Customer Reviews

Haiti: The God of Tough Places, the Lord of Burnt Men

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One of the very best works in 2010. Read this slender memoir and witness the heroic feats of Father Rick Frechette and his co-workers in Friends of the Orphans/Our Little Brothers & Sisters. A truly remarkable person whose work, rooted in faith, has dramatically impacted, not thousands, but tens-of-thousands of lives of Haiti's poorest. Written and published before the devastating earthquakes in Haiti, the work of Father Rick and Friends of the Orphans are all the more important and all the more awe inspiring.

Very excellent book. Reminds me of the book of Tobit & feel sure Fr Rick will become an official saint, but to all who know him, he already is a saint!

I read this book after returning from Honduras, I was part of a medical mission group and our surgeon knew Father Frechette personally and had gone to Haiti after the earthquake.
I was moved by Fathers writing and loved the way he wrote about finding good with the bad. I could feel his despair at times, his frustation and his test of faith. It sheds light on a country that is one of the poorest in the world.
It will want to make you read more, and also become involved in NPH which is the orphange that he works with.

Father Rick is consumed by God's special love for the poor, the outcast, the most vulnerable, and makes no difference between enemies and friends. For him, all are friends, treated with dignity, respect and compassion. From the orphanage in the mountains above Kenskoff to the beautiful new hospital in Tabarre for children who cannot pay, to the hospitals for the dying run by Mother Teresa's Sisters of Charity, to the gangs of Cite Soleil, Fr. Rick's quiet determination makes itself felt and changes lives.

In this book, which I highly recommend, he lets you join him in these places, and shares his faith in God's loving presence in every person and every situation. How he does it all is beyond comprehension, but the fire in his heart is contagious and challenging; his writing is clear and his juxtaposition of images can be startling. He neither romanticizes nor demonizes Haiti; he just accepts it as it is as the field where God has called him.

This book is excellent! I highly recommend it! Fr. Richard Frechette's living faith is a stellar example and encouragement to us all. Through Father's eyes we see that the dignity and power of God's love, healing, and goodness is present everywhere; and a small act of goodness does indeed make a big difference.

This slim, quick reading book tells of the work of a priest/physician in the poverty and violence of Haiti, and how the love of God can brightly shine in such darkness. Some of it is very difficult to read, but that is the reality of life in Haiti. A must for anyone who cares about Haiti, and third world countries in general.