A new seminarian for Cerca Carvajal

Introducing the new seminarian Abe (his title, like Fr., for seminarians who are not yet deacons) Dieunico Augustin (pronounced Jenico, kind of like Jericho with an “n”).  He was born in Croix Fer, a village near the town of Belladere and has one sister and five brothers.  His father passed away, and his mother has a small garden and also is a ti marchan (little merchant).  These market women but quantities of something (rice, oil, shoes, candies, detergent etc.) and then portion it out and sell these smaller portions at the open air market.  Those who have this as their main business travel from market to market, since in most small towns, market day is only once a week.  But back to Dieunico.  He went to primary school and began secondary school in Croix Fer, and finished secondary school in Belladere (probably because there was no secondary school in Croix Fer).  He expressed interest to his pastor in becoming a priest so he then spent once year working with him.  After that, he went to the minor seminary (Propadeutique) for one year, studied philosophy at the seminary in Port au Prince and is now spending one year with Fr. KK here in Cerca Carvajal.  After than he will spend 2-4 years in an as yet unspecified foreign country studying theology, come back for one year of work experience, before becoming a deacon for a year before he is ordained, a total of 11 years from the time of expressing interest in becoming a priest.  He is 23 years old now. 

I asked him what he is doing while here in Cerca.  He told me he is “accompanying secondary school students”.  I asked him to explain the difference between accompanying and teaching.  He told me that he does teach catechism, but he also offers advice to students.  I asked him if people are different here than in Croix Fer or Belladere.  He told me that people in Croix Fer and Belladere are more active.  I asked him what he meant by this.  He said that Belladere is close to the Domincan Republic and there is a lot of commerce back and forth.  He suspects that people are poorer here because of that lack of commerce.  I asked what one could do to help people become more active.  He said that he thinks that having a decent road will make a huge difference because it will enable more commerce when the road is finished.