Information service of the Pontifical Mission Societies since 1927
Jimani (Agenzia Fides) - “In Jimani, the small town on the border between the Dominican Republic and Haiti, security measures have been taken to make sure cholera does not enter the Dominican Republic. The most serious consequences of this measure is the closure of the shops along the border. This keeps the poorest people from selling their products and thus, having a minimum income on which to survive. The most incredible part is that the trucks of the larger companies continue to enter Haiti, while the poor cannot sell their products to the market,” Fides has been told by Fr. Demuel Tavarez, SMF, a priest working in the Dominican Republic, together with volunteers, on the border with Haiti, in the village called Jimaní. Fr. Demuel keeps in touch with another priest, Father Anibal Zilli, CMF, who lives near Port-au-Prince.
Fr. Demuel said that it is still not easy to connect to the Internet and stresses that "the psychosis of cholera is very strong. It's all over the media and is spoken of with great concern. It is said that the dead are many more than a thousand, and they say that numbers continue to rise. Even here, at the border with Haiti, the situation is very critical."
“The tensions are high,” says Fr. Demuel. “I was told of a fight at the University of Barahona, where students beat up a young man because he was Haitian, and they say that those from Haiti 'carry cholera'. With the help of one of my brothers in the order, calm returned and the Haitian boy was helped."
"Here at the border, there is still no case of cholera, but I do mention what Fr. Anibal wrote me from Kazal," concludes Fr. Demuel. Fr. Anibal Zilli writes: "Cholera continues to spread, and every day the situation is increasingly more tense. There have been demonstrations against the UN troops because they are accused of having brought the disease to the nation, especially the group from Nepal. According to reports, there were over 1,000 deaths and more than 10,000 diagnosed with the disease. Here in Kazal, 7 cases were reported and others were hospitalized." Kazal is about 2 hours drive from the capital, and has about 20,000 inhabitants. The Claretians run the parish and are in charge of several projects for social assisitance. (CE) (Agenzia Fides 22/11/2010)
