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