CHEMIN KWA PEP AYISIAN The People of Haiti - Stations of the Cross The fourteen stations of the cross is a journey through the streets of Port-au-Prince guided by Ron Voss of the Visitation House. This tour visits locations where many recent historical events took place. It is a pilgrimage honoring some of the champions of Haiti's struggle for democracy Introduction
Letter from President Aristide   Since we began celebrating the resurrection at the Foundation and at my home as part of the Stations of the Cross, I have had the opportunity to meet with hundreds of American friends led by our dear Brother in Christ, Ron Voss. Spending time together we celebrate the 15th station of the cross, the station of resurrection. Discussing Haiti and the world, is always a rich and educational experience for me. It gives me the opportunity to meet with Americans who are responding to Haiti with their hearts, who see not only the misery, but also the richness of my country and people. The resurrection is a living process. It is taking place today throughout Haiti. It is taking place socially, culturally, economically and spiritually. As each of you returns home and continues to work for resurrection in some form, know that Haiti’s doors are open to you. We look forward to seeing you on future visits to Haiti, and to finding ways to deepen the bonds of solidarity and spirituality that link us as human beings. May the Lord bless you and our dear Brother in Christ, Ron. Jean-Bertrand Aristide
A mural at the entrance of Parc Izmery, adjoining Visitation Home depicts fifteen stations; places where many of the martyrs for Haiti’s freedom have been made. Delegations of foreign visitors are invited on this pilgrimage through the streets of Port Au Prince, to learn of the Haitian's struggle for democracy and changes; to give witness by visiting these sacred sites to the solidarity most all of our delegations feel with the Haitian people. At each of these sites, a short story from history is told of the event(s) that made this place sacred. An opportunity for shared prayer is offered and a Kreyol song from the Ti Legiz is sung. That song is known by just about every Haitian and is itself a prayer, asking God’s Holy Spirit to descend upon us and enable us to more clearly understand our personal and collective mission for Haiti. o Lespri Sen Descen sou, Nou genyen misyon pou Ayiti o Lespri Sen descen sou, Nou genyen misyon pou la te-a.
1. Saint Jean Bosco: This is the burned out shell of then Father Aristide’s parish church. It is a site of great historical importance, where the democratic movement in Haiti found its loudest voice and its source of strength. On September 11, 1988, a massacre by the Tonton Macoute and Haitian military was carried out against this congregation during Mass. it is this event that Father Aristide will eventually call a victory, for the side of the martyrs, for out of this brutal tragedy, hope was born for a whole generation of Haitian people.
2. Cite Soleil: The Western hemisphere’s most desperate slum area where a quarter of a million people try to survive. The site we visit is where twelve hundred homes were destroyed and twenty-seven people killed two days after Christmas in 1993. The area was eventually cleared and hope again emerged from this massacre as houses, streets, sewers and water sources were constructed.
3. Fort Dimanche: This site is the remnants where the infamous torture prison of the Duvalier dictatorship stood. Perhaps 60,000 people died during those years, many of them within this prison. It would take volumes to recount the stories of those terrifying and repressive years. The prison became the symbol of those years and actually became a museum during Aristide’s Presidency. Following the coup d’etat, it once again became a death camp. When President Aristide returned from exile on October 15, 1994, the people dismantled most of Fort Dimanche block by block to build homes.
4. The waterfront: Here we ponder the water that separates Haiti and the United States. We remember the tens of thousands of refugees lost at sea fleeing the political and economic nightmare in Haiti. A third of these people now live in other countries. We recall some of the history that has transpired in this water and rededicate ourselves to the important bridge building that is taking place, offering hope for the future.
5. American Embassy: To arrive here we pass the City Hall, the Parliament and the United Nations Park. The history of Haiti and the United States has been interwoven, for better for worse, from the very beginning. We remember some of that history and dedicate our efforts, as foreign guests in Haiti, to empowering the Haitian people and enabling their quest for economic and political freedom.
6. This station is in two parts and commemorates the third anniversary of the coup d’etat, September 30, 1994, when hundreds of thousands of Haitian people were able to assemble for the first time since the coup began. The Mass at the Cathedral and march that was to proceed to the National Cemetery to bury the coup once and for all was met by members of FRAPH and the last massacre of the coup years ensued. We drive the route of this march and remember the events of that day.
7. National Palace or "White House" via Supreme Court: The history that could be told at this site could take days, we focus on the recent years, including President Aristide’s enormous victory in the first free election in Haiti’s long history. We talk about the two coups of 1991, Aristide’s return in 1994, and the first non-violent transfer of power in 1996.
8. The former military headquarters: When the Haitian military was disbanded, President Aristide presented this building to the newly founded Ministry of Women’s Conditions. We remember the brave women who continue to be the hope for Haiti’s future.
9. Man of Peace: This statue commemorates the six thousand known victims of the three years of the coup d’etat. The statue was dedicated February 5, 1996, and the plaque below it reads, "Our blood has fallen on the ground so that Haiti would not have to remain downtrodden - on the ground." We also acknowledge the Neg Mawon statue, a tribute to the slave revolt that succeeded in 1804 against the French colonialists, creating the Independent Haiti.
10. Catholic cathedral of Notre Dame: The history here is plentiful. Many events that transpired here are recalled and the role of the church in Haiti is explored.
11. Sacre Couer: This is the where two men dedicated to a democratic and constitutional Haiti were gunned down in 1993. On September 11, the fifth anniversary of the Saint Jean Bosco massacre, Antwan Izmery, a friend and supporter of the exiled president, Aristide, was taken during Mass and executed on the street. Visitation House is the former home of Antwan given by him prior to his death. Parc Izmery, is dedicated to him as are many neighborhood projects, in the new Antwan Izmery Center for Peace. He was an outstanding and courageous man and his story gives life and strength to the fledgling democracy in Haiti. We retrace Antwan’s last steps to arrive at memorial busts that are a monument to him and his brother George, who was also assassinated for the democratic cause.
12. The Minister of Justice, Guy Mallory, was killed in approximately the same place one month later. It was perhaps the most hopeless time of all in Haiti’s recent history.
13. We then visit the site where Father Jean Marie Vincent, perhaps Haiti’s most popular priest and leader of one of the earliest peasant organizations. On August 28, 1994, three weeks before a U.S. led intervention. Father Vincent was brutally murdered at the front gate of the Montfort priests’ home in Port Au Prince. He is buried in the same place and we sing at his grave to witness to his good works.
14. The fourteenth station is around the corner at La Famni Selavi, Father Aristide’s orphanage, begun in 1986. It was fire bombed a few days before his inauguration as President and completely burned down during the coup. It has been rebuilt and now, with the addition of the girl’s orphanage next door, and stands as a source of hope for the three hundred plus children who currently find refuge here.
The last hours, death, and burial of Jesus are commemorated in the popular devotion of the Stations of the Cross. Christians know that the story does not end with Good Friday, but continues with the Resurrection. The victory over even death is a life giving belief for the Christian community. For the same reason, we make our way to the Resurrection station of the Jean-Bertrand Foundation and we are given a share in the hope that the Haitian people are discovering there. The final stop of this journey, if possible, is a visit to the rebuilt home of President Aristide. Here we will have an opportunity to meet with him and his family to experience something of the remarkable personal story of this prophetic and priestly voice of the poor, who became their president.
Note:A special thanks to President Aristide for his extra ordinary hospitality over the years of our making the stations. also to Carolyn Crowe for her generous efforts in creating and publishing this information. And my deep gratitude to the thousands who have given their witness on this pilgrimage to the solidarity we feel with the Haitian people’s struggle for a real democracy Ron