A Journey Filled With Hope

While serving as a military chaplain, Fr. Marc Boisvert,OMI was assigned to work with Haitian refugees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The suffering of the Haitians touched Fr. Marc deeply. He left the military and went to Haiti to minister to the poor. Today, Fr. Marc is director of Hope House in Les Cayes, a home for 55 boys who were rescued from the street.

Wilbert does not have to hide anymore.

In September, a Catholic nun discovered the 14-year-old boy aimlessly wandering the streets of Port-au-Prince, Haiti. He had been abandoned by his mother when she started living with a man who didn’t want the boy around.

The nun brought Wilbert to a home of Catholic priests to try and find him a place to live. But there was no space available. The caretaker at the home however took pity on the boy and concealed him in his cottage for two months. When visitors came by, Wilbert hid under the bed.

Wilbert was eventually discovered by the priest. They contacted Oblate Father Marc Boisvert who runs Hope House, a home for abandoned boys in the city of Les Cayes. Fr. March agreed to take in Wilbert and drove to Port-au-Prince to pick up the boy. On October 20, 1999, Wilbert’s journey of hope began.

During the five hour trip to Les Cayes, Wilbert never speaks a word, staring out the window at the unfamiliar surroundings. The truck passes through a constant sea of kinds in brightly colored school uniforms. The road is lined with cows, horses, donkeys, and goats. Chickens cross the road but there is no need to get to the other side.

During a stop at the Immaculate Conception Gas Station, a man with a machine gun stands next to the truck to keep beggars away. There is a public bus with a giant picture of Michael Jordan. A makeshift vehicle at the next pump features a garbage truck front attached to a yellow school bus body. A Heilig-Meyers furniture truck sits in a ditch.

Later in the trip, the road turns to dust and gravel and is full of potholes. Kids stand by the larger holes so they can beg drivers whey they are forced to slow Down. A boy, maybe ten-years- old, leads a skinny cow down the road. It will take him three days to get the cow to market in Port-au-Prince.

As Fr. Marc and Wilbert enter Les Cayes, they are stopped by some of the older children from Hope House. Tow of Fr. Marc’s boys have been involved in a motorcycle accident so they rush to the hospital.

Fr. Marc is greeted outside the hospital by a street urchin, Jude. Sharing the same name as the patron saint of hopeless causes, Jude begs Fr. Marc for some food and to come live at his home. Jude’s left hand is pure white, the result of falling in a pot of boiling grease.

The emergency room is jammed with people. Family members huddle around patients on stretchers. There are no lights. Gloves and blood are all over the floor. A woman with a broken leg is lifted through a window. Another lady is trying to sell toothbrushes to visitors. Fr. Marc pushes his way through to get to his boys who are sitting on a stretcher in back. Flesh has been torn on their arms and legs but they have no broken bones.

There is a delay in treatment because the only doctor is eating lunch. Eventually, a nurse applies a type of jelly to the wounds. The more severely injured boy gets a bandage that is filled with holes. The other boy gets no wraps. After treatment, they climb through the emergency room window and into Fr. Marc’s truck, jelly and blood dripping on the floor.

The truck, now with ten people in it, pulls up in from of Hope House. Wilbert shyly gets out and enters the gate to his new home.

In the concrete courtyard, a dozen people are surrounding a pipe carrying stream of work from underground. The pipe is he only source of semi-clean water for the boys and their neighbors. Laundry hangs everywhere. A few of the smaller boys play with Matchbox cars, their only toys. A boy named John Paul and a boy named John Baptist are arguing, and it’s not about theology.

The boys injured in the motorcycle accident are taken to a room where sick kids recover. The medicine cabinet has a half bottle of aspirin and three band-aids. A four-year-old boy named Jeff lies on a bed shivering under a blanket. He is cold despite it being 95 degrees in the room. Fr. Marc fears the little boy has malaria.

In the courtyard, some of the kids spot Wilbert and go up and introduce themselves, shaking the newcomer’s jammed. All the boys wear shirts that came from American charities. One shirt proclaims a boy as a Discovery Zone Kid. Others salute the pennant winning St. Louis Cardinals, the football champions at Florida State University, and the college hockey champions from Maine.

A boy named Guy introduces himself to Wilbert. Guy always wears long sleeve shirts because he is embarrassed of his skinny arms. Jean, age 6, comes up holding a music box tightly in his little hands. He got the music box while a patient in the hospital. His right eye opens only half way and the left side of his face has a severe skin rash. But he smiles constantly while listening to the music box play It’s A Small World. A four-year-old boy is crying in the corner. He wants his mother, but his mother doesn’t want him.

“These kids come here because there is no other place to go,” says Fr. Marc. “Some are dropped off by a parent who can’t or won’t take care of them. Others come wandering off the streets desperate for food.”

Wilbert is introduced to Mrs. B, the mother figure for the boys. You brought me a present,” Mrs. B tells Fr. Marc as he escorts Wilbert inside. Mrs. B is the only adult that lives full time at the home of 55 boys.

As Wilbert familiarizes himself with his new home, Fr. Marc meets with a mother and child who have been waiting four hours to see him. The mother explains that she can no longer take car of her six-year-old son named Jackson and begs Fr. Marc for help.

Jackson does not speak and Fr. March believes he may be autistic. His home is so unsanitary that atone time it was discovered that he had a nest of bugs in his ear. Fr. Marc can’t take Jackson in but promises to provide a few months for him to attend a boarding school for special needs kids. The school will provide him an education, room and board for $15 a month.

Jackson is allowed to stay at Hope House for a few hours. He is given some food and a toy dump truck that arrived in a package from America. As he pushes the truck across the floor, Jackson screams with joy. He has never had a toy before.

Fr. Marc leaves to run some errands and returns a few hours later. Jackson runs up to him and gives a big hug. But Fr. Marc tells the youngster that it’s time To go back home. A veil of sadness falls over Jackson’s face.

On the way home, Jackson sobs in the truck, clutching his toy tightly. He arrives at home, a shack located under a bridge next to a river. There is no water or electric. Jackson stares blankly as Fr. Marc pulls away.

“You have scenes like this every day her,” says Fr. Marc. “It stinks.”

Back at Hope House, the day is winding down. Boys return home from school and introduce themselves to Wilbert. Before dinner, they all gather in the courtyard to sing a song that is performed whenever a new boys comes to live at Hope House.

“Welcome, welcome, to you, to you. We are so happy to see you. Welcome, welcome, to you, to you. We are so happy to have you among us.”

Wilbert shakes hands with each boy and they head inside for a meal of boiled bananas and rice. The dining area is dark like a cove because the electric company only supplies power from 10 p.m to 4 a.m. Two small camping lanterns are used to illuminate a portion of the room. At first, Wilbert sits at a table by himself, but he is soon joined by other boys. Roosevelt, age 12, give the mealtime prayer.

“Thank you God for our food today. Thank you for Fr. Marc and Mrs. B. Help us to be good boys. And thank you very much for our friends in the United States who send us staff.”

After dinner, the boys with homework gather around the two lanterns, a dozen boys at each small source of light. Other kids cluster in the courtyard to list to music coming from the church next door. Big kids hoist little ones up to peek inside the windows. With Fr. Marc, the boys dance and sing in the courtyard. Smiles and laughter are everywhere. A full moon shines down on the kids, casting large shadows on the courtyard walls.

As his first day at Hope House concludes, Wilbert is shown his bed. Each boy has his own bed but they choose to push all of them together. Despite the heat, they sleep bundled together like litters of puppies.

Wilbert ends up in the center of one of the litters. He falls asleep quickly. He sleeps peacefully and soundly, with his new family all around.

There is no need to hide under the bed anymore.