Pax Christi finds Christ's little ones.

Report and photos from December 2-5 delegation to Haiti
Patrick Cashio, Pax Christi USA national staff, went to Haiti December 2-5 to meet with Pax Christi Haii leadership, document their program in Cite Soleil and shoot video and take photos of their program. We will be posting video in the weeks to come, but currently have posted this short report on the delegation and photos from the trip.

The great Jesuit theologian, Ignacio Ellacuria (one of the Jesuits killed in the 1989 University of Central America massacre in El Salvador) said
that the truest understanding of reality comes from "coproanalysis" (literally the study of feces), a medical term he employed as a metaphor for understanding the true health of a society based on the "waste" of civilization--namely examining the status of the poor and discarded of the world to really gauge the health of our world. So imagine a city by the sea built for about 200,000 people--but with 3,000,000 crammed into it. Imagine the trash that piles up. Imagine the overwhelming smell of human excrement and trash flowing through the slums. Imagine people selling everything imaginable--from fruit to cell phones--on every crowded corner. Imagine UN soldiers patrolling your streets armed and ready to "keep peace." Imagine people that have been threatened, killed, or forced into working in sweatshops. Imagine a people that are so proud of their independence but the history and presence of political violence subjects them to a humiliatingly handicapped municipal infrastructure. This is the feces of the west. This is the feces of the U.S. This is the feces of power. This is the feces of capitalism.

Pax Christi Haiti has an impressive and ambitious program focused in Cite Soleil (Sun City), one of the poorest slums in the capital city Port-au-Prince. About 18 months ago after two years of extreme violence and gang wars in Cite Soleil, Junior St. Vil and Daniel Tillias, Pax Christi Haiti's executive and program directors, decided that if a culture of peace was to be cultivated in Haiti, it must start in Cite Soleil. Their program now has about 85 kids representing about 75% of the neighborhoods in Cite Soleil.

The kids come as a package of needs. Most of these kids need to be fed. Money and resources are scarce for many of these families and anywhere that kids can eat is well worth it. Tuition help is also a crucial need for keeping these kids in school. Pax Christi Haiti's soccer program provides them with an outlet and a space to practice non-violence with themselves and others.

With a very small room, one fluorescent desk lamp, one table, one dry erase board, one full book case, and one chalk board, the children of Cite Soleil try and do their homework and wait patiently for a meal that may or may not be provided for them today. On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday the teams have soccer practice and usually always get fed. On Sunday morning, the directors lead a peace and nonviolence workshop for the teams and any other kids that show up. The hope is that through modeling new behaviors for kids a culture of peacefulness and reconciliation will spring up around the other children in Cite Soleil. Also this program hopes to redefine for Port-au-Prince and Haiti what kind of children and people can come from the poorest slum in their country.

Here is a quick message from Daniel Tillias, the program director, shortly after my return from Haiti:

"Again thank you very much for this time spent among us that gave us hope that our work will have more voice and more resources for the cause of peace. I feel bad that you could not be in the yesterday game with the category of 13 years old. This was so great to see these angels playing for their neighborhood in a spirit that reflects the philosophy that we try teaching them. We won the game, but the best victory for me is that these kids are happy and they feel confidence in a staff that can lead them to something more positive in their future than what they have experienced in the past."

http://www.paxchristiusa.org/news_Events_more.asp?id=1492