EWTN Noticias Interview
Interviewer Ana Paula Morales
Sister Paese, thank you very much for accepting this interview for EWTN. We are very happy that you can be with us today. Could you tell us why the media has been talking about Haiti and suddenly the news has decreased so much? What do you think is the reason for this?
Sr. Paesie
Good morning.
I think that in the media field it is always like this. When something like this happens. From the beginning, it has always been a somewhat difficult situation, because in this neighborhood there have always been conflicts between armed groups. But the current situation mainly affects the poorest. For more than four years, because of the violence, the street markets can no longer operate. It has become very dangerous for people to travel to the market. For example, women have to cross fire lines to go to the market. People lived off the street markets. So the consequence for the most vulnerable families is that they have become increasingly poor and that daily life has become increasingly difficult. Even, for example, to access water, to get water. In that sense, it is especially the lives of people in the slums that are not practical. For us, our apostolate, our service to the poor, continues. Our schools continue to function. Our catechism centers continue to function.
Interviewer Ana Paula Morales
Sr. Paesie explains that in their organization they have six shelters for children who lived on the street and now reside there permanently.
Sr. Paesie
The mission of the Church... The mission of the Church in general is to be the presence of Jesus. And I think that this is what it is today in slums for children whose parents cannot afford education. In the foster homes, children receive ongoing support, including education and activities. The presence of priests and nuns in the different parishes, especially in neighborhoods where there has been a lot of violence, is very important because it helps people, maintains hope and believes that Jesus is really there with them.
But for me, I know what that represents for the people, but at the same time, I also see people evangelizing me, in the sense that I see the courage, the patience they have. It makes me see that the Lord is really present with them, despite the terrible things, really, the great violence they have experienced. Often, the fact that they maintain a certain peace inside is, for me, a proof that Jesus is there with them.
It's a family composed of several types of people. It's evident.
Interviewer Ana Paula Morales
Your religious family, what is the charism?
Sr. Paesie
Before the founder of the Kizito family, I was a sister of Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity.
Then, the charisma of the Kizito family, is not a new charism. Mother Teresa, before the foundation, Jesus had shown her a group of very poor children who were in the dark, in the shadows, and Jesus said to Mother Teresa, “Do you see these children? They don't love me because they don't know me. You will take my light among them.”
When I heard these words of Jesus to Mother Teresa, and saw the children in the streets of Port-au-Prince, I really felt that Jesus asked me the same, to live this request, to take the light of Jesus to his children, so that they learn to know Jesus. In that sense, I would say that it is the same charisma as Mother Teresa. It is not a new charisma, but it is another way of living it, especially here in Port-au-Prince. The sisters of Mother Teresa are also in Haiti, but mainly do medical work, they have dispensaries, and I felt that Jesus asked me more in terms of evangelization and protection of the children.
Interviewer Ana Paula Morales
What are the hopes and plans for the future for the family of Kizito, and for Haiti in general?
Sr. Paesie
My hope is not necessarily that there will be more homes, but that we can respond to this call of Jesus and to his desire to help children to know him, to discover him and to love him. That is really my hope for the Kizito family.
We hope that the general situation will change so that the poor will be relieved of the terrible suffering they are suffering right now because of the violence and the poverty.
Interviewer Ana Paula Morales
If you want to collaborate with the organization, visit their website at www.kizitofamily.org
