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NCNWR > News > News Item | |
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NewsHaiti: Sisters of St Francis of Sylvania, Ohio
January 20, 2010 The Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania, Ohio have two members of their community ministering in Haiti, in Pestel about 100 miles west of Port-Au-Prince. They felt tremors from the initial shock a week ago Tuesday and there was minor damage to buildings in their area. Ironically, the two sisters were planning to go to Port-Au-Prince that day, but had not left when the earthquake struck. Because communication services were down, the community experienced some anxious moments until they heard from their two sisters by e-mail later that night. The thing they are seeing now is residents leaving Port-Au-Prince because of all of the devastation and coming back to outlying areas where they may have grown up. It is beginning to tax the meager infrastructure. Sister Fidelis Rubbo, OSF, and Sister Josephine Dybza, OSF, provide medical care and health education to residents in 14 villages in the area surrounding Pestel. When Sister Fidelis first went there 10 years ago there was no organized medical care. They now have two clinics open on a part time basis and a registered nurse, an LPN and an assistant make rounds in the villages examining residents. Unfortunately, an orphanage for abandoned boys in Port-Au-Prince with connections to the Sisters of St. Francis in Sylvania, was not so lucky. The St. Joseph’s Home for Boys was destroyed when the 7.0 magnitude-earthquake hit on January 12. All of the residents got out unharmed, but the orphanage manager was injured in a fall from an upper floor of the six-story building. Residents from this orphanage have an dance troupe called the Resurrection Dance Theater of Haiti and travel the country ever fall to tell their story of deprivation. They had visited the Sylvania Franciscans this past October and performed for the community as well as in a number of Toledo-area parishes. Working with the poor and marginalized is hard work for Sister Fidelis and Sister Josephine, but it is a core component of the mission of the Sisters of St. Francis of Sylvania. Walking in the steps of St. Francis is not easy, but it has given both sisters the most precious gift possible—the awareness of God’s presence and the ability to share his love with all people. Now, more than ever, the people of Haiti need prayers and love for everybody affected by this disaster. Dale Thomas
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