Loading...On a trip to the Eastern United States for the ordination of the 10th bishop of the diocese of Atlanta, Haitian priest Pére Jean Jacque Déravil visited with Bishop Young and other friends in the Diocese of East Tennessee. He traveled through Chattanooga, Oak Ridge and Knoxville, and stopped by the Diocesan House on Oct. 8. Déravil said he loves to travel to “meet with old friends and make some new ones.”
Cameron Ellis, a parishioner of St. Stephen, Oak Ridge, and a Bishop and Council member, accompanied Déravil on the portion of his trip in the Middle East area of the diocese. Ellis has traveled to Haiti multiple times, and met Déravil several years ago. The two have worked together in conjunction with many mission-based work trips.
Déravil has traveled extensively in the US, talking and preaching about Haiti, and has many friends in East Tennessee, including a more than 10 year friendship with the Rev. John Talbird. Déravil and Talbird have worked together on several projects, particularly with St. John the Evangelist School in Petit Harpon, and the Hopital Sainte Croix in Léogâne.
Now based in Montrouis, Déravil is the priest at St. Paul, near the bay, and St. Marc in a more inland and mountainous community called Bois Blanc. Once the location of an Episcopal seminary, and although a beautiful beach tourism destination, the Montrouis area suffers from extreme poverty. Déravil has started a micro loan program to help struggling families, especially those who cannot survive on subsistence farming or who own no land.
Ellis explained that the loans are in two groups. “The first is to women for cottage industries. The second is ‘loans’ to children in the form of goats. A female goat is provided to the accepted applicant, and the first kid born is returned to Déravil after it is weaned. The kid is then given to someone else. The child and his or her family keep the female goat and all other kids.” Déravil said this program is a successful one and he has implemented an effective structure to keep it going.
Déravil said he enjoys all his travels in the United States but on this trip, he has particularly enjoyed Rock City and the Incline Railway on Lookout Mountain. He traveled from Knoxville to Sewanee and will be in Atlanta for the ordination Oct. 13 of Bishop-elect Robert Wright as the 10th bishop of the Diocese of Atlanta.
St. Stephen is accepting contributions for Prayer Books for Déravil’s two congregations. If you would like to make a contribution, you may send a check payable to St. Stephen, with “Haiti Prayer Books” in the memo line. St. Stephen’s address is 212 North Tulane Avenue Oak Ridge, TN 37830; the church phone number is 865-483-8497.
A group from St. Stephens was in Haiti in June 2012 working with the Children’s Nutrition Program of Haiti, and the church is planning another trip to Haiti in early 2013. “We at St Stephen's are looking at the second week of January for a good solid work trip. This will be to the church/clinic in the mountain community of La Crete, Petit Harpon region,” Ellis said.
The Diocese of Haiti, established in 1861, is the largest diocese in the Episcopal Church, with over 80,000 members, 97 churches, and 256 Episcopal schools. The Episcopal Diocese, as a Haitian institution, provides healthcare, education, cultural and community support -- educating more students than does the government. The per capita income in Haiti is about $480 a year, slightly less than in Zimbabwe. (As reported in “Rebuild Our Church in Haiti”; sources: the Office of the General Convention as of January 2010 - Table of Statistics of The Episcopal Church from the 2008 Parochial Reports and NationMaster.com.)
