Earthquake adds urgency to NJ nuns’ mission in Haiti | Faith Matters – NJ.com

On the morning of Saturday, Aug. 14, four Felician nuns in Jacmel, Haiti, heard their animals – dogs, cows, birds – making a racket and acting up starting at 7:30. It was unusual, but the sisters weren’t concerned at first.

Then, at 8:29 a.m., several of the sisters felt things moving and swaying slightly. Immediately, Sister Inga Borgo realized it was an earthquake and told the sisters to get outside right away.

Thankfully, they were fine since the epicenter of the earthquake was 80 miles away. But they waited for aftershocks, which did arrive, said Sister Marilyn Marie Minter.

Soon pictures started pouring in on social media of the devastation that killed more than 2,200 people and injured 12,000.

A medical student the sisters sponsor, Tchery Louis, leapt into action, traveling to affected areas to help.

Within days, Borgo, Minter and Sisters Julitta Kurik and Izajasza Rojek returned to their U.S. convent in Lodi on a trip planned well before the assassination of Haiti’s president and the earthquake.

But their time here takes on an urgency more than usual since the people back in Haiti are in great need. Beside the normal need for food and clothes, they now need bandages, towels, gloves and sheets to help those displaced and wounded, Borko said.

The nuns’ mobile clinic, which treats 7,000 Haitians annually, is always in need of supplies, Minter added.

There is no postal system in Haiti, she said, so this is the fifth time they have rented a huge trailer at a cost of $10,000 to pack and ship all their donated or bought items. It will take weeks for the container to finally find its way to Jacmel, where the Felicians have built a thriving mission helping more than 10,000 people a year in the nine years they have been there. It might not even make it by Oct. 6, when they are scheduled to return.

The sisters aren’t the only Bergen County organization mobilizing to help.

Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck has been a sponsor of the Haiti Health Promise since 1968, according to Joni M. Paterson, Ph.D., director of development and administration for the program. In 2012, it became the sole sponsor and supports Hopital Sacre Coeur in the Milot region of North Haiti, providing financial resources, supplies, training and education for a region of 2.5 million people.

After the 2010 earthquake, the hospital expanded to over 400 beds.

Clean drinking water is also an issue.

After the sisters returned to Lodi, they learned that clean water is a scarce commodity throughout the country. At their mission, they have a clean water program training Haitians to teach their neighbors how to purify their water.

The sisters have also been busy arranging remotely for their driver to deploy supplies and personnel to Les Cayes, which was hard hit.

Felician Sisters, their supporters and alumni around the U.S. donate to their mission. For example, 1,000 surgical masks came from their Livonia, Michigan, convent. All the items find their way to Lodi for storage through the year until the trailer arrives in the beginning of September.

But material things are not the main reason they have a mission.

“This is not enough,” Rojek said. “They need to learn to care for themselves.”

So, the mission provides education. They recently started a sewing school to teach the skills to mostly women and some men. Most of the machines are operated by pedals since electricity is scarce but they do have an electric machine.

And their new bakery has been put on hold since many building supplies are needed for rebuilding after the earthquake. A special benefactor is covering the cost, Minter said.

Borko said “a change of mentality is needed since many people are losing hope.” But she added “the people are survivors.”

Haiti does not seem to get any breaks. Natural disasters, corrupt governments, dire poverty and gang violence are oversized. For example, the sisters said they could not drive to the airport in Port au Prince since they could be robbed, attacked and even murdered so they take a prop plane to the small airport next to the main one.

And they brave all these uncertainties because of faith.

“Haiti makes me love my faith,” Borko said.

Kurik has only been in Haiti for two months and thinks she cannot do much. But she believes her presence can be a sign “that God did not leave them, that God is with them, especially now.”

They catechize the poor children for the sacraments and then hold First Communions and Confirmations at their mission.

“Thank God, we can continue to work with young people and young adults,” Minter said. “If nothing else, we can be women of hope.”

The Rev. Alexander Santora is the pastor of Our Lady of Grace and St. Joseph, 400 Willow Ave., Hoboken, NJ 07030. Email: padrealex@yahoo.com; Twitter: @padrehoboken.

How you can help

Donations to the Haitian Mission of the Felician Sisters can be sent to: Office of Mission Advancement, Felician Sisters of North America, 871 Mercer Road, Beaver Falls, PA 15010. For information call 724-944-9814 or email feliciansisters@feliciansisters.org.

Donations to Haiti Health Promise of Holy Name (Founded as The CRUDEM Foundation) can be sent to: P. O. Box 804, Ludlow, MA 01056. For information, call 413-642-0450or go to crudem.org.