Bread, wine, a rough road, and a communities outrage

Last Sunday was communion at the church in Port-au-Prince. It was nice, as I don't believe I have ever had communion in Haiti before. It is true that having communion does make you feel a part of a broader Christian community. I think I felt that more being in Haiti.

After the service I ran into and old friend, as you might have seen on Facebook. I met Junior early on in my travels to Haiti when he was working as a translator and was an officer in the Easy English Club (EEC); of which I am proud to be a member. The EEC meets twice a week as they study English as well as the bible. A couple of us were participating in a meeting and we were doing role playing as a mechanism to learn English. I played the father of a teen girl, a young women played the part of the girl, and Junior played the part af a young man attempting to convince me to allow my daughter to go out with him. I can't honestly say I remember the outcome correctly, but my recollection is he didn't succeed. As I have daughters that role playing was easy.  We had a chance to catch and joke around a bit it was great to see him again. PG, another of the translators that works with Junior was able to come, but it seems he is doing well too. I expect unto come back one year and be introduced to their wive, once they break down, find a girls friend, and convince her father they are worthy; which of course they are. 

Monday had and early start as I was to travel from Port-au-Prince to Cäiman, which is about a three to four hour drive. Frandzy, his girl friend, and Wilkins drove me from PaP to Hinche, which is the paved part of the drive, thanks guys, and a friend of the Pastor that leads the church in Cäiman drove me the rest of the way, i.e., the unpaved part of they way. I was on this road about two years ago and it was bad, but apparently the company that was contracted to pave the road failed to complete the job and their contract was terminated and the road has been uncared for at least a year. So not the road is just about unpassable. Deep crevasses, collapsed bridges, and pot holes big enough to hide a small army. Let's just say by the end of the drive I was quite happy to see the mission compound and a certain part of my body was a bit sore. 

The mission at Cäiman is a wonderful site. It houses a primary / high school as well as a university where they teach aggreculture, finance, and nursing.  It is quite an accomplishment given that at one point this place was extremely unsafe and a center for the vodou culture in Haiti. It is always nice to visit here and it looks like some of my abilities might be put to work to help straighten out a few of the computer / networking needed. A big thank you to Pastor JeanJean and Kristie for allowing me to stop by. 

And while this place has been dangerous in the past it is not always peaceful in the present. Apparently someone has been threatening some of the local households with violence if they don't pay money. It has happened twice and tonight the town decided to push back a little. Cäiman doesn't have its own police force and while the community is justifiably upset, these situations can spin out of control. Pastor JeanJean was working to calm and correct the situation. I was thinking the best thing I could do was keep a low profile and stay out of the way. There is a bit of a gang and drug problem in the area, where people are coming from City de Sol (one of the worst slums in PaP) and enticing some youth here into the gang life. Just as you work to remove one evil from a place (vodou) another comes at its heals. The church here has an active and vibrant youth program, but evil is dangerous and can easily take from any community. 

Tonight I pray for Cäiman. That piece will come to the community and that the evil of drugs and gangs will succumb to th power of God in this place.  Amen.