Seven years ago, I visited La Chureca, the garbage dump outside of Managua, Nicaragua. There, I met a man of my own age (52 then) that had been working in garbage dumps since he was 12 years old – 40 years!! He looked 75… life had treated him so discourteously. He told me that he […]
Author: Angel
Buying Container Loads of Musical Instruments
For some time now, Food for the Poor, through the generosity of its donors, has been buying container-loads of musical instruments and sending them to the poorest areas of our countries, to schools and communities, hoping that the young people who receive them will choose a musical instrument over a knife or gun. The program […]
The Rio Baqui Tilapia Project
For some years now, Food For The Poor donors have been funding tilapia projects of all different types and sizes in may of our countries. The tilapia is a hardy fish that matures quickly at a small cost and it has become very popular in the US and the world. For our purposes, it supplies […]
I Thought of Jesus (Part 1 of 3)
On Tuesday, May 6th, a group of 19 of us – priests, pastors, deacons, the director of Speakers’ Bureau (Vicki Kaufman) and myself – departed from Fort Lauderdale to Port au Prince, Haiti. The humid heat, the “welcome” music, the crowds offering taxis and to carry our small pieces of luggage and the musicians in […]
I Thought of Jesus (Part 2 of 3)
PART TWO Our afternoon began with a visit to our boy’s orphanage and school, Foyer de l’Espoir (House of Hope). This was the site of the soccer game between our boys from this home and the “visiting team” from Lynn University that had accompanied me on my last trip. Our boys beat them 6 – […]
I Thought of Jesus (Part 3 of 3)
PART THREE Early on Wednesday morning we took off in our bus for Cite Soleil (City of the Sun), a place that experiences horrendous poverty that has often manifested itself in violence and unrest. This gigantic seaside slum is home to almost 400,000 inhabitants of Port au Prince. The first place we visited there is […]
Beloved Haiti
“Rachel weeping for her children, and would not be comforted, for they are no more.” (Mat. 2:28b) Oh Haiti, your tears burn into my heart like fire,Your mountains stand naked like your children,Without hands, unable to hide their shame. Yet, despite orange hair and swollen bellies,Despite hunger and hardship,Their beauty cannot be hidden. Oh mother […]
Hush, Ayiti’m – A Prose Poem For Haiti
I cannot forget you, Haiti.As I depart from your weeping shores,I steal your salty air in my greedy lungs.I smell nothingbut the scent of your sorrow and suffering.The memory of your unique cuisineresides permanently in my mouth.Your sovereign soildeeply embedded beneath my nails. Home… I’m home…yet you continue to haunt me.The lines of my ageing […]
Our Drums of Hope
Nations of rice and rum, of drought and storms,Let us hear your song! Let us hear your song!Nations of beans and corn,Let us hear your song!Nations of breadfruit and yams,Let us hear your song! The guitar is wounded with five sharp swords.Oh, what a sad song! What a sad song!A song of hunger and thirst,What […]
Mothers
“A sword will pierce your heart.” Those words, spoken to Mary by the aged Simeon, ring true for all mothers. With the discomforts of pregnancy, when features swell with gained weight, a once graceful walk becomes a waddle, and the excruciating pain of the last stages of labor make her scream in agony, a mother […]