Colleen and I slept late, getting up around 7:30, to find
that most had already eaten, and, horrors, there was no more coffee! More priests and guests arrived. Irene, who is also on the Haitian Education
Fund board arrived with Fr. Romel. Bishop
St. Hillien arrived and we waited for the signal that he was ready before
proceeding to the church. We were seated
in the first row. Other dignitaries included
the Director General of the Ministry of Education, the Director General of the
Catholic Education Commission, Deputy A. Rondon, representatives of the
judiciary and the police, and other government representatives. The mass lasted nearly three hours with
beautiful liturgical dances by young girls and boys.
Children processed in with candles which were placed on the railing.
The choir was excellent, singing in French
and Creole, with one song in Latin and one in English (He reigns forever.) Here is a view of the altar with the bishop and copresiders.
After communion, it was time for speeches. Fr. KK had asked me to say and few words
which I had had Steven Werlin correct for me since I was speaking in
Kreyol. Each speech began with
recognizing every dignitary present and honored guests. The first person gave a history of the school
as best as I could understand. He told
us of the sisters who came to Cerca and started the school. The order, the Little Sisters of St. Therese
of the Child Jesus, had just been founded when they came to Cerca, thus we were
actually celebrating a double anniversary, of the founding of the school and
the founding of the religious order. We
learned that Holy Family School in Cerca Carvajal was the first presbyteral
school on the central plateau. He
apparently told some amusing stories, judging by the laughter of the
crowd. The speeches continued and seemed
to get longer and I watched as the bishop and several priests close their eyes. Near the end, after about 90 minutes of
speeches I delivered my short speech greeting the people in the name of the
people of St. Edward and thanking them for their wonderful hospitality.
Now I thought things would calm down in the afternoon after all of the guests had left, but I was wrong. Apparently more festivities were planned for the evening. Jenico told us that he was to be in a skit with Fr. KeKe (by the way, Steven tells me that spelling it KK means something different in Kreyole and that Fr. KeKe found it amusing, so I will change the spelling to KeKe!). We waited as many folding chairs were set up in front of the stage in the school yard. Here is a view of the stage:
While we were waiting, Colleen engaged the children, playing chase and games with them and dancing with them. She managed to communicate without speaking Kreyole! They clearly had fun with her!
Several groups of girls got up and performed some dances, but the skit never happened. We have fun and were exhausted afterr a very full day!
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