Wòb Benediksyon Ak Malediksyon

 

Ala benediksyon k ap simen

Anwo moun ki derefize trennen

Ap mache pran konsèy kay sasen!

A la simen benediksyon ava simen

Anwo sila a ki pa rete a rebò chimen

Ap benyen nan sòs ak zòt k ap fè tenten!

A la simen benediksyon Bondye va simen

Anwo tout moun ki pa chita ap plede fè zen

Ansanm ak moun ki pa pran Bondye pou anyen!

A la farinen gras ap farinen

Anwo moun, poutan, k renmen

Ap yaya kò l nan pawòl la san fren

Ap medite sou li lannwit kou lajounen!

Ann di moun sa a se koupe tèt nèt

Ak yon pyebwa ki grandi bò dlo frèt,

Atoutan ki bay donn kon sezon l parèt,

Ak bon frechè, tout fèy li yo ret byen vèt,

Alawonnbadè, sèlman siksè, janmen fè pèt.

Ak mechan yo, se pa konsa sa ye, tande!

Apa  se pay chèch van gaye pasipala yo ye!

Akòz sa  pyès p ap chape lò jou jijman an rive.

Asanble moun sove yo p ap gen plas pou move je.

Ak rezon paske Bondye rekonèt ki kote jis yo aprale;

Afè k gade mechan yo! Yo tout gen pou disparèt nèt ale.

“Welcome Baby boy”, said the midwife with joy as she cuddled him with love, tenderness and care. Suddenly she stared at him and said, “Louisena, Oh poor baby! He is ugly. He looks just like you; nothing for his father!” “Look at his nose! It will grow big and flat.” “Louisena, why did you do that to him?” She thought it was funny…

Grandma was a very beautiful black female but her skin was very dark. After more than three centuries of white men’s dominance, the damage in our brain is so big that we are confused when it comes to beauty. The closer the look is to our former masters, the more beautiful we claim it to be. The more it looks like our ancestors, the uglier we think it is.

The midwife continued, “How are you going to call him?” And With a feeling of relief and happiness, Grandma replied, “I will name my son Jean.”

“You can call your son Jean” said Louima, my grandpa, “but my son, I will name him after me. His name will be Louima, the second.”  Grandma and grandpa finally agreed to name Baby boy Jean Louima.

“Jean Louima”, shouted the voodoo priest. “I will find a better name for baby boy. Just wait for me. Let me call the good spirits.”

So, as Father came into this world, the poor little innocent was too young to imagine what kind of a world he was born into. The only thing special about Baby boy at birth is that he was the joy of his mother, the synonym of victory for the Voodoo priest, and the symbol of pride for his father. Other than that, he was a just a sample of man born to live and remain unnoticed.

Born in poverty, in a place where there was no electricity, no running water, no schools, no hospitals or medical clinics…,

Born into a family where nobody wore a pair of shoes and only a few rags were good enough to be called clothes…,

Born in a place where the most common, dependable and available means of public transportation are two God-given legs..,

Born in a country where you suffer the worst of all prejudice just because of being born in the mountains.  – In Haiti, the word “Urban” and “Peasant” are written in bold characters on a birth certificate. Everywhere a person goes, his birth certificate is there to remind him who he is. If someone was born in a rural section, he is rustic – No. Father had nothing special that could ever turn him into a hero.

So, having been born in the mountain, he could only expect mockery, scorn and humiliation. He was only doomed to failure ever since the very first day he was brave enough to enter the world of the living. He was a baby but some silent questions unconsciously echoed in and bombarded his mind.  Weren’t you born in the mountains? Stay there, or expect the consequences.  Will you for any reason decide someday to go to town?  – Well, wait and see! The moment the smell of that town is heavy in the air, other rural people who live closer to town will begin to call you names, all kinds of names: “Nèg Mòn” meaning “Mountain man”; “Nèg fèy” meaning “People of the forest”; “Kòk Montay” meaning “The roasters of the mountains”;  “Gwo djo” meaning “uneducated”; “Gwo soulye” or “Gwo Zòtèy” meaning “Big feet” and so forth… Father had everything to be a miserable failure, but never a hero.

“It is your decision to go to town”. Continued the silent voice. “Good! But the sooner you can leave, the better it is for you”.  “Y ap giyonnen w” meaning they will make fun of you. “Y ap chare w!” meaning they will copy you off. A saying goes like this: “Mountain people will only be what their ancestors had always been until the mountains are leveled up with the valleys.” This message is clear. In a country where even people in cities are deprived of the most basic needs, there is no plan at all for “mountain people”. Sorry, little boy! You cannot be a hero. You are born to be a shame. No education for you, little boy. You dared to come to the world of the living. You survived labor and birth. Now expect hunger, darkness, and lack of everything. If you survive adolescence, expect shame and humiliation. If you grow to adulthood, expect to be a nobody. The echo continued:

Baby boy! Baby boy! Baby boy!

Do you know what’s on your tray?

This hell of a world doesn’t play.

You’ll have to fight every day.

You’ll have to fight all the way

You can fight as you may

You won’t make it any way.

 

But How could Baby boy grow to become the father I knew?

How could he, against all odds, become a member of the crew?

How could he leave a legacy for everyone to follow?

Do you really want to know?  – Well, come back and you will know.

The woman in labor on that night of November 18-19, 1926 was not just a random person; it was actually my grandma. Louisena Fleurigène was not then the old woman that I knew of as my Grandma.  She was a much younger woman who was ready to raise children. However she had had several dreadful experiences and was not blessed with children. After fifteen years of free union with Louima Lilite, my grandpa, she only had  one five-year old girl: My auntie Sagrace.

Grandma was sad and felt frustrated. Nine years before Sagrace was born, she had given birth to her first daughter Sylvia. Unfortunately, she did not live long enough to know even her little sister Sagrace. Also, since Sylvia’s birth, every time she had given birth to a boy, he was a still-born baby.

And there she was expecting again. Her mind just wouldn’t remain still. She kept repeating silently, “Seven pregnancies, but only one child.” She loved Sagrace deeply and was thankful that she had her in her life. However, that didn’t satisfy her desire to have a son. She felt like she was going to faint as she kept recalling what she had been through.  “Will the same thing happen again?” she wondered. That feeling of fear, hopelessness and despair kept haunting her. – “Is it going to be a son?” she continued.  “Will my son live this time?” she added.  “What if the evil spirits destroy this one too?” She worried again. “Will the voodoo priest make it possible for him to live?” She asked again and again. The Voodoo priest had given her his words that he could make it happen, but Louisena Fleurigène didn’t know what to believe. She was suffering physically and mentally.  She was dying from anxiety and felt there was no way she could be freed from it.

Haiti is known for voodoo and witchcraft. In that remote area not far from the town of Jean-Rabel in Northwest Haiti, it looked like that was the only thing the people knew. The voodoo priest was firm about that. He made it clear that a witch had cast a spell on her and had sold her belly to the Devil. Though Louisena was convinced that wicked people, bad neighbors and evil spirits would never give her a chance to have a male child, she would not give up. She was a fighter and decided to press on. She was adamant about saving this coming baby. She sat down and thought it through. Finally, she had her mind made up, “I am not going to stay home this time. I am going to see the voodoo priest three months before my baby is due, and live at his house until after delivery.” Grandpa Louima had no objections…

It’s been now three months since Grandma Fleurigène had left the thatch-roof hut she called home. She had walked around 15 miles to be in a safe haven at last. The voodoo priest had accepted her into his dwelling place. The mud walls of the priest’s little hut were white and had different kinds of paintings on them. Each drawing seemed to have to do with certain spirits he was calling for help.

On that night of November 18-19, 1926, the moonlight was clear and bright. Captivated by the brightness of moon, and having realized that the day of the baby to be born had come, the voodoo priest started his ritual. He said that he felt the existence of certain energy and power in the moonlight. It was as if the star of the child to be born was made visible by the light of the moon. He started dancing at the beating of the drums, getting in trance while singing, sprinkling alcoholic beverages and other kinds of liquids on the ground as he tried to chase away the evil spirits of death. He was rocking, rattling and leaping as he chanted in a rhythm quite original to him.

 

Oh moonlight! O moonlight

It’s twilight and you’re bright

And bright you’ll be bright

Throughout the night, night, night

Please help this poor woman fight

Against the knights of the night!

 

O moonlight! O moonlight!

Chase away from my sight

The powers of the night;

Give me the strength to fight

Oh, yes, with all my might

Against the knights of the night.

And the midwife who was called to attend grandma took oil, rubbed Grandma’s belly as she hummed along. She whispered to Grandma a few words of encouragement here and a few words of comfort there. Finally she exclaimed, “ Oh yes, the baby is coming; Louisena, push with all your might! I feel it, I feel it. You are going to make it, and baby will make it too. Grandma groaned, grandma pushed; grandma moaned, grandma pushed… and soon afterwards a baby was crying. It was a boy. Father, my superhero was born on that morning of November 19, 1926.

It was a beautiful Thursday afternoon, November 18, 1926. In the different towns of the Western side of Hispaniola, most people were still in festive mood. A nation, proud of the deeds of its ancestors, was on its feet. This little piece of land of ten thousand seven hundred fourteen square miles, inhabited by former slaves, ancient French colony, had ousted France and its powerful army to become the first independent Republic of the New World. This very memorable day for Haiti and all Haitians, wherever they are on the face of the globe, was really worth celebrating.

The Spanish Rule

When the expedition led by Christopher Columbus set foot on the island on Wednesday December 5, 1492, they were stunned by the vegetation and the wealth there. The seven hundred thousand Taíno people who had been living peacefully and happily there did not have any idea what those criminals would do to them. Within twenty-five years, most of the Taíno had died from enslavement, massacre, or disease. By 1514, only 32,000 Taíno survived the privations, the misery and the abuse that the new settlers had inflicted them. Then Africans, which the Europeans called “Blacks” because of the color of their skin, were targeted, tracked, trapped and sold as “Slaves” to replace the Indians. The Spanish had had more or less control of the whole island for the next 200 years.

The French Rule

However, in 1625, led by the same spirits of conquest, some English and French pirates and filibusters arrived and kept fighting for an island of the size of 69 square miles on the Northwestern coast of Haiti. Due to its shape, Christopher Columbus had named the island “Tortuga”. The French, having been successful in expelling the English people, kept fighting their way through the main land. In 1697, Spain had to give up one third of the island to the French who, in their turn, will have control of its new colony until 1803. So, After two centuries of Spanish rule, the western part of Hispaniola was under the French rule for over one hundred years.

Indigenous Rule

Those slaves could not take it anymore. They had to do something to put an end to their plight. Rebellions led to revolts. Mulattos and Blacks joined forces together and took arms against the French. Through their resilience, and aided by a contagious deadly disease called the “Yellow fever” that had plagued on the French soldiers, they fought against the most powerful army of the World, the army of Napoleon Bonaparte. They came out victorious in the battle called “the Battle of Vertieres” on that Friday November 18, 1803, and claimed this piece of land theirs, a land of liberty for “Black People”, a land where they could live without the threat of being beaten for not providing hard labor for free. This is something that is incarnated in the blood, tattoed in the brain of every single person of Haitian descent. This is an act that calls for respect and honor to those valiant soldiers. Year after year, the date is celebrated with great respect as they think of famous people like Toussaint Louverture, Jean Jacques Dessalines, Alexandre Pétion, Jean Pierre Boyer, etc…

So, after 123 years of Creole rule, imagine on that Friday the thrill, the joy, the dance, the music, and the feeling of a nation that was until then the ONLY independent black nation within the Western Hemisphere. Imagine the beating of the drums, the resounding sounds of bullets that were shot as a remembrance of the victory at Vertieres. Envision the marching of the soldiers… Picture the whole scene as the military was going on a parade… Heads and chests up, guns on shoulders, obeying commands as they go: One, two, three…

… giving a real show

Of how it had happened years ago;

Some making music with bamboos,

Others hopping like kangaroos

Every one leaping like young gnus

Talking solemn like real gurus…

 

Little did they know that the same night would echo…

… the voice, in one of the mountain peaks in northwestern Haiti, of a woman in labor who was about to give birth on the following morning to …

a hero,

my superhero,

my successful superhero… whose life would have a great impact not only on me, and on a host of people in Haiti, but on a lot more people throughout the face of the globe…

… even on you.

Hello! Welcome !

I am glad that you have checked this out. We hope you are ready to embark with us on this exciting journey on the road to success.

Well, what is success to you? How would you assess someone’s life and determine whether he or she had lived a successful life or not?

You are going to judge for yourself. Fasten your seat belt, hold your breath. The journey has started as we will travel along with a superhero, a man who had gone through a lot in his life, and had made it over the top despite all odds.

Given the few opportunities life had offered to him, and so many obstacles that he had to overcome, he remains a motivation, an encouragement and a source of inspiration to all those who struggle to find their ways through the jungle of life. Sharing his life story with you is like a duty imposed on me. I would be too selfish to keep it for myself.

It is my hope that everyone can find through this a reason to believe and to hope beyond hope while trying hard to follow the footprints of this giant among man! Thank you for reading with interest,

For you can have success

Even if you’re in a mess,

To you, again, I confess

This story is here to bless

All those who feel in distress,

Or face all kinds of stress.

Please don’t think you are less;

For you, too, can have success.

Stop being hopeless or careless

Goodness of goodness, you can have success!

 

Your friend,

Jean.

2 Pierre 1 : 1-2

Simon Pierre, serviteur et apôtre de Jésus -Christ, à ceux qui ont reçu en partage une foi du même prix que la nôtre, par la justice de notre Dieu et du Sauveur Jésus -Christ: 2 que la grâce et la paix vous soient multipliées par la connaissance de Dieu et de Jésus notre Seigneur !

Ces deux versets qui servent d’introduction à la deuxième lettre de Pierre peuvent nous porter à réfléchir très sérieusement sur notre relation avec Dieu en Jésus-Christ, le comportement que nous devons afficher face aux rudes épreuves de la vie, et l’attitude que nous devons adopter face à certains messages qui circulent dans le secteur concernant Dieu, ses principes, ses plans et ses méthodes.  Nous vous invitons à jeter les regards sur le texte à partir de six points de mire:

1. Notre identité en Christ (1a, b)
2. La position de Christ dans la relation (1c)
3. La nature de cette relation (1c)
4. Le fondement de la relation (1c)
5. Notre attitude au sein de la relation (2a)
6. Le moyen de la relation (2b)

Avant même d’essayer d’élaborer sur ces différents aspects, il faut tout d’abord comprendre que l’épitre a été écrite au temps de l’empereur Romain Néron et que les persécutions des chrétiens étaient à leur comble. Pierre avait ce message d’encouragement à faire passer: “La foi en Dieu par Jésus-Christ doit être inébranlable. On ne doit pas se laisser intimider par les adversaires de l’Évangile. Rien ni personne ne doit dissuader le chrétien de baisser le bras et d’abandonner la foi.” Dès le début de la lettre, Pierre donne le ton tant dans sa présentation que dans sa salutation.

Il faut aussi remarquer qu’en dépit des atrocités que devaient faire face les croyants en Jésus-Christ, Pierre n’était pas venu avec un message proclamant la délivrance des fidèles, la puissance incomparable de Dieu pour terrasser les ennemis, ou la nécessité de la foi en vue de la victoire sur les adversaires. Au contraire, il a écrit pour leur demander d’utiliser leur foi et le fruit qui en découle comme une perle à leurs cous (Chapitre 1), de se mettre en garde contre les faux docteurs (chapitre 2) et de rester affermis dans la foi pour la simple et bonne raison que le retour de Jésus-Christ est imminent (chapitre 3).

Ce texte me fait penser aux trois jeunes hébreux : Hanania, Mischaël et Azaria, plus largement connus sous les noms de Schadrac, Meschac et Abed-Nego. Devant le courroux du roi Nébuchadnetsar, ils ont répondu qu’ils n’allaient adorer le statut quand même Dieu choisirait de ne pas les délivrer. Il est vrai que Dieu avait choisi de les délivrer, mais leur foi ne se basait pas sur la délivrance que Dieu allait leur donner, mais sur le fait que c’est l’Éternel qui est Dieu. La pure et simple vérité est que Dieu opère de temps en temps des miracles pour rappeler aux hommes qu’Il est là; mais d’une manière générale, Il n’accomplit pas de miracle. Il n’avait pas empêché le martyr d’Étienne, le décapitement de Saint Paul et de Saint-Jacques et la crucifixion de Saint Pierre. Il n’avait pas empêché les leaders religieux juifs de mettre la main sur Jésus, de le maltraiter et de le crucifier. Au cas où on aurait oublié, Jésus était mort et enterré à l’âge de 33 ans malgré sa foi inébranlable, sa puissance, ses vertus et sa gloire.

Le message de Pierre est direct : Gardez la foi en fonction de notre identité en Christ, en fonction du rôle de Jésus-Christ dans la relation, en fonction de la nature de la relation, en fonction du fondement de la relation et en fonction du moyen que Dieu nous donne pour entrer et demeurer dans cette relation. Que Dieu nous donne l’attitude appropriée à croire en Lui en dépit des circonstances fâcheuses que nous aurons vécues dans ce monde présent.

Chers chrétiens, chers amis, encourageons-nous les uns les autres par ces paroles et non pas par des messages présomptueux, émotionnels et impertinents. La vraie foi en Dieu est une foi désintéressée, c’est-à-dire qui cherche Dieu pour la qualité de la relation que Dieu offre à ceux qui croient en Lui, et non pas pour des avantages physiques, financiers, et sociaux.

Toute gloire soit à Dieu ! Amen. À la prochaine,

 

Ton serviteur,

Jean LILITE

SÒM CHWAZI

Se avèk anpil plezi

Nou prezante jounen jodi

Travay sa a ki fèt nan lespri

Pou ede piblik Ayisyen an jwi

Yon ti kal nan jan pèp Ebre a beni

Paske yo te ka li, yo te ka tande an pwezi

Bèl sòm sa yo Bondye te pèmèt pitit li yo ekri.

_______________________________

Nou pwofite okazyon sa a pou nou di mèsi

Ak tout moun ki te kontribye pou travay sa a reyisi:

Bondye, an premye, ki bay entèlijans, sajès ak lespri,

Pastè Desan Lilite, Papa nou, ki deja devanse nou nan lavi,

Tulia M. Lilite, manman nou, ki te pran tan aprann nou viv lavi,

Jodèle, madanm mwen, Ki konble m ak lanmou, pou m jwi lavi,

Tou le twa pitit fi mwen yo: Joska, Johana, Jodi ki te aksepte soufri

Paske anpil fwa yo te bezwen papa yo, msye te chita nan biwo ap ekri.

Jeanne Pierre, Azer Lilite, Obedda Alexis, Magda Bonny, Louima Lilite, mèsi

Se frè ak sè Bondye ban nou ak fanmi yo. Nan vi nou, yo te fasilite sajès blayi.

Tout frè ak sè Legliz Ayisyen Lagras nan chicago, tout Maranaten, maranatèn, Mèsi.

 

  “SÒM CHWAZI ” se yon konpilasyon 30 Sòm prezante an Pwezi nan lang Ayisyen natif natal. 29 nan Sòm sa yo soti nan Bib la. Gen yon Sòm nou rele Sòm Zero (0), Se Otè a ki konpoze l. Chwa sòm yo baze sou popilarite yo nan kominote kretyen Ayisyen an. Se yon premye egzemplè ki soti pandan dezyèm gwoup Sòm k apral fòme pwochen rekèy la rete sou fòm pwojè.

“SÒM CHWAZI ” pral atire lespri ak je moun paske mo yo chwazi avèk swen pou sòm yo ka rete mezi fidèl yo kapab ak mesaj tèks ki nan Bib la, men anmenm tan tou, pou yo briye pa mwayen yon chema ki ka ede moun sonje pi byen ki sòm ki ki sòm.

“SÒM CHWAZI ” se yon travay ki gen yon gwo valè pou literati lang Ayisyen an. Moun ka itilize l pou ede fè analiz literati, pou sipòte aprantisaj lekti, pou ede moun pale yon kreyòl ki koulan, epi pou fè pèp Ayisyen kenbe fyète yo sou kesyon lang Kreyòl, paske lang Kreyòl Ayisyen an se yon lang total kapital tankou nenpòt ki lòt lang li ye.

“SÒM CHWAZI ” se yon rekèy ki pral pouse plis Ayisyen renmen lang yo a. Lè sa a, y ap vini pi alèz chak jou pou yo lanse kò yo nan devlopman ekri tèks Kreyòl nan yon estil ki klè, ki pa konplike, men anmenm tan tou, ki bèl.

“SÒM CHWAZI ” ka sèvi nan plizyè domèn: Devosyon pèsonèl, Lekti nan Asanble legliz, Aprann timoun lekòl li avèk aksan, ak ponktyasyon, Aprann granmoun nan kou alfabetizayon li byen, epi Sèvi Sipò pou etidyan nan inivèsite k ap pran kou sou zafè pale an piblik.

“SÒM CHWAZI ” vini ansanm ak yon gwo bonis. Se yon bèl pwezi ki fèt avèk lapriyè n ap resite tout tan an, epi ki rele, “Papa Nou” ou byen “Orezon Dominical”. Lapriyè a prezante sou fòm yon flèch moute, paske se lapriyè n ap voye moute bay Papa Bondye nou an jan Mèt nou, Sovè nou, Jezi te aprann disip yo pou yo priye a.

“SÒM CHWAZI” nan pla men w! Ou kapab fè l tounen yon fontèn resous pou devlopman lavi espirityèl, entèlektyèl, sosyal, atistik, literè, kiltirèl, lengistik, ets… Ou kapab lage l tou nan depotwa, kite richès sa a gaspiye byen gaspiye. W a deside! Mèsi anpil.

Sòm 0

Bay Bondye Benediksyon!

Se yon sòm Pastè Jean Osée Lilite ekri

Pou mande moun pou yo louwe non Bondye.

Twofe Bondye Se Benediksyon Ki soti Nan bouch nou.

Sòm sa se yon travay ki fèt ak ladrès. Tout mo ki fòme Sòm sa a kòmanse avèk lèt “B” Li  se yon envitasyon pou bouch bave benediksyon sou Bondye paske Bondye merite pou nou beni non Li. Se pou Sòm sa a beni nanm nou tout!

Bouch!

Beni Bondye!

Bave Benediksyon!

Bay Bondye Benediksyon!

Blende bòl Bondye byen blende,

Blende bokit Bondye byen blende;

Bimen, byen badijonnen bab Bondye;

Bade, bonmen, boure biskèt Bondye;

Bwat, bokit, barik, bal benediksyon!

Byeneme Bondye bay bon basinay,

Bay Bondye bonkou benediksyon!

Bay Bondye barik benediksyon!

Brav, balanse bra bay Bondye!

Banbile, Banbile bay Bondye

 Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bouch, bobo Bondye!

Bobo L byen bobo!

Bave benediksyon!

Badijonnen bab Bondye,

Bondye bezwen benediksyon;

Bay, bay Bondye benediksyon!

Blende benediksyon bay Bondye

Bondye batay bat betizè byen bat,

Bonte Bondye balize bitasyon w

Byenfè Bondye brize barikad

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Byeneme Bondye Beni,

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye bay bonbon,

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye bay bravou

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye bare baton,

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye beni bag;

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye bay byen

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bondye Bon;

Bay Bondye benediksyon!

Bay Bondye benediksyon!