A Gateway, Not a Barrier
You can find Louverture Cleary’s main gate half way down Santo 5. Here, people come and go, bringing things in and taking them out. Some neighbors enter to sell their home-cooked snacks. Other visitors may be coming in to look for a job opportunity or for a quick basketball/soccer game, or just a seat to watch it all. All sorts of people come and go; no one is a stranger when he or she leaves.
In Haiti, we commonly use the French root term for gate—barrier. When a foreigner hears us talk about the green barrier, they probably imagine some obstacle or barricade that separates Louverture Cleary School from the rest of the world. Yet in reality, the green barrier is a gateway.
“Your gates shall always be open; day and night they shall not be shut, so that nations shall bring you their wealth, with their kings (and queens) in procession.” Isaiah 60:11.
Following in the footsteps of the real queen in the Bible, Esther Paul is faithful and honest. When she walks through the barrier, everyone knows it is time for serious work. She came to LCS as a student in 2000 and returned to us as an accountant in 2007. She has two sisters, one of whom is an LCS grad, like her and her brother. And, because she lost a sister in the earthquake, Esther now cares for her mother and her young niece and nephew. LCS has progressed a hundred-fold and Patrick Moynihan, THP President, has slept many a night peacefully because of Esther’s presence.
Lay-Lay comes through our green barrier daily. He is a 3-year-old pauper who, for three hours a day, struts around LCS’ playground and cafeteria as if he were a king. At the door of his home, he is locked out. His mother must go to sell produce at the market at 7 a.m. and Lay-Lay had been hiding in the shadows of Santo 7 in order to escape the torments of the bullies in the zone.
In the fall, Lay-Lay joined the LCS Timoun Program, which welcomes small children (timoun) from the neighborhood inside our gates, providing them with a hot lunch and structured activities. Lay-Lay has been transformed in this program, but it seems he is also transforming the LCS community as his puppy-dog eyes and soft caresses pull any unsuspecting playmate toward him.
And so LCS’ green barrier can be seen as simply a big, green, metal door or as a gateway which welcomes the kings and queens of our community.
