Soup Joumou

The story of Jean Pierre, a Haitian migrant in Chile.

Haitian migrants Michel (left) & Jean Pierre (right) in Chile. Photo: Fr Dan Harding SSC

Haitian migrants Michel (left) & Jean Pierre (right) in Chile. Photo: Fr Dan Harding SSC

Oh Father, once you try Soup Joumou, you will never want to eat Chilean or Australian food ever again”, Jean Pierre excitedly told me. He is a Haitian immigrant to Chile and parishioner in our San Columbano parish. 

Four of us Columban priests along with ten Chilean and Venezuelan parishioners attended Haiti’s Independence Day Eucharist and celebration on January 1, 2020. Large drums and a huge choir accompanied the Eucharist, celebrated by a Haitian priest in the Creole language. Everyone danced throughout it, in the aisles, in the pews, on the communion line and up in the sanctuary.

Afterwards, it was time for everyone to eat Soup Joumou, the special soup eaten on January 1, Haiti’s Independence Day. Eating Soup Joumou is a revolutionary act, an act of defiance, an act of independence. During the centuries of cruel African slavery in Haiti, only the white French slave owners were allowed to eat Soup Joumou. The slaves were even forbidden to eat the soup leftovers.

Now to celebrate the first successful slave rebellion in the Americas, leading to independence in 1804, Haitians eat Soup Joumou on Independence Day. It is a slowly simmered, mildly spicy soup, a combination of squash, beef, potatoes, plantains, onions, garlic, carrots, leeks, capsicums, cabbage, okra, celery, black pepper, thyme and parsley, cooked as part of an African heritage. “I knew you would like it, Father”, said Jean Pierre. “Yes, it is truly delicious”, I replied. And it was! 

Jean Pierre, 33 years old, had arrived in Chile from Haiti towards the end of 2018. He told me he came to Chile looking for work and to escape the violence, poverty, corruption, voodoo and natural disasters of Haiti. He wants to send money back home to his small son and to his mother. 

I first got to know Jean Pierre on our parish bus trip to the beach, 120 kilometres from Santiago, in February 2019. The trip was organized so that our Haitian, Venezuelan and Chilean parishioners could get to know each other better. It was the first time for all 25 Haitians on the bus to see the ocean in Chile. 

After that bus trip I began visiting Jean Pierre and the other 20 Haitian and five Venezuelans in their dilapidated, boarding house with its exorbitantly high rents. It has no hot water, no washing machine, no dryer and only one shower and one toilet. There were five gas stoves with gas bottles attached, but no fire escape, no fire extinguisher and dodgy electrical fittings. 

Jean Pierre pleaded with me not to report this situation to the local Municipality, because most of the residents living there had visa problems and some were illegal. 

Settling into Chile, Jean Pierre suffered considerable culture shock. He found it difficult to learn Spanish. He felt the local Chilean parishioners lacked respect because they did not dress up in their most formal clothing for Sunday Mass like the Haitians do. He had even seen some parishioners smoking outside the church before Mass!

On one visit to the boarding house, I heard a small baby trying to breathe. She had a loud rattle in her throat. It was in July, the middle of winter, with low temperatures and drizzle outside. Damp clothes were hanging to dry in each room over small kerosene heaters. 

The young mother was quite desperate and had no Spanish. The mother, Jean Pierre as translator and I took the baby to the Children’s Hospital where she was treated for bronchial pneumonia for nine days

On another occasion, Jean Pierre told me he had been fired from his job in construction. He said one of the Chilean workers had sworn at his mother so he then picked a fight with him. I told him that a common swear word in Spanish, refers to one’s mother, but not necessarily to one’s own particular mother. He replied, “I don’t care, he can swear at me, but not at my mother.” 

We then went to the Ministry of Work, where he successfully appealed for his unpaid wages after being sacked. At his next job, he hurt his lower back lifting heavy furniture and could not work for several months. He received no support during this time. I once accompanied him to find an emergency dentist for a painful, infected wisdom tooth. 

Another time I was sound asleep around 1.30 a.m when Jean Pierre telephoned me, asking me to come to see a man who had voodoo worked against him. I prayed for the man concerned and tried to get his family to take him to a psychiatric hospital. He was hearing voices. Later that morning he threatened all the residents with a large knife and was taken away by police. He later received psychiatric help.

Once the COVID-19 pandemic struck, Jean Pierre like many others became unemployed and could not pay his rent. During an argument with the boarding house landlord over unpaid rent, Jean Pierre was accused of making threats against him. At his court case, he was forbidden to go anywhere near the boarding house. 

Jean Pierre then moved into our St Columban Parish Migrant House for a period of time. Later he moved 400 kilometres south of Santiago to harvest grapes, apples and pears, but soon became trapped due to COVID-19 restrictions. 

Infrequent WhatsApp video calls to me, stranded here in Australia, Jean Pierre introduces me as his father to the other Haitian agricultural workers. He tells me they are now waiting for the grape harvest to begin which will then be followed by other fruit for about the next nine months. They survive living on donations and eating at the local parish soup kitchen. 

He tells me that he hopes we will be able to celebrate Independence Day again next year and enjoy our Soup Joumou again. 

Columban Fr Dan Harding is the parish priest of San Columbano parish in Santiago, Chile, and is involved in the Columban Migrant Ministry there.

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