August 2009 Vol. 3, Issue 2 Reflections… It’s been quite a few months since our last newsletter, so if you haven’t been following the on-line blog, there are a lot of things to reflect on, including last April’s medical trip and Jan and Paul’s organizational trip in July. We are readying for the next medical trip in October, as well as moving forward on a new school roofing project and thinking of new iterations of the water cistern project we did in April. Read below for more details.
Recap of April Medical trip… In mid-April we travelled with our largest team yet to hold medical clinics in four villages. Our team of 12 included Dr. Mark Bigda, his two sons, Ian and Zach, Dr. Matt Kane, Dr. Peter Siersma, Bob Myers, Bill Porter, Laurel Myers, Josh Beauregard, Greyson Pannill, and Paul and Jan Davis. We travelled to four villages including an overnight stay in Platon. Getting to Platon is difficult; it’s a very steep mountain that you need to either hike up or ride on a donkey. We made our day at LePrete shorter by a half hour, and then hiked up to Platon before it got dark.
Darkness falls at 6 p.m. year round, and descends like a curtain – all of a sudden it’s really dark. We brought camp mattresses and mosquito nets and set ourselves up inside the three-room school building. During the night it rained and some of our team had to hustle quickly to get out of the drips that were coming through holes in the roof. Staying overnight was a real treat; Pastor Saurel arranged a simple dinner meal for us and scrambled eggs with swe-e-e-e-t Haitian coffee in the morning.
At 5:30 AM we woke to watch the sun rise then we hiked up to Citadel de Platon, an old Haitian fort that was built on the top of the mountain. We had seen this fort in the distance on previous trips to Platon and we were all anxious to see it close-up. The fort was built by Haitians after the defeat of Napoleon, but was never actually used as a wartime defense. It was very, very interesting with underground tunnels and bunkers. To get there we needed to climb up slippery (rain-soaked) red clay paths to the top of the mountain. It was tricky. However, many, many Haitians were walking down the mountain in the opposite direction to go to market because it was Tuesday…market day. They were walking to Dubret which is an hour’s walk down the mountain, and for us, another hour’s drive…but they were ALL WALKING to Dubret!
Yanie Dominique’s broken hip… On our way back down the mountain we passed a woman walking on crutches despite the slippery clay. Her name is Yanie Dominique and she was on her way to our clinic. Yanie is 28 and fell from a horse a year ago while riding up the mountain. After the fall, she got up and walked the rest of the way home with the aid of Pastor Saurel, the pastor at Platon. It appears as though she broke her hip at that time and has relied on crutches to get up and down the mountain ever since. In June, with Amoce’s help, we sent her to the hospital for x-rays and sent those x-rays to Scott Nelson, an American orthopedic surgeon in Santo Domingo. He crosses the border into Cap Haitian, Haiti, 4 times a year in order to do orthopedic surgery for Haitian children. Dr. Nelson said that Yanie’s hip is so bad that she needs a total hip replacement which will cost about $10,000. However, he also knows we’re a small mission group and he’s looking for other options for her. We hope to be able to send her to Cap Haitian for surgery in September and are in contact with Dr. Nelson regularly.
Seeing Wislaine… During the clinic at Platon we had the pleasure of seeing Wislaine again; in fact, she hung around with us for much of the afternoon running in and out of the clinic room and teasing us. She continues to get anti-retroviral drugs for her HIV at the hospital in Les Cayes (through a cooperative arrangement with the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia). She is looking healthy and cheerful, though still skinny.
Affiliation with Brenda Strafford Eye Institut… In addition to an affiliation with Centre De Sante Lumiere hospital we have now established a similar affiliation with Brenda Strafford Eye Institut. In Platon we also met Alex, a little boy who was standing quietly around the clinic but didn’t appear to have a ticket to be seen. He was brought in to see Dr. Mark who immediately saw that his eye was beyond repair. He had been poked in the eye with a stick and the whole eyeball was hanging out. Mark said it was miraculous he hadn’t ended up with a bad infection. It became clear that we needed to establish an agreement with “Brenda”. The director agreed to meet with us right at closing time on Friday; we were able to establish a relationship and set up an account. Alex was seen and had surgery two weeks later with the costs covered by Mustard Seed. If possible, Mustard Seed will assist with providing a prosthetic eye once his surgery heals.
Cistern at Nan Doti… In the last newsletter, we described the need for a better source of water for Nan Doti. Paul and Jan stayed in Les Cayes after the team left and facilitated the installation of a cistern at Nan Doti. It was relatively easy, taking less than 2.5 hours. We were able to purchase all of the materials in Les Cayes. The hardest part was getting a 600 gallon plastic tank (aka/chateau d’eau) up the mountain. There were a few times when we thought it would bounce out of the truck and go rolling away. Amoce’s father, Eli, helped us measure and cut all of the gutter material, and assisted the people in Nan Doti who actually did all of the installation work under the guidance of Pastor Etienne. Many thanks to everyone who provided financial support so that we could accomplish this project. The people at Doti are incredibly thankful.
Jiyè Vwayaj (July Voyage)... Paul and Jan took advantage of a special introductory deal from Delta Airlines and went down to Haiti in July. The people at Doti had asked for help in knowing how to keep the cistern water clean. We went to Doti and showed the community how to disassemble the cistern, clean it out, and re-install it. It was very interesting and comical. The community brought buckets and emptied every last drop out of it before we turned it over. Then once it was on its side, Paul told them to send a little boy inside to scrub it out. The people thought this was hysterical, but it worked slick! It was set back in place ‘clean as new’ and now they know how to maintain it themselves.
Afterwards, Paul held a class for about 40 community members and showed them how to make individual sand filters for their houses using a 5 gallon bucket. It was hands-on and people were very interested. It’s clear that we need to do more teaching and monitoring of the filters. The time was too short, but this technique is promising.
Our July trip also offered us the opportunity to meet with Amoce and Witchner together since Witchner was back in Haiti for the summer. Mustard Seed Missions and Mustard Seed Haiti (MSH) were able to have many joint meetings in the course of a week. We also had the opportunity to sit and talk with Pastor Saurel from Platon about a possible roofing project.
Roof Project for Platon… Ever since we went to Platon in April we’ve been thinking about how bad the school roof was. We saw one room, in a two room building, that was 2” deep in water because the roof was so deteriorated (the concrete floor and walls make a nice ‘pool’). It was unusable. The other roofs are in various stages of decay as you can see in the photo. Currently they are crowding two classes of kids into one room, because of the damage to the roof. In July we met with MSH and Pastor Saurel to talk about repairing the roof. We brought the idea to our board and they approved. There are still many logistical details to work out such as how to get the panels up the mountain, how to keep them safe from pilfering, how to manage the project, and who to engage in the actual work. We’re working with MSH to work these details out so that we can be culturally sensitive. In the meantime, we are fundraising to provide the basis for moving forward, confident that the details will be worked out in God’s own timing. We will be working on the arrangements this October while we are there. If you are interested in participating in this project, please see the last section of this newsletter.
The Haiti Mission House… In April we housed the medical team at our Haiti Mission House in Les Cayes; the first time we’ve had a dedicated place of our own. With five bedrooms and two large common rooms we had a lot of space to be comfortable in and, more importantly, to securely unpack, sort, and manage the medicines that we brought down. There is a large kitchen with a long tile countertop that has become our “pharmacy”. With everything in one place we are more efficient which has freed up a half day of our time so that we can do a half-day clinic near Les Cayes in October. Even more importantly, we have a secure place to lock everything up when we leave. Amoce’s family lives downstairs and keeps a good eye on everything for us; his step-mother, Clorene, is a wonderful cook. She also roasts her own delicious coffee.
Amoce’s visa… In the past we have talked with Amoce about the potential getting a visa to travel to the USA. Visas for young single Haitian men are almost impossible to get. However, in June he applied for a visa, paid the required $100 appointment fee at the local bank, and travelled five hours to Port Au Prince to “pick up” his visa. He said he had a dream where God told him he would get a visa, so he had no doubt it would be granted. That’s faith! We’ve had the pleasure of hosting him and Witchner, together here in New England for the last two weeks of July. (This newsletter should have been written more than a month ago, but as you can see, our time in July was pretty busy.)
October Missions Trip… We will be leading a team of nine (with 3 doctors) back to Haiti on October 7 for five days of medical clinics including an additional site nearer Les Cayes. Team members include Dr. Mark Bigda, Dr. Matt Kane, Dr. Ann Markes, Greyson Pannill, John Burnett, Judy Steinberg, John DuBois, and Paul and Jan. We appreciate your prayers and support. If you desire, contributions for medical clinics or a contribution toward the cistern/sand filter project or roofing project may be sent to Mustard Seed Missions, Inc., 2 Old Stage Road, West Hatfield, MA 01088.