Chapter I

Mariloud

Our first day at L’Acul had not passed before we knew that God had not only sent us to work at CODEP but that we were also here for our neighbors and community. The doors were opened wide as we began to make friends along the beach, first with the children and then others. My first day visiting in the small lakou (group of houses) I made acquaintance with a woman named Mariloud. This woman was related to almost everyone along the beach and she was dying of breast cancer. She was only 45.

I know it was not by chance that Mariloud was still alive, having suffered a botched breast operation without any medical recourse. I could smell her open wound as I entered the yard and it only became worse as I went into the small house. She lay on a hard little bed under an open window that allowed flies and mosquitoes to enter. It was stifling hot. The dirt floor was uneven, and the small wooden chair that they brought for me to sit in wobbled. I could see the worms that had hatched on her wound as she lay so vulnerable, exposed on the bed at the mercy of her relatives to care for her. It was apparent that she had been a large woman, and I was to later find out that she was the driving force in the family before her tragic illness. I held her hand and felt her pain.

I had noticed the voodoo crosses in the yard, so I did not know exactly where to begin with this dying woman. But God always prepares the way. After asking about her experience, I asked her if she was right with the Lord. She said she had accepted Jesus as her Savior a few months ago at a local church, but they did not think she was serious and had not followed up on her. I knew God had sent me for this very reason. An incident in my own life years before would be the key to finding acceptance here in my new neighborhood in Haiti. I prayed with her and when I was finished I found that I was crying. I opened my eyes and saw that the hut was filled with children and other curious people. They were moved that I was so touched and were sad to see me crying. I believe this was used by God to show my sincerity.

I asked the niece, MariRose, to have everyone leave the room and to close the door. For the first time since my own breast cancer surgery 9 years prior, I felt God was using my own loss to give him glory. The 2 women saw that cancer comes to the rich and the poor, to white and black alike. They knew for certain that I understood, although I knew in my own heart that Mariloud had suffered many times over what I had experienced. This began a 6 week friendship with a dying woman who would repay us by adopting us into the entire community. Mariloud insisted on giving me her only photos of her family, a precious gift that I did not understand for 6 weeks.

I began to put family units together by taking long walks with the beach kids, who ranged from 6 to 18 years old. They reminded me of the lost children in Peter Pan, a family of sorts, hanging together just to survive. Most had no father figure and some were orphaned all together, living with aunts or in huts with only brothers or sisters. They attended school if they could pay for the month, or if it didn’t rain, or if there wasn’t anything better to do. Some could not even write their names, while others were very smart and quick learners. They so appreciated that I knew Creole and they helped me to learn new words along the way. They soon figured out that I loved plants and we would take long walks and come home with beautiful flowers to plant at L’Acul. I started picking up shells and it wasn’t long before we devised a way to turn this into a thriving cottage industry for 5 of the beach kids.

Almost everyday I would take food and ice cold drinks to my dying friend. She looked forward to my visits. It gave me a great opportunity to talk about Jesus, her salvation, her purpose, and to pray for others. There were always plenty of listening ears. In Haiti, private space amounts to about 2 inches, so everything heard in Mariloud's house was repeated many times over. I realized that MariRose could read, so I would have her read the scriptures. I chuckled to myself and the Lord how mysteriously he works, using the voice of a woman like MariRose to evangelize this voodoo lakou! MariRose was a beautiful large boned young woman with 3 children, all having different fathers who were no where to be seen. Her children were Esteve, 8 years old, Dutchi, 7 years old, and little Pushli, under 2 years old. Little Pushli was always naked, crawling underfoot on the dirt floor or the gravel yard. He would navigate a small ditch on an 8 inch board, crawling like a puppie across the water filled ravine. I pointed out to MariRose that he might fall in and drown, and she agreed.

One day I asked Mariloud if she had been baptized. She said no, so I proceeded to read and explain how that was an act of obedience to God. She asked if she could be baptized, so I arranged a meeting with our good friend, Pastor Gabriel, the lay pastor at the local Episcopal Church where we were attending. I wanted to do everything proper in the eyes of the church. He was also the community health worker for St. Croix Hospital, so he had grown to love Mariloud as well. It was a beautiful day when Pastor and I led a houseful of onlookers in song and scripture, leading up to Rick baptizing Mariloud into Christ. We also anointed her with oil and prayed for a miracle of healing.

The miracle happened, but in a different form. Mariloud died and was healed on the other side. The family immediately cleaned out her house and either burned or tossed her few remaining belongings into the ocean which is customary. They sent word to her children, all of whom were in other countries and put her literally “on ice” in the local morgue.

The mourning began, the tarp was put up in the yard and crude little tables and borrowed chairs were set up for visitors. The men and boys played games all day and the women scavenged to find food to cook and coffee to boil. This would go on for 3 weeks. Mariloud’s mother would be the center of attraction until other relatives arrived. She lay wailing on the cement porch on a sheet. People would bring her food and drinks, including me. This, I would soon realize was very important as an adopted family member. Later we heard it recounted many times that “she brought cold drinks to Mariloud and her mother”. This brought to life the passage of offering a cold drink in the name of the Lord.

I got to know Mariloud’s sister who flew in from Germany. She was a very sweet woman with a gentle spirit. I had actually talked to her once on the telephone! One day when I arrived at Mariloud’s, she was talking on a cell phone. (This seemed ludicrous to me, since here was a woman dying of a disease in a dirt floor hut, talking on a cell phone!) She insisted that I talk to this sister. I assumed she lived in Miami. I talked a while and she thanked me so much for baptizing Mariloud and caring for her. When I later found out that she lived in Germany I was really blown away at how God works. After a short time visiting with her in person, I began to understand why I was asked to keep Mariloud’s precious photos. I went back to L’Acul and found the pictures of her and the children and gave them to the sister. It was a gift that meant so much to her. I am sure that if I had not kept these priceless mementos that they would now be ashes or floating somewhere in the Caribbean.

The funeral was an event in itself, with wailing and a band leading up to the entrance of the casket. A professional videographer taped the event as if it were some sports match and no one seemed to care, so I stood atop a cement grave and filmed my own version. We were escorted like royalty to rented chairs and brought the first colas. I knew then that we were a part of something. In only a few weeks, God had opened a work for us that would have normally taken a year or more. We feel that there is some urgency about it all and we are mindful to be aware of his leading and pray for God to expand our territory.

Since the funeral, I am able to wander all about the areas of L’Acul and Bellevue without restraint. Everyone knows our names and knows the reason we are here. It can be difficult to decide exactly where to put your resources and energies when the needs are so numerous, but it just seems right to focus on the children, thus began the “beach ministry” at L’Acul, 2006.