By Barb Arland-Fye
Editor
Liz McDermott of Our Lady of the River Parish in LeClaire made her first trip to Haiti in 2002 to volunteer her nursing skills at a fledgling medical clinic in the back of a Catholic church in Grand-Bois. She kept returning, and estimated her cumulative time in Haiti at nine months to a year. Liz is one of many volunteers who collaborate with the people of Grand-Bois, Haiti to empower them to build and sustain a healthy and economically viable community for themselves through the nonprofit ServeHaiti.
It breaks her heart that ServeHaiti volunteers have not been able to return to Haiti because of the gangs, violence and kidnapping in the metropolitan areas miles away from Grand-Bois, described as an isolated mountain shaped like a bowl. Equally heartbreaking are the cruel falsehoods perpetuated in the U.S. about Haitian immigrants eating their neighbors’ pets.
“My experiences with the people I work with in Haiti have been eye opening and very humbling,” Liz said. “They are bright, curious, respectful, and most have an amazing sense of humor and love to tease each other. They have a sense of contagious joy when gathering socially. They are way more family oriented because older children become caretakers of younger siblings from an early age out of necessity. They live in groups with grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, and they share everything. They also have pet cats and dogs. They would never eat them for food, any more than we would. It’s just not culturally a thing.”
“Through the years I have had Haitians living in our home, I’ve attended weddings and college graduations, baby showers and even funerals. They, just like me, want a healthy, happy, better life for themselves and their families. Haitians — or refugees in general — coming into our community enrich us as much or maybe even more than it enriches them. We have so much to learn from them. It’s called humanity.”
Liz’s message speaks to the need for the National Week of Migrants and Refugees, which is Sept. 23-29 and culminates with the World Day of Migrants and Refugees (WDMR) on Sept. 29. It is a time to “engage in prayer, reflection, and action on behalf of our brothers and sisters who are forced to flee their homes,” Justice for Immigrants states.
“God walks with his people,” is the title of Pope Francis’ message for World Day of Migrants and Refugees (https://tinyurl.com/bdbuw3wv). He tells us, “… the encounter with the migrant, as with every brother and sister in need, ‘is also an encounter with Christ. He himself said so. It is he who knocks on our door, hungry, thirsty, an outsider, naked, sick and imprisoned, asking to be met and assisted.’”
Matthew 25 “leaves no doubt” about what Jesus calls us to do, Pope Francis said. He quotes verse 35, “I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” and verse 40, “truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did it to me.”
Justice for Immigrants says Catholics are called to “accompany migrants at all stages of their journey: from the point of origin, through transit, and to their final destination” (https://tinyurl.com/mteb2sta) and suggests these ideas for accompaniment:
- Assist undocumented immigrants with their regular check-ins with ICE or attending mandatory immigration hearings and court proceedings.
- Become involved as a volunteer at your local Catholic Charities. In the Diocese of Davenport, that is through the Social Action Office (davenportdiocese.org/social-action).
- Nurture the idea of encounter by organizing an event at your parish and invite a migrant to tell their story to your fellow Catholics.
- Become a foster parent for an unaccompanied child. Visit Justice for Immigrants’ website for more information ((https://tinyurl.com/mteb2sta).
Additional ideas for accompaniment, inspired by women profiled in this week’s Catholic Messenger for their work with refugees:
- Take a refugee or immigrant to English lessons, doctors’ appointments or other appointments.
- Deliver groceries to a refugee or immigrant individual, couple or family.
- Volunteer with organizations such as Immigrant Welcome Network of Johnson County (iwnjc.org), Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa (cwjiowa.org), and Tapestry Farms (tapestryfarms.org) in Davenport.
- Resist the temptation to jump to conclusions about social media posts maligning Haitians or people of any other country.
- Imagine what it would be like if you had to flee your homeland.
Finally, read Pope Francis’ message (https://tinyurl.com/bdbuw3wv) and pray, as he asks of us. “[Let] us unite in prayer for all those who have had to leave their land in search of dignified living conditions. May we journey together with them, be ‘synodal’ together …”
Barb Arland-Fye, Editor
arland-fye@davenportdiocese.org
