Drawn to be with the most destitute in Haiti

"I am sustained by the courage of the Haitian people. We are in this together"

Sister Rosemary Fry has always been drawn to the poorest and most vulnerable. As a young woman, this led to an attraction to a life of service as a Sister of St. Joseph and a nurse. Even while nursing in Canada, she reached out to the dying and their families by starting a comprehensive palliative care program to meet their physical, spiritual and psychosocial needs. But still she was drawn to be with the most destitute. Eventually after a long search, she went to Haiti to test her ability to accompany them and be present to their suffering.

She spent three months in Haiti with Mother Teresa's Sisters, her way of "finding out by trying." When she came back, she found herself very restless. "Perhaps," she was told, "God is asking you to go back to Haiti." And so she returned the following year, 1987, and that is where she has stayed.

After a period of time learning the language and being immersed in the culture with good mentors, she spent time just listening to the very poorest in that poor society, learning about their lives and their dreams for themselves and their families. This eventually led to the founding of Sacred Heart Centre, in Cap Haitien, Haiti's second largest city. The mission of the Centre is to be there for the destitute. To help them or maybe even the next generation in their family to rise out of destitution and at the same time to keep the poor in a society with no social safety nets from sliding down into destitution.

To accomplish this, the Centre started many programs beginning with nutrition and health care program for severely malnourished children, a commerce and micro-credit program for their mothers, a school and after school program for the older children, and a support program for the elderly and handicapped who begged in the streets. Each person who came and each situation was unique and so it was a matter of careful listening and planning with them to respond to their needs in a creative way.

In April 2008, Sister Rosemary turned Sacred Heart Centre over to a Canadian NGO, Rayjon Share Care of Sarnia, and a Haitian Religious Community, the Filles de Marie de Parideans, in order to insure that it would continue to be there for those who needed it most.

Since September 2008 she has been volunteering with the Missionary Brothers of the Poor, at Bethlehem, a home in Cap Haitien for abandoned and severely challenged children.

When asked what keeps her going, Sr. Rosemary replies, "I don't feel like I'm doing this alone. My community prays and supports me in many ways and I am sustained by the courage of the Haitian people. We are in this together."

By Rosemary Fry CSJ

Pictures by Pat Boucher CSJ