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.
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!
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.)
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.)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.