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Haiti is only the size of Maryland, but traveling in this island nation warps my sense of time and distance.

Haitian President Jovenel Moïse has begun roadwork from Gonaïves, the capital of our department, where the national highway changes from asphalt to dirt, but no one is celebrating yet. Even as the roadwork crew smooths the road with huge tractors and lays the first layers of asphalt, people hold their praise until they see if this project will be finished in a manner that will greatly impact their ability to travel and, hence, improve their quality of life.

The Jean Marie Vincent Center, better known to locals as the Grepen Center because of its neighborhood zone, is run in collaboration between the Montfortian priests and the agronomy team of Caritas of the parish of Gros Morne.

At first glance, Grepen Center is a well-kept green place. But it is so much more than that. Tucked behind the guesthouses is a large tract of land bursting with agricultural projects and experimental gardens. The agronomy team is never idle.

Twenty years ago, I felt very happy because I felt that I had chosen correctly, I was right in the election I had made of my career and of my boy-friend. I was in the middle of obtaining my degree in Science of Communication and I had a stable relationship with my partner with whom I wanted to spend the rest of my life. At that time we had been going together for a year and a half. What more did a young university girl need? Both elections had been made… it was just a question of time in order to form a family and to exercise my career.

I am, Middia and I am 27 years old; I was born in Haiti and I am the oldest child in a family of four children. My parents are very religious and through them I discovered God and they led me to be closer to Him by the witness of their life. The first time that I heard speak about vocation I was in the fifth grade of primary school, when the Director, a priest, asked the class: What do you want to be when you are older?... and I answered: a Nun- But for me, at that time this was just one more answer among thousand others.

St. Claudine Thévenet, foundress of the Religious of Jesus and Mary, encouraged the sisters in her community to live this excerpt from the Pious Association of the Sacred Heart's Rule of Life: "When we go alone on a long and difficult journey, we soon grow weary ... on the contrary, when several go together, they walk with assurance, courage, and fresh support."

Bearing this in mind, St. Claudine sent the sisters out on mission, and the Religious of Jesus and Mary remain a mission community 200 years after their founding.