Petionville Ward

During the January trip, we paid a visit to the LDS Ward in Petionville, a city just up the hill from Port-au-Prince. Over 600 church members and their friends called the church grounds home in the weeks following the earthquake. Dennis Romboy and I decided to spend a day and a night with them before heading back home to Utah as a final story. (We thought we were leaving the next day...didn't end up happening.)

Every age and social class were represented, and although everyone seemed to be making the best of the situation, they seemed to carry the heavy knowledge that the tents, tarps and blankets were only temporary. Where they would go next was uncomfortable to think about. After the sun set, visible parts of the ground began to disappear. I spoke with the people there, some very chatty and others still half dazed and shocked from the earthquake days earlier. One group of three ladies taught me some phrases in Creole and giggled when we compared photos of loved ones. We slept surrounded on all sides, serenaded by softly sung Creole hymns. The Bishop of the congregation had been put in charge just a month or so before the earthquake. His eyes were worried and quiet, yet somehow reassuring.

Dennis' article on the ward is HERE.