Healing Gardens of Hôpital Sacré Coeur

By Karen Ribeiro

Gardens are naturally a source of connection to the earth and to a grounded, slower pace that can heal the spirit, feed the mind, and nourish the body. The care and attention given to the plantings surrounding Hôpital Sacré Coeur is noteworthy. Vibrant colors of fuchsia, coral and sunny yellows dutifully reflect the bright energy of the Haitian people. And the youth are getting into the action, planting and tending to the growing flora.

Two boys, Alandi and Frisnel, pictured here, have planted banana trees and have lovingly tended to a variety of seedlings, proudly and patiently watching them grow.
 

Both Alandi and Frisnel are orphans who regularly help out on campus, giving back to the earth what they receive through gentle encouraging staff and volunteers at the hospital. What a great experience!

Right behind the pediatric wing of Hôpital Sacré Coeur is an elegant red tiled garden. Here visitors are greeted by healthy trees and smooth stone benches that invite them to pause and reflect in the presence of sacredness. Here families of children in the hospital’s care find great solace as they consider the blessings of life and pray for healing. This garden is called Our Lady of Children and it has a very special story.
 
 

Haitians are incredibly resilient and have suffered so very much. In Haiti, good health is not taken for granted like it is in America. And when a family suffers the loss of a loved one, or must bear heartbreaking news, they deserve a place of sanctuary.

In 2008, a small child died amidst particularly tumultuous hospital intensity. The chapel was closed and there was not one suitable place for the family to go to escape and clear their heads. A few helping hands, including Tim Traynor and John Gilbertie, got together to do something about it. They removed the adjacent latrine, cleaned up the area, and transformed the side yard into a small garden with shrubs and flowers.
 

Shortly thereafter Tim had a vision, a nighttime dream so powerful that he woke up and drew the image exactly as it had come to him. The image was of a woman holding an infant and gliding over a morning mist with her robe trailing behind. As blessings go, local artist Michel Myrbel and his son Michelette were commissioned to bring this vision to life . . . a beautiful piece of art to properly celebrate the renewal of this blessed space.

“The CRUDEM board’s approval gave us the perfect opportunity to build a small garden in honor of those who had perished, while offering a place of comfort for those who waited for their miracle to happen,” remembers Tim Traynor.
 

Now this stunning Creole Madonna, expertly crafted and fired from native red clay, watches over the Our Lady of Children Garden. She is inscribed with the powerful invocation “Beni Timoun Yo” or Bless the Children. This phrase is remarkable, pregnant with meaning and significance, not simply due to the Madonna’s proximity to the children being cared for at the hospital. This phrase, Beni Timoun Yo is also referenced in the Haitian Creole Bible, Genesis 48 (Jenez) in the first of many scriptural instances of the laying on of hands, where Jacob is formally and lovingly blessing his two grandchildren. Interestingly, Jacob gives his second grandson the privileged first-born blessing and reverses the prominence over the second born.
 

Perhaps there is a second blessing in this phrase, and the work of art carrying it, that extends auspicious sovereignty to all Haitian people?

Think for a moment about the amazing things one does by hand. The trees and shrubs planted by volunteer youth, the vegetable gardens tended to by Sister Ann Crawley, the incredible handcraft of the Creole Madonna demonstrated by Michel and Michelette Myrbel . . . How about the precision of the surgeon’s hand, the expert touch by the nurse’s hand, the open hands inviting others to gather for a meal, the clapping hands that make another’s heart sing, the healing touch of a loved one?
 

The gardens surrounding Hôpital Sacré Coeur are bountiful and beautiful and are the gift of many hands. The varieties of trees cover an abundant array of fruits including banana, coconut, orange, grapefruit, star fruit, breadfruit, and of course mango. Some of these were planted by Brother Yves back in the 1970’s and they hold the memory from each stage of the hospital’s history with CRUDEM! There are also palm trees, coffee and cacao, mahogany and caya trees standing tall and strong. Sister Ann’s vegetable garden is growing and feeding patients of the hospital, offering love-tended nourishment for those patients who do not have families present to feed them.