(ANS - Port-au-Prince) - Yesterday, 12 January 2016, was six years to the day since the devastating earthquake that shook Haiti. Two hundred students of the "Little Schools of Father Bonhen" died in the earthquake on 12 January 2010.  Mass was celebrated yesterday at the Salesian House of ENAM, right in the place where they are buried.

Fr Sylvain Ducange, Provincial of Haiti, presided at the Mass. It was attended by the Salesians of Don Bosco and the Salesian Sisters of the metropolitan area, along with post-novices, aspirants, pre-novices, management and teachers of the "Little Schools of Father Bonhen" and other employees of the vast work of ENAM.

Fr Jean Sylvain Jeannot, SDB, Vice-Provincial, gave the homily, after symbolically scattering flower petals on the place where the remains of the students are buried. "As this flower was stripped to honour our loved ones, so God became poor to enrich us” he said. “If Haiti is still suffering the after-effects of the earthquake after six years, it does not mean that God has abandoned us. He is a merciful God. It is he who allows us to be here today. It is he who teaches us the best prayer for all those who disappeared on that 12 January, in particular for our loved ones. Nothing can separate us from his love for us. "

The celebration brought back many memories: as well as the many students who perished in the collapse of the school, there were also the late lamented Salesian Brother Hubert Sanon and the three other young Salesians killed on that occasion.

After the Mass the Salesians went to Quisqueya University, where two young Salesians are buried. There, in a room built in memory of the students affected by the disaster of 12 January, they recited Morning Prayer for all the university students who died there, especially the Salesian students: Wilfrid Atismé, Valsaint Vilbrun and Pierre Richard René.

The whole morning continued in an atmosphere of meditation and deep reflection on the fragility of life on earth.

Published 13/1/2016