a1659: Concert to Aid Haitian Children in Wappingers Falls, NY

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: JD Lemieux <lxhaiti@yahoo.com>

Friday, April 12, 2002

Power of music will help Haitian children
Concert will be Saturday
By Nicole Edwards
Poughkeepsie Journal


A 2-year-old whose body has been eaten away by parasitic
worms contracted simply by drinking water is a difficult
concept for most Americans to fathom.
But back in 1979, it was a reality the Rev. Paul Clayton,
Ph.D., rector of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in
Poughkeepsie, witnessed in Darbonne, Haiti.

Not all of his visits to the village trigger memories of
death and despair. But The Friends of Darbonne -- a mission
society involving St. Andrew's and Zion Episcopal Church in
Wappingers Falls and the Church of the Resurrection in
Hopewell Junction -- is working to change the terrible
images that do remain.

And others can help, too, when Zion hosts ''Songs for the
Children of Darbonne, Haiti'' on Saturday to further the
mission to educate and support the well-being of Darbonne's
people. The benefit concert will feature gospel singer
Gretchen Reed and tap dancer David Rider.

''We just want to raise as much money as we can and also
make people aware of the situation in Haiti,'' said the
Rev. Jerry Miller, rector at Zion Episcopal Church.

Haiti shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican
Republic. It is one of the poorest countries in the Western
Hemisphere, with nearly 80 percent of its 8 million people
living in poverty. Malnutrition, illiteracy, lack of
disease education and safe drinking water are among issues
keeping Haiti from competing in the global economy.

The Friends of Darbonne dates back to 1949. The late Rev.
J. Jack Sharkey met Octave LaFontant, a Haitian seminarian,
while serving with the United States Navy in the Carribean.
When Sharkey returned to the United States and became
rector of Zion Episcopal Church during the 1950s, he
decided to help raise money to assist LaFontant's goals of
opening churches, schools and a hospital in Haiti.

LaFontant's vision came closer to realization when a Zion
parishioner gave money from selling his airplane to
LaFontant, who used it to build the Holy Spirit School and
the Church of the Annunciation.

Major work in 1969

Since 1969, when the school was completed, six acres of
land in the southern sugarcane growing region have seen
construction of dormitories for students in the eight
missions associated with Darbonne, a medical training
center run by Holy Cross Hospital in nearby Leogone to
educate residents about parasitic diseases and AIDS, a
vocational high school and a hospital/dental clinic.

''When I visited there, the school had one floor and the
church was under construction,'' Clayton said.

Now, he added, the school has 750 students in kindergarten
through seventh grade generally fluent in French, English
and Creole and fairly advanced in algebra by fifth and
sixth grade.

The vocational high school trains more than 100 high school
and college-age students in nutrition, wrought-iron
artistry, plumbing and other trades. Clayton said Darbonne
has maintained a working well, ''otherwise, the only water
these people have to drink is water from irrigation
canals.''

He has witnessed how the efforts have helped. He said
LaFontant's son, Jacques LaFontant, a Holy Spirit School
alumnus, is now the doctor and director at the Holy Cross
Hospital.

''Father LaFontant is supposedly long retired, but his idea
of being retired is giving up being in charge of nine
congregations and establishing three new ones further
west,'' Clayton said. ''He is now about 85 and still going
strong.''

IF YOU GO
BENEFIT CONCERT
What -- ''Songs for the Children of Darbonne, Haiti,'' a
benefit concert featuring gospel singer Gretchen Reed and
tap dancer David Rider.

When -- Saturday, 7 p.m.

Where -- Zion Episcopal Church, 12 Satterlee Place,
Wappingers Falls.

Tickets -- $15.

Information -- Call (845) 297-1818 or the church office at
297-9797.




Copyright © 2002, Poughkeepsie Journal.


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