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A farewell message for someone lost in the house.
Yesterday I was in Leogane, a small city about an hour’s drive away from Port-au-Prince. People say it lost 90% of its buildings. A man on the street tells me the 10% that are left standing in this town are the trees. He lost everything, but not his humor.
Most of the inhabitants have left the city; it is true, there isn’t much left standing. Compared to P-a-P, Leogane feels like a ghost town. In P-a-P you don’t even have enough room to camp.
On the 12th of January, schoolteacher and Voodoo priest Gérald Eloi was outside of the office he had just rented to start a computer school. On that day Gerald happened to be celebrating his 35th birthday. Friends and family were hanging out, and his young daughter brought Gérald inside the building to bring a treat to his 21/2 year-old son who was busy with his toys.
When the building started to tremble, Gérald only had time to grab his 7 year-old daughter and the woman standing beside him. He ran back in to find his son. As he was about to grab him, the slab fell on him and he passed out.
Gérald woke up in the dark not knowing if he was dead or alive. He couldn’t see anything and started to explore with his hands. He started crying, “Where is my son? What happened?”
“Papa, papa papa”, the boy had grabbed Gérald’s right foot. By holding him on his chest, Gérald could feel the heart of his boy beat so hard that he was afraid it would break.
Gérald started to think of God, asking himself, “how can we still be alive under three slabs of concrete?” To his right, he could feel that there was a bed, and the bed was holding the concrete slab above their heads. “This must be God’s work, a bed cannot hold the weight of 3 slabs”.
So he made a promise: “God if you get me out of here, I will give you the rest of my life”. What Gérald meant is that he would pray to God directly, rather than through the “loi” (spirits that protect and guide) of the Voodoo faith.
Gérald’s son fell asleep on his chest as he was praying and waiting.
A neighbour was also trapped under rubble nearby, and he and Gérald could hear each other call out. They started shouting for help together. Seven hours later, they where freed by the neighbors.
From that moment on, Gérald vowed to live in the service of God. Gérald doesn’t think the Voodoo “loi” (spirits that protect and guide someone) helped him while under the building. Only God could be strong enough to do that, he says; he tells me heard a voice saying to him, “your time hasn’t come yet, I will let you live”.
At the local Voodoo temple there isn’t much activity these days. Gérald tells me that people are now afraid of God’s wrath, and have stopped practicing Voodoo for awhile. I wonder if this is a unique case or if it is the same elsewhere. I will go see an authentic temple this week end to actually film a ceremony and learn more on the origins of Voodoo.
PS: Before I left, Gérald told me to pass a message to the outside world: “Please do not just drop the food from the helicopters, it forces people to fight amongst themselves. It is a terrible thing to see hungry families and neighbors lose their dignity in this way. Please make proper distributions”
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17 Comments
2010-01-29
12:03:55
Bravo Nico, comment dire ,merci pour ces témoignages , on pourrait leur apporter la nouriture autrement ?
2010-01-29
17:19:35
salut nico, as tu reçu le commentaire et message d'une copine de martinique concernant l'orphelinat? biz sophie
2010-01-29
19:23:47
Nico,
This interesting blog got me reading about Voodoo in Haiti. I was fascinated by the ceremony that got the revolution going and the creole pig stuff.
Could be Catholic guilt at work in the conversion case.
Isn't Wikipedia great?
2010-01-29
20:51:05
great story nico!
it really is very interesting how we feel a connection to someone/something/somegod...a greater force or being when we are in these situations
thanks for sharing!
2010-02-02
06:46:20
Nico~We are hearing more and more about this dominant religion in Haiti...Voodoo. Please share more to raise awareness of this little-known and usually-feared religion. Raising awareness helps to teach tolerance. Not everyone may agree with Voodoo, but the more we know, the less we fear. Have enjoyed reading your blog....looking forward to your blog from the temple.
2010-02-02
19:10:14
It is obvious the one true God wants us to put our faith, hope and trust in Him only and stay away from occult activities such as voodoo. There is a movement toward a one-world-faith where all religions are treated the same. This is satans trap which will lead to eternal death.
Isaiah 45:22 "Turn to me and be saved all you ends of the earth; for I am God, and there is no other.”
Romans 3:29-30 Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.
2 Thessalonians 2:9-12 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with the work of Satan displayed in all kinds of counterfeit miracles, signs and wonders, and in every sort of evil that deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.
Deuteronomy 18:9-14 When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, do not learn to imitate the detestable ways of the nations there. Let no one be found among you who sacrifices his son or daughter in the fire, who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the LORD, and because of these detestable practices the LORD your God will drive out those nations before you. You must be blameless before the LORD your God.
2010-02-08
03:48:32
its remarkable how people will only call on the creater in bad times! i say we should give him honor & the glory even in good times.
2010-02-10
09:32:35
i am so glad that the people of haiti have started to believe in God and not voodoo.sometimes GOD makes things like this happen so we will turn and worship him only.and if you dont change he will take you out of this world.i am so happy that those people realized that GOD was the one who saved them!i just pray that they dont give up,sometimes we have to suffer but GOD is always there for us to pray to and ask for HIS help!i am praying for all of their health and their souls to be saved.i was so happy that i cried when i read the story!GOD BLESS ALL WHO IS HELPING OVER THE WORLD TO SPREAD THE WORD OF GOD AND TO SAVE OTHERS FROM HARM.
2010-02-17
15:09:29
i feel so bad nice story nico yhey should hand out food equaly
2010-02-17
15:10:19
I'm touched by this this one will be one that will stick with me forever and may there hope in haiti
and may every soul in the world have hope
2010-02-17
15:11:18
i know what it feels like for your heart to be pounding like that i feel where there comming from
2010-02-17
15:11:59
i'm very happy they made it safely but this is a very emotional story
2010-02-17
15:13:24
Im so sorry :(
2010-02-17
15:14:27
im shocked
2010-02-17
15:24:21
hopfully they get help. SOON!
2010-03-07
07:33:40
the crust of the earth's moveing can happen anywhere in the earth, regardless of any religion, or their pratice, they r happening all over. the world, thats my take.
2010-03-13
18:09:43
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