Sister Dona

Haiti has approximately 30,000 abandoned and homeless children. Sister Dona spends 75% of her time on the streets of the Haitian Diaspora raising funds to feed, house and obtain medical care for over 400 of them in Kenskoff, Port-de-Paix and Jacmel. She collects donations in a little box with a picture of Jean Jacques Dessalines on it hoping to instill national pride. She sends what she collects to Haiti daily.

100 homeless students were cared for at her Kenskoff school campus which is equipped with girls and boys dormitories, commercial grade cooking facilities, a cafeteria, and classrooms for primary and secondary school students.

Sister Dona was arrested for openly defying government officials in 2012. The Haitian government ignored pleas and inquiries from many sectors of the Haitian community, the Catholic hierarchy including the pope, and international human rights organizations. She spent over three years in jail during which time the school became incapable of operating. The Haitian government provided no concession for the children and they returned to the street.

The school was still under reconstruction from the 2010 earthquake when it was severely damaged by hurricane Matthew. It’s in dire need of repairs and a new septic system needs to be installed, but priority is given to a medical facility due to the recent pandemics such as the cholera outbreak and all other funds have been allocated for food.

Please donate through You Caring by clicking here and help us repair Sister Dona’s school for homeless children. 

Soeurs Redemptrices de Nazareth is a 501c3 charitable educational institution registered in the United States. All donations are tax deductible. Thank you so much for your support.

Below are gifts we issue as tokens of appreciation. We sincerely thank you for your support.

Donate $15.00 & receive: Dezire OR Baron by Jazz Pyebwa — This item is not sold anywhere and is available

Donate $25.00 & receive: Baron AND Dezire by Jazz Pyebwa — These items are not sold anywhere and are available only through download

Donate $50.00 & receive: donation we will send you the album “Legba Suite” by Jazz Pyebwa — This item is sold in our store (available for download as a gift option upon confirmation of your choice via email)

Donate $55.00 & receive my book: Anse-à-Vodou: A Summer with My Father in Haiti

Heart of the World

Mamo Duringa, the Kogi mamo (holy man)pictured here  is over approximately 130 years old. When his mother was pregnant with him other mamos came to her and told her she was carrying one of them. When he was born he was taken into training and given just enough light so that he wouldn’t go blind as he developed his inner vision in meditation until he was an adolescent. He’s spent his entire life meditating and visioning. 

 

 

My Book is Out

Kogi (46 of 156)

Excerpt from my book:

A field is an anomaly that cannot be accurately described, because
it must be felt. When the electricity in the air is so strong that people
look at each other and say What is that?, and there’s nothing to see or hear or smell, they’re in a field. Everyone lives in their own field, but I don’t notice most people’s or even my own unless I’m consciously paying attention. Some human fields are so big they radiate for miles, and there are countless non-human fields interacting with us. When the hairs on the back of my neck stick up, or I get goosebumps for no reason, or I feel suddenly joyful or tingly or short of breath, or my heart suddenly starts beating faster, I’m feeling a field. It can be the field of a person or of any of the countless energetic beings – each has its own field.
I looked to Merriam-Webster, where I always turn for something
profound in a definition, and loved what I read.

FIELD 1 a (2) : an area of land marked by the presence of particular
objects or features <dune fields>; 2 a : an area or division of an
activity; 3 : a space on which something is drawn or projected; 6 a :
a region or space in which a given effect (as magnetism) exists; 8 : a
complex of forces that serve as causative agents in human behavior.

My hunch is that the more powerful spirits create large fields,
energetic places in spacetime that keep the “real world” with its pain
and suffering and general problematic hardness at bay, or outside. When I’m in a field it’s like being in an energetic bubble where everything and everyone is peaceful, happy, and loving. Of course, there are also unpleasant fields, like those pervaded by darkness and hopelessness, which have terrified me. I wanted to believe they could no longer trap
me. I wanted to believe that the warmth and love I felt in this moment would be with me forever.

The field of Haitian Vodou was electric and so alive it literally
took my breath away. The electric current that moved through me
cleansed my body. It was like an invisible Dr. McCoy scanning me with a Star Trek tricorder to heal me of all physical, emotional, and mental pain. It was a safe feeling – comfortable, peaceful, joyful, and full of unconditional love. If nothing else happened in Haiti, if not one lwa or gede had greeted me or blessed me or talked to me, the bliss of that field would have been miracle enough. But I was only able to keep my heart open and my mind sharp for a few minutes before contracting thoughts entered my awareness. How often had I heard “If it’s too good to be true, don’t trust it”? It did feel good, too good, like I should pinch myself and wake up.

dlo dous veve