its original mission to promote twinning between parishes in the Worcester and Les Cayes dioceses.
Mr. Dupuy expressed concerns about civil war breaking out in the wake of the assassination.
“That’s why we are scared about our children in Haiti,” he said. “You cannot go grocery shopping. …That’s why we need a lot of prayer from our benefactors in Worcester. It was bad in Haiti before. After the assassination, it is worse. I (had) a lot of kids call me today. They all talked about one thing – they’re scared.”
People want to stay home, fearing that armed fanatics will take to the streets, whether in the capital, Port-au-Prince, or in other areas, he said. He said prices have risen as stores take advantage of the situation.
Asked how people here can help, he said benefactors can send Hand in Hand for Haiti money to buy food for the students they sponsor. He can then order the groceries online. Graduates of the education program who now work for the organization on the ground in Haiti can pick up the food from a grocery store when it is safe to do so. Using motorcycles the organization supplied them with, they can deliver the food to the students’ homes and send Mr. Dupuy a photo to show that the food got there. He said he could then send benefactors those photos or they can see photos on the website www.hhhworcesterma.org.
Hand in Hand for Haiti knows what to do in an emergency, having responded to needs after natural disasters, he said. He said the organization pays about five graduates, who are intelligent and responsible, to help as needed.
“They do it for us very, very well,” he said. “Instead of staying home, they have something to do,” since finding a job in Haiti is hard. (The organization’s staff members here are volunteers, he said; he and the others have paying jobs elsewhere.)
The backpacks of school supplies and other useful and fun items that education program benefactors prepare for their sponsored students each summer cannot be sent to Haiti right now, Mr. Dupuy said.
But he said benefactors should still pack the backpacks and deliver them to the organization’s office at 120 Stafford St. in Worcester, or request that they be picked up, so staff can get them ready to ship when it is possible. To schedule a pickup or get more information they can call Mr. Dupuy at 401-464-1832.
Outlying Twin Parish
Father William C. Konicki, pastor of Sacred Heart of Jesus Parish in Hopedale, said the message he got Wednesday from Father Claude Elysee, pastor of Sacred Heart’s twin parish, St. Gerard in Pont Salmon, did not mention the assassination.
“The provinces are usually pretty safe when there’s trouble in Port-au-Prince,” and Pont Salmon is about six hours travel time from the capital, Father Konicki said.
Clinic
“I just briefly heard from the director of Klinik Fonfred, Pierre Evens Jean Louis, over Facebook,” said Dr. Amber Suszek, a pharmacist who is president of Forward in Health, in an email Thursday. “He said, ‘Things are not good in Haiti and it's stressful but thank God we are still safe.’ I asked if there was anything FIH could do from afar and he said, ‘For now, I don't know,’ but he would let me know. We send our prayers to the people of Haiti.”
This clinic in Aux Cayes, Haiti, the centerpiece of the work of the Gardner-based nonprofit Forward in Health, is entirely operated by a Haitian staff, according to the website forwardinhealth.org.
On Wednesday Dr. Suszek told The Catholic Free Press that before the assassination “we weren’t able to travel” to Haiti because of the violence there.
“We’re trying to do some Haitian-American outreach,” brainstorming about how to help Haitians who live in the United States, she said. “Because we’re not able to get to Haiti, we want to be able to support the people who come from Haiti.”
Local Haitian priest
Father Jean Robert Simbert Brice said Wednesday that he had talked with his family in Haiti and they were safe, but that he did not yet have more information about the situation there.
A native of Haiti, Father Brice is associate pastor of St. John Parish in Worcester and celebrates Mass for the Haitian community at Holy Family Parish at St. Joseph Church, also in Worcester.
Most of the Haitians at Holy Family are American; they’ve been here a long time, he said. So, while they may be sad about what is happening to the people of Haiti, it does not affect them on the same level as it affects the people in Haiti, he said.