The Final Day

Dianne asked for coconut milk!

Unbelievably, we are completing our last full day in Haiti. It seems like a million years since our arrival in Miami a week ago. Our last day was spent in Jacmel, on the southern coast of the country. The ride there is half the fun, as we went up and down the mountains and made a refreshment stop at St. Etienne along the way. Hopefully, these photos will allow you to see some of the beauty of the country. If you are called to join us on our next trip September 23-October 1, contact Dianne or me! Terry

Bauman family - Ward,  daughter Suzanne, and sister Karen

Kids along the Jacmel road

Jacmel Beach

A little relaxation for Gwen, Bob, Russ, and Suzanne

Visits to Schools and Leogane Walking Tour

The 340 students at St. Joseph's - Jasmin

What a day! We started with a quick ride through Leogane to the Episcopal Nursing School where we toured the school and met with Hilda Alcindor the Director. Carole reported to Hilda that all of our students were professional and an asset to the team.

Nursing students studying diligently

The MN contingent (plus Suzanne)  stayed at St. P and St. J where Russ and Bill taught English to the seventh graders and Dianne and Suzanne read and conversed one-on-one with the students.  The remainder of the group traveled up the mountain to Jasmin, where I met with the teachers, and completed the task which Bill had started earlier in the week of photographing each of the staff. Bill had already taken a picture of each child. Our plan is to print and laminate each photo and bring them when we return in September. You cannot imagine the joy that a child (or an adult) gets in seeing a photo of themselves! We could spend hours just taking pictures and showing them to the person.



Dianne, the teacher


Several people have asked about the water accessibility at each school. St. P and St. J has a well, which the kids are able to operate, as you can see. St. J, being high in the mountains, has no well, but the people must walk further up the mountain, then down the side of the mountain to the spring (about a 30 minute walk one way) and then carry the water to the Pure Water biosand filter at the school. The church has a gutter which funnels water to a cistern during the rainy season.

The well at St. Phillppe and St. Jacques

Clean water at St.Joseph's

After picking up the MN folks, we headed back to the guesthouse for a short rest before calling Peterson, one of our interpreters, who had promised to take us to the Voodoo Center for a tour. As it turns out, only one room in the large building has anything to do with Voodoo. A Voodoo priest showed us his room, which included an altar with various icons. He dressed in his ceremonial robes and told us a little of the beliefs.

Voodoo Priest

Then, we headed through town to the beach, where we saw the boats which take people and merchandise to and from the island of LaGonave. They were unloading cows and pigs which they threw off the boats into the water. Who knew that a huge pig could swim!

Haitian bateaus

Along the way, we toured a rum distillery!

Distiller in action

As we left the shore, we came upon a large gated community, which was formerly a resort, and now houses an orphanage and school which is run by the Church of Christ and Gain. We met a German woman and Spanish man who are volunteering there and got a quick tour and then a ride back for dinner.

This is a fascinating week to be in Haiti, with the Presidential runoff election being Sunday. Aristide is supposed to be arriving back from exile today or tomorrow and there are large banners welcoming him. There are trucks with loud speakers traveling through the streets playing music and announcements in support of Martelly, who seems to be the front runner. Apparently, the US is supporting Martaget, as President Clinton was in a photo with her on the front page of a local paper. Then, of course,there is the Aba (down with)  Preval graffiti which is omnipresent.

Tomorrow we are traveling to Jacmel , which over the mountains on the coast on the other side of Haiti. This will be my third trip there and I'm looking forward to a fun day.





Wednesday at Jasmin

Kids on the road to Jasmin with their homemade toy





Top of the morning to you from Haiti! Yesterday, we returned to Jasmin for our second day of clinics. Many people from Kerwin's even more remote parish, St. Nicholas, came to our clinic. St. Nicholas is about a 3.5 hour walk further up the mountain from St. Joseph's at Jasmin. Our patients reported walking 2-4 hours (one way!) to get to us. This included one 22 year old woman, who walked two hours one way so that her day old baby could be examined by a doctor.

The clinic saw 220 people and our dentist treated (extracted teeth!) from 25 people. Again, the differences in the health of the different communities was very evident. We saw many more people who had high blood pressure (some quite extreme who required immediate treatment), ring worm, other parasites, and more extreme malnutrition. There were many elderly who reported that they have a hard time climbing the mountains! Doctor Bob replied, "I do, too!"

Triage - Carol and her nursing students

Pharmacy - Gwen, Russ and I hard at work

When we returned to the guesthouse, we organized, counted, and repacked the leftover supplies and meds for our next trip in September. We will be so organized! So, for those of you planning ahead, we need glasses (reading of all strengths), tooth brushes, tooth paste, soap, cloth bags for the meds (11x14 size would be awesome!), and liquid tears. We have plenty of the various creams. There is a huge need for glasses to see at a distance (is that near sighted, or far sighted?). So, if anyone can figure out if there is a way to accomplish that in Haiti, please let Dianne or me know. We also could use an eye chart for testing the reading glasses and distance glasses - pictures, not letters.

We have arranged with our Haitian doctor Alex, to return to our communities in May to test the blood pressure of those whom we treated, and to adjust their medication accordingly. Another small step to sustainable Haitian staffed health care for our communities.

Today, we are going back up the mountain to visit the schools.

First Two Days of Clinics

The dolls are a hit!

I was too tired to write last night after a full day at St. P and St. J and then preparation for today (yes, more pill cutting and pouring!) So, I will recap the last two days, as best I can.

First, let me thank everyone who contriburted to our trip, with your prayers, and your donations of dolls, eye glasses, soap, shampoo, tooth brushes, tooth paste, medicine bags, plastic baggies for packaging, and various medicines. I'm sure that I am leaving out something, but just know that we are using everything that you sent and that the people in both comunities are very grateful for what we have brought to make their lives just a little better.

Monday, we spent the day in Gressier at St. P and St. J. We saw about 180 patients, many of whom we had seen before, and some of whom even returned with their patient record! As in the past, we found the people of Gressier to be in generally better health than those in Jasmin, where we saw about 210 patients today. The difference in the health of the two communities is remarkable, despite the relatively short distance between the two. The biggest difference is that Jasmin is more remote (further up the mountain from Gressier) and the people there have no access to other medical care. Those in Gressier are closer to the main road leading to Leogane where Hopital St. Croix is located or to the  Doctors without Borders facility on the main road in Gressier. In addition, there are other teams who serve the Gressier community.

The complaints in both communities included respiratory and gastric issues, high blood pressure, and parasites. In Gressier, we saw several cases of diabetes, but none in Jasmin. We saw much more high blood pressure, with more severe cases in Jasmin. The kids are generally more malnourished in Jasmin (again due to the remoteness and relatively less income) and there are many more cases of scabies and worms in Jasmin than in Gressier. Another distinct difference between the two populations is the greater number of older people we saw in Jasmin, as compared to Gressier.

The schools were both in session when we arrived. St. P and St. J (Gressier) meets in a new "temporary" building which replaced the bulding destroyed in the quake. St. Joseph's (Jasmin) continues to meet in the church building and in the yard as it did not have a school building for the quake to destroy. Both churches were heavily damaged and the St. P and St. J bulidng has been demolished, while the St. J church building is standig precariously, while we all pray that another quake or aftershock does not totally destroy it.

Both schools have the opportunity for a permanent bulding to be constructed by a foundation related to the Finnish Lutheran Church. These projects are dependent upon the purchase of the land for the buildings. In each case, we have been told that the owner (different people) will sell for $5500. I examined the land proposed for St. Joseph's today. It is quite a large piece of land behind the church (currently occupied by a banana orchard). The plan is to build the school at the back of the property and then have a playground for the kids between the church and the school. This would be an amazing improvement over the kids learning under a tarp and croweded into the church building. The school serves 300 children from pre-K through 6th grades and is the only school in the community. When we explored the possibility of building a school building before the quake, we were quoted $20,000 -$25,000 for the contruction only, so to have that bulding donated would be an amazing gift. If you are moved to donate to the fund to purchase the land, you may do so by donating to Christ Episcopal Church, Norcross, GA, for Jasmin, or St. John's Episcopal Church, Minneapolis, MN for Gressier.  Please indicate Haiti School Land Purchase in your donation. Please know that your funds will be put to the use you specify.

We unexpectantly had the opportunity for a Haitian dentist to travel to both communities with us. Of course, we said, "yes!". Despite the lack of publicity, he saw 8 patients on Monday and 17 today. His presence is now expected in Jasmin, so we anticipate an even bigger demand for his help tomorrow.

Everyone agreed that today was an easier day than yesterday, despite the higher number of patients. We had more space and more experience! Tomorrow should be even better when we return to Jasmin for another day of clinic.

Our Haitian Dr. Alex

Our newest team member - a Haitian dentist - starts to work



 


 


Team prepares to travel to Gressier Monday morning



Kids of St. Phillippe and St. Jacques (Gressier)

The land for the school at Jasmin

The children of St. Joseph's (Jasmin)



Sunday in Haiti

Sunday morning began at 2AM when we were awakened by a ra ra procession in the street outside the guesthouse. Awakening from a dead sleep to the sounds of horns, drums, and a caucophony of voices is quite startling, to say the least. The ra ra only occurs during Lent and is the antithesis of Lent.Our understanding is that different voodoo priests lead the processions and the one with the most followers is the most popular. We were also told that there is some Roman Catholic connection. We have been told that the processions are only on the weekends, only on Thursday and Saturday nights, and everynight. So, we shall see what happens tonight! Many of our group went up on the roof to watch and reported a fantastic sight of people dancing with large masks and torches. So, next time I hear the music, I'm heading up to the roof!

Many of us next awoke at 5AM. Of course, we intended to wake at 6. Our phones changed to daylight savings time, but Haiti did not! So, we had time for lots of wonderful coffee and some reading and chatting.

We strolled around the St. Croix complex before we left for church at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques. The improvements at St. Croix are remarkable since last fall. Much of the rubble has been cleared, the church is now under a tin roof rather than in the open air, and there is a temporary structure for the school courtesy of the Finnish Lutheran Church, which also rebuilt the school at St. P and St. J. Kerwin and his family now have a small wooden house in the front yard of their other home, in which Rholcie has been afraid to sleep since the quake. There are plans for further renovation and expansion of the hospital, rebuilding the church and schools with permanent structures, and rebuilding the guesthouse on the grounds, as well as a house for the families of the patients. And, there is even funding in place for some of these plans!

The congregation at St. P and St. J warmly welcomed us. I had brought the lectionary in English, and we had prayer books and hymnals in French. Of course, Kerwin's sermon and other remarks were in Creole, so our understanding was somewhat limited. The women's choir and the youth choir both sang special selections for us, including one last song in English. Unfortunately, my video skills failed me, so you will not get to hear them.

Madame Laborde, the lay leader's wife, prepared a sumptuous feast to enjoy following a meeting with the families at the school. The purpose of that meeting was to discuss how best the families could become self-sustaining with the help of the people of St. John's. The result was the formation of a seven person commission to explore the possibility of establishing a micro-credit fund.

When we returned to St. Croix, we continued our pill cutting, medicine pouring, labeling, and sorting. We are well prepared for our patients tomorrow. We expect 150-200 people. Our Haitian doctor arrived tonight and joined in the pill cutting fun. We also will be having a new element - a Haitian dentist offered to join us today. So, we will try that out tomorrow and see how it goes before committing to taking him to Jasmin with us.

Two of our translators, whom we have used before, Peterson and Valerie, came for a short visit to welcome us and touch base before tomorrow. It was great to see them both. Since our last visit, Peterson's wife has had their first baby - a boy named Peter - whom Peterson promises to bring to visit before we leave.

I think that today was a very successful day. The team is working well together in various groups, and Bob and Russ are providing our comedic relief. On to tomorrow!

PS - Nina, here's a photo of Bob in action!

Gwen relaxing after an early wake up call!

Most of the group







The reason I go to Haiti

Pere Kerwin and a young parishioner





We have arrived!

We just finished a wonderful dinner and are continuing our drug preparation for our clinics. Today has been long, but successful. We are finally all together now that we are at the guesthouse. Last night, everyone except Bill, convened in Miami. We had a fun dinner together (minus Karen and Suzanne) who had not yet arrived from CA. (and yes, we are obsessed with food!) We caught up with each other and made new friends.

Today started early - 4:30am - as we had the early flight to PAP. Gwen and I had taken our 5 gigantic bags and 2 carryons to the hotel after the airline would not check them through. Luckily the others checked them at the airport. Otherwise, we would never have fit all the bags into the van for the ride. The checkin was the smoothest ever. Then, we ate a quick bite, filled our water bottles, and hoped aboard.

When we arrived in PAP, again, it was amazingly smooth. We found all our bags - no problem- loaded them onto carts, got through immigration and security without a hitch, found our contact with a sign "Dianne Pizey", after Kerwin found us in baggage, then off we walked along the long path to the cars. With Kerwin with us, we were able to avoid the problem with many people trying to help with our bags. We just continued on with the carts and only 4 helpers, then loaded the vehicles (4!) and off we went.

The ride through PAP was extremely calm, very little traffic compared to the past trips. Things look much better than last trip. The rubble is being cleaned up and there is new construction. We passed a large field close the the airport with many, many new homes bult by Samaritan's Purse. We saw a new large Catholic church close to the old fallen down cathedral. The palace is still in the same state, and there are still thousands of people living in tent cities, but overall things seemed better.

I rode with Hebert, the same person whom I rode with many times last trip. It was wonderful to see him again. Both his English and my Creole have improved so we we could talk a lttle more.

The road out to Leogane has been repaired and again, things seem to be better. When we arrived at the guesthouse at Hopital Ste. Croix, we were greeted by the current managers, Bob and Robin who are from Ft. Worth. They are doing a great job! The same cooks are here and Dianne and I happily greeted the head cook, Jeanine.

Kerwin reported that his brother Roosnel was released from the hospital yesterday after suffering a head injury in a motorcycle accident in PAP about 12 days ago. We were thrilled to hear that. He still has a long recovery, but hopefully, over time he will make a full one.

We spent the afternoon organizing our supplies, and packaging meds. More of the same tonight! We have a new member of our group - Delia, from Toronto. She was here working on a Fuller project building houses, met Bill who was here this week doing the same, and now she's part of our group!

Tomorrow we're off to church at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques! Then, of course, more med preparation!

Pill sorting fun

See, I told you the food is great

Bon Swa!

Meditation from the Rev. Ceci Duke, Rector, Christ Church, Norcross

Ceci sent the following meditation to our team today. It's something we should all remember as we try to do our best to help our brothers and sisters in Haiti, and elsewhere. Terry.

The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts,

It is even beyond our wisdom.

We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction

Of the magnificent enterprise that is God’s work.

Nothing we do is complete, which is another way of

Saying that the kingdom always lies beyond us.

No statement says all that could be said.

No prayer fully expresses our faith.

No program accomplishes our mission.

No set of goals and objectives includes everything.

That is what we are about.

We plant the seeds that one day will grow.

We water the seeds already planted,

Knowing that they hold future promise.

We lay foundations that will need further development.

We provide yeast that produces effects

Far beyond our capabilities.

We cannot do every thing, and there is a

Sense of liberation in realizing that.

This enables us to do something, and to do it very well.

It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the

Way, an opportunity for the Lord’s grace to enter and do the rest.

We may never see the end results, but that is the difference

Between the master builder and the worker.

We are workers, not master builders; ministers, no messiahs.

We are prophets of a future not our own.

Traveling back to Haiti March 12-19, 2011

Our next team departs on Friday, March 11 to rendevous in Miami before leaving on the early flight to Port au Prince Saturday morning. Our team includes Terry Franzen and Gwen Seeliger, Christ Church, Norcross, GA, a group from St. John's , Minneapolis, MN, including Dr. Dianne Pizey, Russ Stephens, and Bill Peterson, Dianne's friend - Rev. Ward Bauman, director of the House of Prayer, Collegeville, MN, his daughter Suzanne Bauman from San Francisco, his sister Karen Cook also from northern California, Terry's friend - Nurse Carole Miller from St. Thomas, Coral Gables, FL, and Terry's friend - Dr. Bob Rosenthal from Washington, DC. We will work with a Haitian doctor and Haitian nursing students at our clinics. Terry and Dianne have traveled to Haiti together many times. Russ has gone on one trip with them. Welcome back! Everyone else from the US is new to the group, and new to Haiti, I believe. Our plan is to get our meds prepared Saturday after we are settled at the Hopital St. Croix Guesthouse in Leogane and Sunday after church and lunch at St. John's partner St. Phillipe and St. Jacques. Then Monday we will staff a clinic at the in Gressier at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques followed by two clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday at Christ Church's partner, St. Joseph of Arimethea in Jasmin. We hope to return to visit each school on Thursday and Friday. We also plan to meet with Pere Kesner Ajax, the head of the Partnership Program for the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti on Friday. Of course, we will be working with our partnership priest, Pere Kerwin Delicat throughout the week.  Please pray for our safe and successful journey to our Haitian friends and then a safe return to our families. I will do my best to post daily during our trip. So, check back for updates! Terry