{Posted by Troy Rysedorph}

Shortly after our arrival to Cerca Carvajal, we were introduced to the translators we’d hired to help us through our week of activities, meetings, and interactions.  We met Laprade.  Laprade is from Hinche and studies Agronomy in Port-au-Prince.  Fednel is also from Hinche.  And finally Joseph.  Joseph has been a translator for 8 years and after a break of many years has gone back to High School in Hinche where he has three years left.  Each of these fine young men “skipped school” for a week in order to earn money by being our translators.

While each of the three translators performed their duties admirably, it was Joseph who distinguished himself during our trip.  It makes me happy just thinking about him and I want to tell you all about this remarkable young man.  It did not take but one day for Joseph to emerge as more than an English-Kreyol-French translator.  In a previous post, I mentioned that we’d visited a classroom studying English, but with no English teacher.  This was the 12^th Grade.  [Schools in Haiti go up to the 13^th grade, but Holy Family School does not yet have a 13^th Grade, so these are the most advanced students in the school.]  As a Haiti Committee member, I noted this unfortunate condition for future consideration.  In contrast, Joseph took immediate action.  The very next day and for the next four days, Joseph, and his trusty assistant Max Turkaly, became the Holy Family School English teacher!  Joseph saw an opportunity to use his talents to raise up others, and he wasted no time doing so.  Every time you turned around, Joseph and Max were over at the school, teaching English—I was simply astounded!  Joseph expected and received no monetary compensation for his work.  Instead he received overwhelming gratitude from his students, and us, the seven travelers. 

Joseph was also a sight to behold in the Computer Lab.  He served as my translator during the Monday evening adult education class.  I did not realize that Joseph was multitasking the whole time—not only helping me to understand the key things the instructor was saying, but also absorbing everything being taught.  After the class, we got to spend some time working on Microsoft Excel—Joseph was very interested in that.  He did not want the learning to end.  The very next day, Joseph was giving back what he’d learned, in this case to the 11 Holy Family School teachers that came to the lab for “train the trainer” instruction.  And at the end of the week, I caught Joseph practicing Org Charts in MS Word, which was one of the things taught on Monday night.  Joseph makes the very most of every day that God gives him, and in doing so, inspires me to do the same.

If you ever go to Haiti, and need a translator and disciple of Jesus Christ, I would encourage you to look him up.  I don’t think he’d mind me sharing his e-mail address with you.  It is ewinsjoseph@yahoo.fr.  Which reminds me, I have the hardest time with first names and last names in Haiti.  On the last day I chuckled when I realized that I’d been calling him by his last name all week—which would be like somebody saying to me “Hey, Rysedorph, got a minute?”  But since Joseph is how he introduced himself, that’s what we all called him.  Hopefully someday I will understand the system of names in Haiti and the cultural influences that make it that way.  Sounds like a goal for my next trip.

Joseph translating for Kathy Gross at the end of Mass