January, 2011 Newsletter - Maison Fortuné Orphanage

MAISON FORTUNÉ ORPHANAGE NEWS
An occasional bulletin published by the Maison Fortuné Orphanage Foundation, Inc., PO Box 3092,
Chesapeake VA 23327-3092 to report progress of the orphanage in Hinche, Haiti. It is
also available at www.mfofoundation.org and at www.richmonddiocese.org/haiti January 2011
A NEW YEAR AND A NEW DAY AT MAISON
FORTUNÉ
Brother Cosmas Rubencamp, CFX, was at the orphanage
earlier this month and reports on the new leadership
model inaugurated there on January 1
were sworn in, followed by the swearing in of the
Prime Minister, Wilguens Denis, and his cabinet.
For over ten years I've watched these kids grow up,
so it was a special joy to me to witness the first-ever
peer election of leadership at Maison Fortuné. The
residents took this very seriously, selecting excellent
leaders for 2011 who were installed in a dignified and
moving ceremony. Personally, it was a delight to see
boys and girls I’ve know for years commit themselves
to leadership at the place where they live and learn.
Orphanage founder and director, Lefort Jean-Louis,
last year became aware that some of the residents
were ready to take on more in terms of "ownership"
and leadership of Maison Fortuné. This awareness,
plus his desire to give them a practical experience of
democratic governance, led to the events I’ll describe
for you, our readers and supporters.
The ceremony begins. The President and cabinet to the
left with the senators and deputies in the background.
The day began at dawn with the boys lugging chairs
and benches out of the school building, blowing up
and hanging balloons and setting up for the liturgy
which began at 9:15. The Mass included, for the first
time, liturgical dancing organized by the girls. The
koral, or choir, was celebrating their first anniversary,
and they sang hymns in Kreyòl, French, Latin,
and ended up with a spiritual in English!
Pres. Alizard takes the oath of office
The Maison Fortuné Liturgical Dance Group
Following the liturgy, the newly elected President,
Mercidieu Alizard, and the five new senators and
eleven new members of the Chamber of Deputies
The ceremony included speeches by Olichard
Jacques, President of the Senate, and Jean-Roblen
Florestal, Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, the
swearing in and investiture of the President, the
President’s inaugural address, an address by the
Prime Minister, who introduced his cabinet.
All the speeches were quite formal, in French. The
Prime Minister made the point to the very respectful
audience that “Le gouvernment est vous” and as-

sured everyone “I promise a democracy that will realize
your dreams.”
Prime Minister Wilguens Denis introduces his cabinet
Foreign Affairs Minister Exilien Jean has responsibility
for welcoming visitors
The ceremony closed with the assembly pledging to
support their new government, and it was easy to
dream a little about the day, perhaps not too far off,
when our “kids” will be taking their place in the government
of Haiti!
President and Prime Minister of Maison Fortuné
The final speech was by the director, Lefort Jean-
Louis, who congratulated the new government and
outlined his hopes for the various new departments.
For instance, he asked the Ministry of the Environment
to take responsibility for the grounds and that
the Ministry of the Interior and Security take responsibility
for enforcing the policy of keeping unauthorized
persons from coming on campus, and the Ministry
of Agriculture to take responsibility for the garden,
and the Ministry of Health for the clinic.
Other cabinet members include the Ministries of Justice,
Education, Worship, Culture and Foreign Affairs.
Culture Minister Maxson Pierre, a talented artist himself,
has ideas already for promoting the arts on campus.
Rochel Desir, the senior boy, one of those displaced
children from the earthquake, was the master of
ceremonies. He will be graduating from secondary
school this year and hopes to get future training in
computer science—something which may be possible
at the Hinche campus of the Autonomous University
of Port-au-Prince (if we can find the tuition funds!).
School principal Pettris Joseph in the midst of the residents
taking a pledge of allegiance to their new leadership
NOT EXACTLY AN INAUGURAL BALL
—BUT EVERYONE HAD A GREAT TIME!
In Haiti on New Year’s Day the custom is that every
household which is able prepares soupe joumou, or
pumpkin soup, the national dish. New Year’s is a major
family day with visitors coming and going all day
long, and a pot of soup is kept ready. Likewise at
Maison Fortuné! Following the installation of the new
leadership, everyone had soup, and then the partying
began!
The “inaugural platform” of the morning became a
stage in the afternoon, and dozens of various combinations
of the residents brought their singing, dancing,
joke-telling, and skit-performing talents before

an appreciative audience of their peers. There was even
a spelling-bee, which was won by Olichard Jacques, who
had earlier been installed as President of the Senate.
A black-clad very professional modern dance group composed
of Robinson, Livenson, Caleb, Djeff, and Kedner
were amazing.
Another group, which called themselves the LBC (Lucky
Boys Crew) Hip Hop Dance, performed in English—they
included Maxson, Caleb, Gregory, and Vanes.
The acts continued well into the evening—until 11:00
p.m., as a matter of fact. The members of the audience
came and went, as did the performers, and during the
breaks the little kids got up on the stage quite spontaneously
to show what they could do!
For the first week they selected a Mary—our 8 th grade
student, Marie-Denise; an Angel Gabriel—Dorcius Frido, a
7 th grader; and a narrator—Alizard. Under the direction
of Delince Charles, the cast practiced and practiced;
chose appropriate costumes (different colored sheets
draped over their shoulders), and to the amazement of
all the residents here, Sunday’s improvised reading came
alive, especially as Frido entered with a twirl from the
school’s balcony to greet Mary seated under the mango
tree! I shared the reflections using various images of
Mary from religious calendars, and so Advent began!
On the third Sunday we celebrated the Visitation and
continued through Advent until Christmas arrived. We
celebrated Jesus’ birth with a festive liturgy and continued
with a special meal of chicken, and then non-stop
music and dancing into the night on the balcony of the
school building.
Hinche celebrated its patronal feast on December 8 th , the
feast of the Immaculate Conception. All the students enjoyed
a two-day holiday from school, and several of our
students braved the crowds at the cathedral to join the
bishop and the majority of priests from the diocese for
this festive occasion. Protesters (from the recentlyannounced
elections results) politely waited until Mass
was over!
These little guys got up quite spontaneously to show that
they could sing and dance too!
The great thing about all of this was that it was all prepared
by the children themselves with little or no adult
help. It was clear that we have very talented kids at Maison
Fortuné.
REFLECTIONS OF BROTHER MICHAEL
McCARTHY. CFX
Brother Mike sent us this reflection before Christmas
How do you make the wonder and miracle of Advent’s
message concrete and meaningful to a group of 240 boys
and girls at Maison Fortuné, with ages ranging from 3 to
25 That was the question the Spirituality Team wrestled
with at the end of November. They decided on preparing
a series of dramas for the Sunday prayer services during
the four weeks of Advent, beginning with the Annunciation,
moving to the Visitation, proceeding to Joseph’s
dilemma with Mary, and concluding with the joy of the
Infant’s birth.
Cholera has been present in Hinche, but thanks be to God
and a good educational program here, we have had no
cases at the orphanage. The hospital has equipped five
tents, placed on the front lawn, to handle the patients
seeking care. The midwives who have been living a week
at a time with us here at the orphanage have been volunteering,
mostly at night, to assist the nurses and doctors.
The conditions are primitive, but greatly appreciated by
the patients, the majority of whom can depart after
three days of rehydration through IV-solutions and constant
drinking. When I was there helping in the early
days, and asked a nurse how the situation was, she said it
was improving: “More people are coming, but fewer people
are dying.”
Bingo was such a hit with the students here the final
week of summer vacation that Frenel Jean-Dieudonné,
our activities director, announced that a second session
would take place during the Christmas vacation. Sixteen
people at a time can play on the four tables in the game
room, and we had two sessions. Coveted prizes included
a watch and big bottles of shampoo—requiring two wins.
A one-time winner could choose from a deck of cards, a
large toothpaste plus deodorant, baseball hat, batteries
and headset for little radios, etc. Everyone had a great
time and are eagerly awaiting the Easter vacation games.
Our two chess aficionados here on campus, Alizard Mercidieu
and Fernand Louis, sponsored an inter-school chess
tournament in which several of our orphanage residents