St. Pierre parish,
Baradères, Haiti
Sister parish of St. John the Baptist, Silver
Spring, Md.
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SJB parishioners do a lot of good in Baradères. We know that many people there—thousands—have benefitted in small or temporary ways. But it’s also certain that some lives have been transformed, including teenagers and young adults who now have much greater opportunities to attend a university—despite living in a rural backwater and having parents likely to be illiterate and extremely poor. SJB helps create these life-transforming opportunities for 250 children every day through its steady support of the Collège St. Jean Baptiste (CSJB), the secondary and high school of St. Pierre parish in Baradères. In reflecting on his January 2009 trip to Baradères, parishioner Dr. Jim Goedert laments that SJB medical teams can give only temporary relief—a month or so—to people with chronic diseases such as arthritis. But he paints a transformative picture for us. “Thousands would have relief for pennies a day, if there was a system of para-professionals to distribute over-the-counter analgesics.” He suggests how the people of Baradères might create such a system. They can, he says, draw upon an energetic and increasingly educated local resource: CSJB students. This could transform lives of students as well as those who suffer from chronic ailments.
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