A Letter of Thanks from Pastor Ronel Mesidor

Dear Shantia  and all

You can't  imagine how we were blessed by your presence in Haiti. It was two weeks of love, hope, and blessings. You empower our ministry.  We can't forget this experience.  We hope you had a good and safe trip.  We are so grateful for all.

Blessings!

Rev. Ronel Mesidor

West Executive Ministry

HBC Vice President

Haiti Baptist Convention

Phone: 509 38538506

Blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. Psa 41:1

Trip Report 2015: Mission Expands to Bring New Hope in "Concrete" WAYS

MISSION EXPANDS TO BRING NEW HOPE IN “CONCRETE” WAYS:

REPORT ON THE 2015 WAYS* HAITI MISSION TRIP

(*Workdays for Adults and Youth in Service)

There were fourteen participants in our most productive (and most expensive!) mission to Haiti in the five years we have been making these trips. Again this year we partnered with Pastor Ronel Mesidor and the Haitian Baptist Convention in Port-au- Prince, which operates the Source de Lumiere (Source of Light) primary school, orphanage, and pediatric physical therapy center.

Because we did not have the personnel for a construction project this year, we came up with a different plan for the four of us who went for the first week, March 14 – 21. We had five objectives for the week, most of which would have been difficult or impossible to accomplish in the midst of a typical work week in Haiti.

1. Micro-finance business start ups. For about three years we have been collecting funds and Shantia has been laying the groundwork to help some of the people we work with start small businesses—something extremely needed in a country with 80-90% unemployment.
   In consultation with Pastor Ronel and his wife, Manise, two potential projects were identified: a sewing business and a craft business. A tailor was hired to repair the eight seven? sewing machines belonging to the Source de Lumiere Center, and to teach a class. By the end of the week fourteen enthusiastic women were learning to sew, and by the next week they were proudly putting zippers into skirts!
   Thirteen of these women will probably join in the official business. They are exploring what amount of loan they would need to start a viable sewing business. Each one who wants to be in the business will sign an agreement or contract, and they will have two presidents, a secretary and treasurer. They will pay back the modest start-up loan over three years.
   Two small groups are forming around a class taught by a craft teacher – primarily weaving bags and table trivets and such. We are waiting to see if these two groups will come up with a business plan and put forth a manageable loan request.
   And as our second week came to a close we had a conversation with the therapists in the pediatric therapy center who would like to start a photo copy business to support the free services they offer to physically handicapped children. These are exceedingly well trained OT aids and the funding for this amazing center is waning. The possibility of a business brought smiles to their stressed faces.
   Very exciting!
2. Local church health promotors (health educators, Parish Nurses). An ongoing medical concern has been the lack of follow-up with serious medical conditions, particularly when our providers are dispensing diabetes and high blood pressure medicines. (It can be very dangerous to begin medication for these conditions and then stop taking them.) Before the trip, Pastor Ronel's wife, Manise (a trained pharmacist and nurse), had agreed to oversee a year-round follow-up program. As a start up program we asked her to recruit health promotors for two of the churches where we hold medical clinics.
   

   
   These three women were trained briefly, and will be paid a stipend each month to dispense vitamins to the children in the school related to their church, monitor the blood pressure and diabetes patients and eventually to offer classes in clean water, good food preparation and simple first aid. They are expected to submit monthly reports to us of their work in order to receive their monthly stipend. (We are looking for sponsors who will agree to pay all or part of their $25/month fee.)
3. Researching local hospitals. Health care in Haiti is quite minimal by our standards. We discovered to our dismay last year that the “free” city hospital provides no medicines or nursing care, the doctors are sometimes on strike from not getting paid, and the facilities are deplorable. During our first week we visited two private and one government related hospital that had been recommended to us to learn about their specialties and how we could refer patients to them. (This proved quite valuable during our clinic week, as will be noted later.)
4. Compiling information on orphanage residents. Thanks to the initiative of David Bainbridge, we took new pictures of all 23 boys and 11 girls, and compiled as much personal information as possible in a spreadsheet format. Although it seems fairly common by Haitian standards, we continue to have concerns about the level of care provided, such as the lack of personal belongings, below grade level academic
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   
   performance, lack of life skills training, and the lack of any plan for when children will age out of the orphanage. (There is discussion of setting up a separate residence for older children.) Yet they are beautiful children who enjoy their time with us and touch our hearts deeply.
5. Planning the Days for Girls program. Our other new initiative this year was to be providing specially created washable/reusable menstruation kits for older girls and young women, along with an education program. Because this was a brand new venture, we did not know how it would be received, and Shantia held several meetings with church members and youth to discuss and plan how the program would be carried out.
   Along with the kits themselves, which offer a means for quality, sustainable feminine hygiene, the equally important education component seeks to build an understanding of how a woman's body functions, self esteem and to empower girls and women to be in control of their bodies in a culture where men take great sexual liberties with women.
   In the end, the program was enthusiastically received, and 170 kits were distributed. (There is some possibility the sewing business may make some kits for this program in the future. Visit www.daysforgirls.org to learn more about Days for Grils.)

Second Week Medical Clinics

On March 21 and 22, 10 more volunteers joined us from the USA and our incredibly skilled and gifted Clinic Coordinator, Emilio Chalas arrived from La Romana, Dominican Republic to guide us and our enthusiastic translators in our work.

Our full team consisted of one doctor, two physician's assistants, three nurses, a lay pharmacist experienced in tropical medicine, an occupational therapist, four pastors, a social worker, and a software engineer. We were assisted by two Haitian doctors, our clinic coordinator, a local pharmacist, eight translators, and two drivers, all of whom were paid stipends for their work. Two local pastors assisted us as well. We saw over 800 patients in five different locations, three of which have church-sponsored primary schools. We gave out over 15,000 children's vitamins, and left another 5,000 to be distributed in the coming months. (Our goal is to provide vitamins year-round for the children of the sites we visit.) Our medical team prescribed and we gave out thousands of adult vitamins, antacids, tylenol, ibuprofen, allergy meds, and a wide array of antibiotics and other prescription medications. Anti-parasite medicine was given to both adults and children. We provide contraceptives and offer a sex education class at each clinic. For the majority, this is the only time they see a doctor all year often the only doctor they've ever seen.

Five people were deemed by our doctors to need medical care we could not provide. (Two were very small children—one in critical condition.) Thanks to our research the previous week, we were able to contact hospitals, transport them and pay for the care they could be offered. One boy will hopefully have major surgery through Operation Smile later this year. While the hospital experience in Haiti is challenging, at least this year we found that it can work fairly well. It is definitely not something the average Haitian takes for granted.

Challenging, Yet Rewarding Work

Unfortunately, we had lost our former connection for ordering prescription medications, and experimented this year with getting a large portion of them locally in Haiti. While some are priced very reasonably, others proved to be quite expensive. Combined with an increased demand, we ended up spending over $5,000 on medications and vitamins, more than triple what it has cost us in previous years. Other expenses were higher as well (including our housing). Fortunately we had some reserves from last year to draw on, but still had to draw about $500 from our micro-finance fund for the stipends for the teachers of the sewing and craft classes and now have no reserves for our next year's trip.

WAYS YOU CAN HELP

We plan to do some fundraisers in the near future so we can reimburse the teacher fees, are looking for sponsors for our Health Promoters, contributors to our ongoing Micro-finance Fund and are looking for a physician or nurse practitioner affiliated with a hospital and their pharmacy that would be willing to help us buy prescription medicines at cost as we have in the past.

All of us who go to Haiti struggle with the overwhelming need of this country and its people. But we are also inspired by their faith and warm, gentle spirit and we are energized by the blossoming of programs that offer long term help and hope. We truly receive as much as we give, and treasure our relationships and partnership with these wonderful people.

Tax-deductible donations toward our work are always welcome:

Send to “Union Church”, marked with WAYS HAITI in the memo line, C/O Jonathan Wright-Gray, Box 7028, Ocean Park, ME 04063.

Visit our group blog, www.medmiracles.blogspot.com, or contact us at shantiawg@gmail.com

Haiti is...

(Cross posted from Chicken Run Haiti)

Haiti is

Exhausting
Exciting
Fun
Tragic
Growing
Hard work
Hot and sweaty
Uplifting

Haiti is

Spiritual
Sad
Painful
Sweet
Breezy
Sunny
Noisy
Smelly
Yummy
Thirsty
Hungry


Haiti is

Faithful
Holy
Buggy
Life giving
Life saving
Sharing
Kind
Grabbing
Struggling
Scraping

Haiti is

Digging
Shoveling
Suffering
Benevolent
Romantic
Improving

Haiti is

Palm trees
Coffee
Banan frites
Spicy
Refreshing
Old and new
Welcoming
Angry
Sullen and resentful
Resigned
Broken
Repairing

Haiti is

Warm pools and dusty streets
Scary
Friends
Traffic
Open sewers
Homeless children
Laughter
Helping

Haiti is

Moist
Illiteracy
Education
Unemployment
Politics
Corruption
Robbing peter to pay paul
Beautiful
Handcrafts
Pride

Haiti is

Tears
Joy
Sugar
Tap taps
Horns beeping
Roosters crowing
Free range goats
Locked gates
Guards with guns
Open arms
Faithful
Peaceful

Haiti is

Haiti Uses Me Like a Rubber Band

Haiti uses me like a rubber band. Stretches me

Because my heart knows I am here to serve, yet

My head does not know how, or even why. It

Wonders if what I do here will matter.

My teachers are about to arrive.

I see Mersilia

As she comes to my scale to be weighed.

She must be helped to walk,

With each slow step she winces in pain:

70 pounds

28 years old

Sickle cell anemia

Dr. Rony says she must go to the hospital—

Something else is wrong.

We make plans:

Her older sister and mother will come,

I will go to make arrangements and pay,

Pastor Solomon will drive (a gentle man who

Is also a lawyer, working to help victims of Haiti's child slavery).

After her frail body is carried to the truck

We begin the long, bumpy ride.

The intake physician is kind, but

The small ER has half a dozen people

Working on the unconscious policeman

Whose motorcycle crashed into a wall.

Other patients sit or lie in different corners

Of the room, some on IV's.

We wait our turn.

Finally I am sent to pay the first fee—

Everything seems agonizingly slow here.

Pay, then blood work. Wait.

Pay, then a shot of morphine. Wait.

Pay, then x-rays. Wait.

Four hours have passed.

We will probably have to bring her

All the way back here tomorrow

To see the Canadian doctor.

No—maybe if we wait longer

He will finish in the OR and come.

I look over at her.

In her tiredness and pain

She returns the most gentle, understanding smile.

Another hour passes—I wonder if we should leave.

I try to apologize to Pastor Solomon for the long waiting.

He smiles and says simply,

“If we love Jesus, this is what we do.”

Is it time? I look over at Mersilia:

No, my heart decides. We must persevere for her.

The ER becomes even busier.

I tell them we will have to leave soon.

“No, wait ten minutes—the doctor knows you are here,

He will come!”

He does.

She has rheumatoid arthritis. She can have pain medication.

A specialist can see her next Wednesday.

They will treat her disease.

Later, as we say good bye,

She warmly smiles her thanks.

My heart knows it has been worth it.

So I am different now,

Stretched out into

A place of gentle waiting where

Events can flow around me. Sometimes

I remember I can respond from within,

Instead of reacting from without.

I wonder—

Will the rubber band snap back

So that I lose this new found gift of

Waiting for the heart to lead?

Yet I see I also have been working, preparing for

This gift Haiti has given me.

Now my heart knows—

The rubber band

Can always stretch again.

Jonathan Wright-Gray

March 29, 2015

Daphka and Ada

Ada is a wonderful person who has come down to Haiti with us for a couple years, but was not able to join us this year. Durning that time she has made a connection with a child at the orphanage named Daphka, who is a sweet little girl of 10 now, but I think 8 when Ada first met her. 

When we first visited the orphanage this trip Daphka came up to me and asked where Ada was because she did not see her. I told her that Ada was not able to come which made her quite sad. In an attempt to cheer her up I tried to call Ada from the cell phone I have with me, but unfortunately Ada was not available and the call went to voice mail. I tried to get Daphka to leave a message, but I don't think the message was more than Daphka saying Ada's name. 

Daphka left and I continued to play and speak with the other children. A while later Daphka came back with a letter for Ada and made me promise to deliver it.  I said I would and gave the letter to one of the people with us who will see Ada when we return to the US.

I received and email from Ada saying that she saved the voice message so she could hear it when she wanted and she wrote a letter to Daphka using Google to translate it. This letter was attached to the email and we were able to print it out. 

Tonight when we visited the kids at the orphanage after a very long medical clinic day, I took the letter with the intent to read it to her, but as a now 10 year old it turns out that she was able to read it herself, which I think is really better. She was overjoyed to received the letter and read it out loud a couple of times I think. 

While the letter was greatly received, Daphka was still sad as she misses Ada. But as someone pointed out it was a better type of sad than before she had the letter. While Daphka was reading the letter I was able to call and reach Ada on the cell phone and they talked for a while as a tear dribbled down Daphka's cheek. Just as Daphka handed the phone back to me my international minutes ran out. Praise God for his timing. 

Durning the prayer time before the children go to bed I was standing with Daphka and at one point 

the children are told to pray their individual prayers. This is a time when all the children pray at the same time and it is actually a wonderful time of prayer as all the different thoughts, hopes, dreams, and fears are lifted to God is a twisted ball or overlapping words that only God could possibly understand. 

Right before this praying started Daphka reached up and whispered into my ear to "pray for Ada".

So tonight I pray for Daphka and Ada and the wonderful relationship they have formed over short weekly visits and continued thoughts and prayers of and for each other.  May God continue to watch over and care for this relationship and may it blossom for many years to come. Amen. 

Joys, Evil, and an Unhealed Heart

When I sat down to write this post my intent was to only speak of the joys of today. That however is  not honest. The main joys were in the morning, even though there were joys in the midst of the evil to surface later in the day.

The day began as we loaded the truck and headed to the site where we were to hold the medical clinic. I jumped in the back of the pickup truck as opposed to getting into one of the SUVs because I find it much easier to be a part to the city riding there and feel separate from the city when in an SUV. Port-au-Price is a city full of movement and it is strangely comforting to be in the movement.

We arrived at the site and the school was still in session so we really could not set up the clinic as the children were finishing a exam. This meant we had a little bit of time to mingle with the neighborhood. I enjoy talking to the people in my broken Creole and they all seem very willing to help me get my pronunciation a little more correct as well as very patient with me. One of the doctors and I ended up purchasing some fried plaintans from a vendor and while I didn't end up getting any I hear they were good. 

While all this was going on some other members of our group were setting up activities and playing with the kids. They were playing with a parachute with what seemed to be 20 or 30 kids. There was pure joy there and it was a blessing to be able to stand there and simply observe the joy and love being shared. 

Once the medical clinic began it was much like many clinics. There was lots of activitity, triage people triage-ing, doctors doctoring, etc.  in these moments you can miss things as you hustle to make the clinic function and miss individuals. The individual today was fortunately not missed thanks to at least one individual on our team. She was 18, had some mental capacity issues, and just found out she was pregnant. The evil in our midst was that she was raped by someone in the village and was now pregnant because of that rape. And she almost slipped out the door. 

Praise God that one of our team noticed her face and called out for a translator to stop her before she left. From there we were able to connect her with the with wife of the main Pastor with which we work, as well as the local church pastor, and another of our team members who has worked in rape counciling centers. For the brief time she was in our arms she was showered with love, acceptance, prayer, and acknowledgement that regardless of her situation she is an valued and loved child of God. 

To be honest there was little we could do for her beyond what was done. While she did not attend the church where the clinic was held (the church doubles as a school on weekdays) the local Pastor agreed to try to help her and look in on her; but acknowledged that despite this that this was likely not the first nor the last that this girl would be abused because her mental capacity made her vulnerable.  I am not sure which is more evil, the fact that she was raped, the fact that there is almost a helpless acceptance that it will continue, or the fact that this is the second trip to Haiti that I have hard to rage against the men of Haiti and their treatment of women. THIS MUST STOP. The churches need to speak and teach of this and NOT accept it.  

While the events that brought this girl to us were evil, there was joy. She was and is loved. By the time she left us one of the main individuals from our group that was loving her said that she smiled. I suspect that smile won't last long and that there will be rough days, weeks, months, and years ahead. I pray that in those tough times she can look back on the love she received today and find strength through God's grace. 

While we were reviewing the day someone in the group mentioned that every time they come to Haiti their heart breaks again and again. For me, I don't think that is true. My heart doesn't break each time I come to Haiti. Instead I don't think my heart has healed since the first time I stepped off the bus 3 months after the earthquake into Haiti for the first time. The wound sometimes feels less painful, I may even forget about it for short periods of time, but being in Haiti quickly reopens the wound and the blood flows. 

I pray for the girl tonight, that she rest easy in the love received today and in God's grace. That girls all over the world that have and are experiencing these evils tonight feel God's love in the midst of the unspeakable pain and that despite what the world says, that they realize that they are valuable and loved not only by many on earth but an eternal father that may not seem to be there at times, but is looking at and holding them in love.  Amen. 

Musee du Pantheon National Haitien (MUPANAH) & time at the orphanage

Greetings!
A whole week has passed - so very long and so very short.

Laundry day - drying on our guest house roof top.

I wish I could send you a video of the buzz of activity in the sewing class...
I keep being excited...
I visited today to talk with the teacher about making  Days for Girls kits.
He seems to think it's very doable - I am more hesitant given the responses of accomplished seamstresses in my life - but we live on hope and faith....

We visited the National Museum of Haiti today.
It was fascinating to see the interplay of major players in our history and theirs.
We saw lot's of artifacts and learned alot about their history (and - by the way we saw the anchor of the Santa Maria with a little circular hole in one place where a piece was removed to give to Charles Lindberg)

And, across from Museum, the bicentennial tower celebrating Haitian Independence. Young Roneldine called it the Haitian Eiffel Tower. She says folks can no longer climb it but it is decorated well at Christmas time.

Afterward we shared lunch with our hosts here at the Guest house (PB & J sandwiches and ham and cheese sandwiches, juice and cookies...)
And after a brief siesta we returned to the orphanage for basketball and coloring.
Christina is learning to make baskets from the OT therapy aid who is also teaching the class for adults.

What a good day!