AMERICA/HAITI - “Padre Pepe,” missionary and driver: hours and hours driving around a pick-up truck to bring aid and reach out to those in need

Jimani (Agenzia Fides) - The whole world now knows of the situation in Haiti after the earthquake. The Church, which also suffered huge losses in persons and structures, immediately got to work using the means available, to bring comfort and relief to earthquake victims. Testimonies of this have reached Agenzia Fides. In order to bring aid to those who now have nothing, however, it is not enough to have the means and knowledge of the streets, now mostly damaged by the earthquake. You also need drivers capable of performing their task with speed and most importantly, with knowledge of the area.
One of these drivers is Father Pepe Rodriguez Silverio, a Claretian missionary of the community in Jimaní, on the border with Haiti, a stop-over for all international aid moved on trucks. As Father Carmelo, CMF, told Fides in the chronicle of his fourth trip to Haiti, Father Pepe carries out a "silent, sacrificial, and effective work," and is really a great "Claretian missionary driver." "At the wheel of his pickup, although he can drive any vehicle, Fr. Pepe is experienced and agile, measuring distances in millimeters, and is an expert in finding shortcuts to overcome the endless lines of giant trucks, as he knows well the 45 km. road between Jimaní and Port au Prince. Fast on the highway (if you can call the National Road a highway), he proceeds slowly and cautiously on city streets or crowded areas, always friendly and witty, with a good dose of humor." Father Pepe Rodriguez Silverio, with its typical gray beard, is originally from Puerto Plata in the north of the Dominican Republic, the "Pearl of the Atlantic".
A Father Carmelo explains, "Father Pepe provides a unique service, acting as liaison with our brothers in Haiti: transporting volunteer doctors and nurses on their journey and upon their return. He brings solidarity and support of vital resources like generators for electricity or barrels of fuel, etc.. We Claretians are proud of our community of Jimaní that is selfishly giving of itself for the Kingdom, for the children and suffering. Fr. Roseli, head of the social center, attends a large number of injured children, from dawn to dusk, and Fr. Pepe, 'humanitarian aid taxi driver', is constantly driving for hours and hours non-stop, like a true 'driver without limits'."(CE) (Agenzia Fides 26/01/2010)