As all of you who read this blog are aware, our good friend and ministry partner “Kiki” passed away in August at the young age of 45 and some odd months. To put that in perspective, a well-known and well-loved member of our community passed away a few days ago at almost exactly twice his age. She was ninety-one, and her name was “Grandma Alleluia.” Actually, as you could probably guess, that was not her real name. That is only what we lovingly called her. Her real name was Electa Gesneste Erival. She was born on July 18, 1920, and passed away on Oct. 16, 2011.
Grandma Alleluia was a fixture at Ebeneezer Church, and I described her in the original installment of “our church” on this blog. She was well-known for energetically shouting “Alleluia! Alleluia!” and jumping up and down if the preacher made a good point in his sermon, or if she just felt caught up in the power of the Spirit. Sometimes she got completely carried away and couldn't stop shouting “Alleluia!!!”, until finally she had to be gently calmed down by the Pastor. Many people who have visited on mission trips here will remember her vividly.
Sadly, she had a stroke (or something like that, because they use that word for a lot of things here) last week and passed away. I don't know if it is exactly accurate, but I like to picture in my mind that she was at home praying, began shouting “Alleluia! Alleluia!”, had the stroke in the midst of her excitement, passed away instantly, and without skipping a beat found herself in the presence of God doing exactly the same thing she always did on Earth. Wouldn't that be perfect? Isn't that how all of us should go? Especially at the age of 91 and having lived a nice, full life.
Speaking of her nice, full life...I decided it would be worth my time to do a little research and find out more of her story. I didn't make it to the funeral, because it was scheduled at the exact time as we were having church. Later, however, I did some asking around in the village to discover who Grandma Alleluia really was. This afternoon I sat down with Robert, local historian who knows English very well, and got plenty of details and a little history lesson thrown in for free.
Back before Ti-Rivier was known by that name only, the area was divided into several smaller villages or neighborhoods, and the place where Electa grew up was called Capasi. It really isn't too far from where we live, maybe fifteen minutes. In those days (1930s, 40s, 50s) it wasn't uncommon for young Haitian men to go to Cuba for several years to work and make decent money. This was what Romain Erival (Electa's future husband) chose to do. Sometime in the late 1940s he decided to return to Haiti to find someone from home to share his life with. He and Electa got married. I'm not sure of the year, but it had to have been fairly late for a woman to get married in those days.
The fact that they married somewhat older seems to bear out because their children who are still living all seem to be fifty-something or maybe early sixties at the oldest. As an aside, it turns out Grandma Alleluia's son is actually Robert, the half-crazy man who keeps trying to sell the Ebeneezer church building to us. For some reason I never put that together. The problem is the age difference. He seems forty years younger than her, at least, so I always thought he was her grandson. Anyway, it will be interesting to see how her passing plays into that whole ordeal.
Back to the story...
So Romain returned to Ti-Rivier back in the 40s or early 50s and they were married. As the story goes, it was actually his mother, Electa's mother-in-law, who saw the need and began the church. They slapped together some coconut tree branches for walls and began to worship in some other location long forgotten by most people around today. The church grew through the years and at some point Romain, Grandma Alleluia's husband, became the Pastor and leader of the whole thing. It wasn't until their son Matthew (now deceased) established himself in the US and began to send home money that they were able to construct the building we see today. The two houses around that property were built there at that time or shortly after as well.
Romain died somewhere between 5 and 10 years ago, so Electa really wasn't a widow for terribly long. People seem to remember her for being quite the laugher, and someone who would mix with all people from all walks of life and think nothing of it. She might have even laughed at a few off-color jokes in her day, surprising those who thought they knew how a Preacher's wife was supposed to act. She sold meat in the market for a living and enjoyed talking with everyone on the way to the market, throughout the day, and on the way home.
Speaking of going home, that is what she did the other day. She really seemed to have a fire in her heart for worshiping God, and it definitely didn't cool down with age. If it did, I can hardly imagine what she was like several decades ago. You don't see many 90-year-old people around here, so she will be missed by all. The funeral was huge from what I hear, and no doubt many “Alleluias” were formed in the mouths of everyone there, flavored with the sweetness of laughter and the saltiness of tears.
May Your Adventure Cause You to Shout "Alleluia" Today!
-the Grimm Family Adventurers
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