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November 29, 2009 Proverbs 3:13-20 Thanksgiving in Haiti As many of you know, five years ago my husband, Ted, and I founded an educational organization in Haiti, that provides scholarships to very poor Haitian students at the high school and university level. Education is not free in Haiti; tuition, books, exam fees, uniforms all have to be paid by parents and many of them cannot afford food for their families let alone education. Only 15% of the students graduate from high school and 2% of that 15% go on to universities. This is part of the reason that the illiteracy rate in Haiti is still at 55% of the population. This is an amazing statistic for a country that is less than 200 miles from U.S. borders. We serve the Artibonite Valley, an agricultural area about three hours north west of Port- au-Prince. Our high students go to local schools within 5 miles from their homes, and our university students attend schools in Port-au-Prince. We have an office in Deschapelles with three Haitian employees and a group of seven volunteer Haitian advisory board members, who help us with the selection of students and all other operational needs. We try to select the poorest students with the highest aptitude, and these students, if they maintain a minimum grade point average, continue on in the program until they graduate from high school. So far, we have been able to place our high school graduates in post secondary schools. Currently we have 116 high school students, 23 university students and 5 students in technical school, and we could not do this work without the generous support of our donors, which includes funds from the mission board of this church, the LBS, and many of you. Working in the field of education in Haiti is very gratifying. In five years, we have seen the transformation of very poor students with no possibility of attending school, blossom before our eyes, achieve remarkable success and are now studying medicine, architecture, nursing, engineering, computer science and so much more. This visible hope energizes us to strive to provide more and more students with the opportunity to have a more promising future. We strongly believe that educating the youth is tantamount to improving the living conditions in Haiti and all developing countries. The author of Proverbs writes that, “Happy are those who find wisdom, and those who get understanding, for her income is better than silver, and her revenue better than gold….. [Wisdom] is the tree of life to those who lay hold of her; those who hold her fast are called happy.” Such is the gift of education to these students. Education, according to the United Nations, is a human right, and for so many in developing countries, it is a right that is granted only to a select few. Delicier Dieuseul has been in our program since the beginning. He is now at the University of Notre Dame in Port-au-Prince in his 5th year of medical school. He hopes to be a pediatrician when he graduates. Here is a paragraph from a letter that he wrote to us, and I extend his gratitude to you as well, “You accomplish the duty of my parents, because you ask money to pay for my university and to grow me intellectually. You are not poor but you take the place of the poor by compassion to get possible means or ways to emancipate us from the poverty that blocks us. If it would be necessary to look for a strong word to express my gratitude, it would be difficult and even impossible to find it, but I use the most simple word “merci” for what you do for me. You emancipate me from dust to make me sit down among the sons of the big of my country. Please tell my sponsors that maybe I can’t pay the money back to them that they spend on me, but after my study, I will continue their achievement to “help others” because I know the biggest gratitude you can give to your master is to continue his achievement. I pray that you please receive this expression of my soul.” It is Delicier Dieuseul Life for our university students in Port-au-Prince is very difficult. These students were raised in the country, and because it is the agricultural region of Haiti, families can usually provide some food for their children, albeit many times a small amount. Many of these families still use the barter system, for example a pound of rice for 2 woven baskets etc. But in Port-au-Prince, there is no bartering, it is entirely a cash system and many of our students struggle terribly to find money for food and housing. We provide a stipend, but it is not enough. One student, Fednor Sidort came up with the idea that together their chances of survival is better than alone. He organized a Crosby student university club and so our students gather together periodically and share resources, ideas, and fellowship. If one student is down and out, the others will try help. Together, they work hard at their successes, ones success reflects on all of them. There are few country students going to school in Port au Prince, most of the students are from wealthier families living in Port-au-Prince. Statistics claim that 5% of the population is wealthy, and 95% is poor. There is a very small middle class, but I do believe it is growing. Our students, some day, we hope will be the beginning of a burgeoning middle class – educated professional Haitians. When Fednor shared with me these gatherings, I was so moved by this camaraderie, the way in which each of these students truly cares about the success of the other. I told Fednor how proud I was of his concept, and he simply said we want you and Mr. Ted to be proud of us. Touched by these words and intensely proud of these students, Ted and I wanted to gather the university students together for a celebration dinner in Port-au-Prince. We wanted to celebrate our five years of operation and their success. We made arrangements with a hotel for this celebration. But little did we know that the university students were planning a celebration for us as well in Deschapelles. It was a secret. When we arrived in Deschapelles, we heard that there was a party planned for us on Saturday morning in an area in front of our office -- a one time discotheque, that includes a stage with a metal roof and a cement seating area. We use it for our students and family gatherings. My first reaction, as it always is, is to worry about the expense of this party for our students and their families. I wanted to tell them not to bother with the party, that we don’t need any recognition. I wanted to tell them that they can’t afford it, save your money for the hard times to come. I knew I couldn’t say those words to them. I hoped they would keep it simple … but little did I know. On the day of the party, Ted and I walked to our office, and we could see the activity of preparation – a canopied area had been set up, a sound system, over 100 metal folded chairs, and helium balloons were swaying in the breeze. Our university students were dressed in their Sunday best, the men wore jackets and ties (it was over 104 degrees with intense humidity that day) the women wore their special dress reserved for church. Ted and I were clearly underdressed, (how was this possible in Haiti?). More and more people gathered, not only our high school and university students and their families, but local people from the community, even students who had applied to our program and not been accepted, and students who once were in the program and were let go because of poor grades. We were stunned. On the stage were two special chairs, front and center and behind these special chairs were metal folded chairs for the university students, our staff, and board of advisors. I looked at the two special chairs and knew right away that I did not want to sit in those two places of honor. A seat in the audience would be just fine. I was reminded of our scripture lesson, where Jesus writes, “Do not sit down at the place of honor, in case someone more distinguished than you has been invited by your host, and the host who invited both of you may come and say to you, ‘Give this person your place.” Even though we were not the hosts, for me the most distinguished persons there were our students, who have worked against all odds to be where they are . They should sit in the places of honor. Ted and I felt humbled, we didn’t want a celebration for us but one for our students. I confessed to our awkward feelings, and thankfully the students agreed that we could move our chairs and sit with them. The program got underway, and Delicier Dieuseul opened with a long prayer of thanksgiving. The master of ceremonies, Jean Mesidor, welcomed everybody and each university student stood and said their name, where in the Artibonite Valley they were from, what school they go to and what field of study they are studying. Helene Clervious offered a speech encouraging all of our high school students to try to achieve their best no matter how difficult it may be. What good role models our university students! Another speech was offered thanking Ted and me for founding the program, and these speeches was followed by a two hour variety show with riddles, puns, dancing, singing, skits (some a bit racy) and poetry reading – a show that would have put the Ed Sullivan show to shame. We were amazed by the talent and creativity of these students. Everyone in the audience, over 200 people, were having such a good time, and I wondered when was the last time that the community gathered together for a celebration? This past year, has been so hard on this community and all of Haiti -- food prices have soared, jobs have been lost, and health care diminished due to the world economy and cut backs in social service programs and the four hurricanes that hit Haiti last fall. To see Haitians young and old gathered together and laughing and having a great time, for me, was like witnessing a miracle, seeing a moment of peace among the people, a time to gather for thanksgiving. After the variety show, Ted and I were presented with a painting of the two of us distributing books to students. The painting now hangs in our Haiti office. It was now 1:30 in the afternoon, and I was so hot and hungry, I was beginning to feel ill. I wondered what we would do. Maybe Ted and I would have to simply not eat until supper, after all this is the normal practice for many Haitians. Then there was announcement that lunch would be served. How was this possible? How could these students provide food for all of these people? Bottled water and juice appeared, little sandwiches for the audience, rice and beans, fried plaintains, and pickles for those of us on the stage. A bottle of champagne was presented to me and Ted that we shared with our students. The band started to play, and we all ate and had a wonderful time. Amazingly, everyone was fed. How did they do this? Who paid for it? I was worried again, that the people would suffer down the road because of this kindness. I thought Ted and I could pay them back, and then I remembered a sermon that I wrote several years ago, which set forth the idea that the poor need to be given the honor and privilege of expressing gratitude -- allowing them to give thanks in a way that honors them as a proud people, and expresses the dignity of the community. We forget that it is humbling to be the one who is in need all the time, the one who is begging, the one who is always at the receiving end. How humiliating it would be to beg. It is a luxury, pure luxury, to be at the other end, the giver, the benefactor, it is the position of power and authority, a position that Ted and I are always in while we are in Haiti, and we needed to allow the poor that position power -- to sit back and be thanked. It is humbling to receive from those who have so little, yet give everything that they have. At 2:30 exhausted and emotionally spent, Ted and I walked back to Kay Mellon, where we stay. I could hear the music still playing on in the distance. I found myself choked up with tears, overwhelmed with this display of gratitude, overwhelmed with the community coming together in a way that I have never seen before. A community where we have experienced jealousy and outrage when children have not been accepted in our program – a community that is fractured by job loss, hunger and despair. Yet on that day, we all were one, laughing and rejoicing together – a glimpse of a better world, a moment of transformation and hope. Our university students had given us and the community a thanksgiving to remember.. a gift of love so great that I knew God was present among the people. Jesus wrote that, “No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar, but on the lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.” The gift of education is like lighting the lamp of the mind, the lamp of the spirit, and once this lamp is lit, the light that breaks forth is limitless. On this day, we witnessed the light, the light of students who see the world as it could be, a world with hope, a world as God intended it to be. As we enter this Advent Season, the season of giving and receiving, the season of lights, let us remember those who have so little, those whose light is dim with despair, poverty and loss, those for whom Jesus’ birth has little meaning, because it is shrouded by materialism. Let us all try to connect with the small baby lying in poverty in a manger, a baby whose light transforms us and whose rays transform the world. Each one of us has the possibility to share Jesus’ light with others, to make a difference in the lives of others here at home and around the world. My prayer for all of us this Advent Season is that we, as rays of hope, shine out and be the light that brings hope to those in need – that we truly be the light of the world, as God intended us to be. Amen.
The Reverend Rebecca Crosby First Congregational Church of Old Lyme
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