Volume 113, No. 10
Houston, Texas
Earthquake Doesn’t Legacy Stewardship is Shake Model forHaitian Tellelpsen Spirit Family
Presiding Bishop Katherine Jefferts Schori will celebrate at the 100th anniversary of St. Andrew’s, page 6.
Les Petits Chanteurs, a Haitian Episcopal children’s choir is touring to raise funds to rebuild their music school.
By Eliza McAllister
O
n January 12, 2010, the Holy Trinity Cathedral complex in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, was completely destroyed in the catastrophic earthquake that devastated the island nation. Les Petits Chanteurs (The Little Singers) is the boys choir of Holy Trinity Music School based at the Episcopal Cathedral complex. The choir is a select group of singers ranging in age from 8 to 18. Les Petits Chanteurs has just completed a Texas concert tour to raise funds to help rebuild their school. The spirited singers performed for more than 3,000 people at many benefit and school concerts, and chapel performances. In addition to raising more than $10,000, they also raised awareness of the musical traditions of Haiti and collected more than 80 donated musical instruments to take home. I talked with three of the boys from Les Petits Chanteurs just before their performance at St. Stephen’s Episcopal School, Austin. Though not related, they call one other “brothers.” They told me that all of the boys in the choir call each other brothers. Dean’o is 12 and speaks perfect English. He spent six months living with relatives in Yonkers, New York, after the earthquake, but he’s back in Port-au-Prince now. Dean’o is very well-spoken and polite, and kindly offers to help me with translation. Yesehua, 13, speaks little English other than the names of video gaming systems. “Xbox” seems to be universal. He is slight and has a lovely soprano voice.
December 2010
Beaunissant, 14, speaks some English. He is tall and athletic, preferring sports to video games. He’d like to be a scientist or a pilot one day. When I ask the boys what life is like now in Port-au-Prince, Dean’o tells me that everything is changing a lot. “There’s lots of building, but some people still don’t have houses – they live in tents in the park,” he says. “The cathedral broke off in the earthquake,” Beaunissant says. “At 4:22, everything was beautiful, and two minutes later, it broke off.” Beaunissant was in the music school when it collapsed. He said he didn’t know what to do – go get some help or help other people. “What did you do?” I asked. “I ran,” he said. Dean’o, Yesehua and Beaunissant are all living in houses now, but they are all very worried about the cholera epidemic Dean’o explains is “ravaging Haiti.” Yesehua quotes that 6,350 people have died and nine million are in the hospital. (At press time, the actual death toll was 1,100 with 20,000 infected) They don’t know anyone who is sick now, but they are concerned for their families. While they are touring Texas, they fear that their families back in Portau-Price may be sick. Dean’o is afraid for his mother and his baby sister, but tells me that he can’t call them because they told him not to use the phone. He says the taxes on the long-distance call are very expensive. I ask the boys what we can do to help make things better in Haiti and Yesehua says, “I don’t know how to make things better. I’m not the president.” “If you can help us, we will be glad,” Dean’o says. The Rev. David Cesar is the music school director. Before their final song See Les Petits Choir, page 19
INSIDE Bishops’ Calendars......................... 20 Bishop’s Column.............................. 2 Calendar of Events........................... 5
Diocesan News...................... 7-16 National & International..... 18-19 Sam Todd’s Column..................17 1
The new Texas Episcopalian quarterly magazine will begin publication March 1, 2011. Join us online for Texas Episcopalian • December 2010 breaking news at www.epicenter.org.