Jasmin, Part Dieux

  

It rained like crazy last night, so the travel up the mountain was a little more interesting than the previous two trips this week. Our big truck fish tailed at one point, so we all moved to the back of the truck to have more weight on the back wheels. That was a little scary. Some people had to got out of the little truck and walked the rest of the way up the mountain - Leslie, Daphne, Julia, and Alex proved that they are the fittest of the group!

A large group was awaiting us when we finally arrived. Since our patients this day come from farther up the mountain and walk up to 4 hours one way to reach us, I always am a little embarrased that they arrive before we do. As in the previous visits, we found our patients today to be in relatively poorer health than those from the less remote areas the prior days. One of the most frustrating things about our trips is that no matter how carefully we plan, we always seem to run out of meds on the third day. Today was no different. This meant that our docs had to be a little creative with their prescriptions towards the end of the day.  Despite this, everyone left with meds to treat their particular symptoms.

One of the things that we noticed this trip was the markedly decreased incidence of std's. Of course, we attribute this to the fact that people are now getting treatment and, therefore, are less likely to continue spreading the diseases throughout their communities. The many condoms we distributed probably helped quite a bit, also!

We saw more than 250 patients today. By 3:00, I think we were all ready to see the last patients, but they just kept coming! Our dentist saw about 18 patients. At one point, he had 8 people waiting for treatment. Unfortunately, we ran out of the cloth medicine bags, so the last several patients had to be content with gallon size zip lock bags. I hated that since everyone loves the colorful bags.

Our patient who presented Daphne with the sweet potatoes yesterday, returned today with avocados from her tree. Madame Anastasia also returned with avocados and pumpkins for us. The generosity of people who have so little material things is overwhelming.

Before we left, we presented the many dresses which the Christ Church sewing group had made, and the t-shirts which many people had purchased for the boys at the school. Hopefully, on our next trip, we will see some of them being worn.

We said good-bye to our translators and nursing students today. One of our translators, Peterson, is quite the entrepreneur, and sells Haitian crafts. Many of us bought jewelry, wood work, and paintings from him. Our friend, Mario, another person who works at the hospital, sells Haitan vanilla. He came around when we returned today, also, So, of course, we supported his enterprise, as well.

Alex treated us to Haitian rum and "wine" tonight. The spirits livened up our after dinner conversation despite our being pretty tired after the long day. Tomorrow we get to "sleep in" a little before some of us will meet with the women from Pere Kerwin's 7 parishes to discuss Daughters of the King and starting chapters at each parish.

I though you might like a look at Haiti's famous traffic. So, here you go.

Finally, this is why we are here.

Jasmin Clinic - Part 1

After a fabulous breakfast of pancakes, bananas, and mango (with a little mamba a - peanut butter -thrown in for some protein), we headed up the mountain to Jasmin for our first day of clinics there. The Jasmin community was waiting for us. Our clinic starts with prayer led by Pere Kerwin. It always touches me to see everyone stand no matter how sick they may be. Haitian people pray with a ferventness which I have not expereienced elsewhere.

We saw many familar faces, most of whom carried their medical records from the prior clinics with them. The mom with the newborn twins last year, returned with them this year! The age of many of the patients is striking.Our oldest today was 95! Amazing, especially considering that the average mortality in Haiti is 49. It seems weird, but I think the isolation of the community has something to do with it. Jasmin is made up of two main family groups - names which we saw over and over today.

The health of our patients was generally worse than those we saw yesterday. Surprisingly because of the relative lack of mosquitos at the higher elevation, we saw a good amount of malaria. We had a large number of kids with ring worm and several people with asthma, including one woman who was carried to see us. We had breathing treatments with us, so she was treated immediately. She improved somewhat, but was still very sick. Unfortunately, she had no way to reach a hospital. At some point, with her friends supporting her, she left.

We gave the books we had brought to the headmaster. The kids who got to see them, were thrilled with them, even though they were in English. I showed a little girl the Dr. Seuss book, Theres' a Wocket in my Pocket, and she seemed to think "wocket" was just as funny as my kids did at her age. Dr. Suess has universal appeal!

While we worked in the clinic, the contruction crew was hard at work on the school buildings. There were at least 30 men and women working on the site all day. It was thrilling to see! When I talked with some of the kids about their new school, their faces just lit up!

We were a well oiled machine today, and saw about 200 patients before 3:00. Our dentist saw 20 patient today, so there are at least 20 fewer teeth in Jasmin tonight. Our patients seemed excited about the salt we brought to them. We explained about the filiriasis prevention, but I really think they were just excited to receive a pound of salt at no charge. We are excited about salt with the Filiriasis preventative. Filiriasis is a horrible disease, which attacks the lymph system and can incapacitate the victim. Distributing the salt is so inexpensive for such a positive result. In addition, the salt is iodized, which is unusual in Haiti, and will contribute to the overall better health of the community.

Steve Steinberg has had a very successful couple days manning the eye glass station. Today, some people even brought the glasses they had received at our other clinics to trade for a stonger pair this time. Thanks to those of you who donated glasses and to the Lions Club! Our community has no other chance to get glasses.

Our clinic day closed, with Daphne's friend from last year presenting her with another gift - this time it was a huge sack of freshly dug sweet potatoes. We brought them back with us and enjoyed some with our dinner tonight.

When we returned to the guesthouse, we had a little time and energy remaining, so we strolled around the St. Croix grounds to show the newbies the St. Croix buildings post-quake and describe the pre-quake set up. Since our spring trip, several new temporary buldings have been erected by the same Finnish NGO which is building the Jasmin permanent building and built the temporary building at Gressier. A young man was putting the finishing touches on some signs painted on trees while we were there. They seem ready for school to begin next week.

Following our dinner, Andy and Graham played their ukeleles while the rest of us sung rousing choruses of My Girl, Country Roads, Up on the Roof (complete with a little shag demonstration by Steve and me), and other perennial favorites. This made the pill cutting and packaging fly by.

We're ready for our second day in Jasmin!

Monday at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques, Gressier

As you can imagine, sitting around cutting, packaging, and labeling pills allow for varied conversations among the group. Sharing coffee before beginning our day, does so, as well. This morning, a few of us were up early and talked about the value of our medical and dental care to the communities we serve. Our Gressier community has the opportunity to get medical care in Leogane, about a 45 minute drive away. Of course, that access is limited by financial resources, including the funds for transporation, as well as care and the presecriptions. The Jasmin community where St. Joseph's is located (and where we will have clinics on Tuesday and Wednesday) has no access to other care. The communty's remote location as well as the extreme poverty of the people contribute to this situation.

The churches ask that the patients pay about 25 cents for the care they receive. There is no charge for the medicine. If someone cannot pay, then they are not turned away.

Despite the care and the overall improvement in the health of the communities, our coffee group agreed with Steve Steinberg when he declared that the most important thing that we bring to our communities is love. Our repeated trips allow both us and our patients to recognize and enthusiastically great each other. I remember when I met with the Bishop Duracin, Bishop of the Diocese of Haiti, when Christ Church was deciding whether to enter into a partnership relationship with St. Joseph's. Bishop Duracin told me then, that the relationship is more important than any money that we can send.

One of the high points today was enjoying the pumpkin soup which Madame Laborde prepared for our group  of more than 20 for lunch. When I wandered over during a lull in the pharmacy action, Madame Laborde was not in the house. After I ate, I sought her out to thank her for the wonderful meal. I thought she'd squeeze me to death, as we hugged each other hello (a southern and Haitian tradition for you Minnesotans reading this post). While our lives are very different, we have connected.

Our clinic saw about 200 patients today, and our dentist treated 12 patients (at least 12 teeth were pulled!) The heath seemed generally worse today than during our spring trip. We attributed this to our being at the end of the rainy season, with much higher incidences of malaria and scabies.  As is often the case, we saw several people with very high blood pressure and various infections. We are able to treat chronic issues such as high blood pressure and diabetes with a 6 month supply of medication and have an arrangement with our Haitian doctor to visit our patients again in three months to adjust meds as needed.

One little girl, whom we had seen before, asked specifically for one of the knitted bears from St. Mary and St. Martha. I was excited to be able to fulfill her wish. The medicine bags were greatly appreciated and are so  much nicer (and environmentally freindly) packaging than a plastic bag. Since the kids were not in school yet, we gave the photos of the children from the last trip to the headmaster to distribute to the children when school begins

Several members of the Port au Prince Daughters of the King chapter journeyed to Gressier to meet with Leslie and me this morning. Unfortunately, because of the clincs, we had only a few minutes to greet them and talk about the meeting planned for Thursday to introduce Pere Kerwin's 7 parishes to DOK.

Tomorrow we are off to Jasmin, where 200 people have signed up for clinics each day and there is a request that we return for a third day of clinics on Thursday. We will have to see whether we have meds available for that before we commit.

Worshipping in Haiti

The internet at the guesthouse was not working Sunday, so I could not post Sunday. That allowed some time for reflection. Worship at St. Joseph's is a joyous affair, full of lively music and enthusiastic preaching. The sermon is a two part affair. Just as Pere Kerwin is getting wound up, he takes a break and the congregation enthusiastically sings as the keyboard player and choir director leads the group. Maxo, our lay leader, leads the singing. The service was about 2.5 hours long, followed by a time for fellowship in which we shared our customary coconuts.

One of the greatest things on Sunday was seeing the progress on the school buldings. There are two large buildings being constucted behind the church. Each building will have three large rooms, each of which can be divided into two classrooms for a total of 12 classrooms. In addition, there will be a biofuel latrine. The resulting fuel will be used in the kitchen which is also being built. It is a miraculous to see! The 340 students at the school have been attending classes inside the church building and in the yard under tarps. Having actual school buldings, which are earthquake and hurrican proof is such a gift to these students. Thanks to the donations at Christ Church and the generosity of the Finnish Church Foundation, our students will soon have buildings which will be much more conducive to learning. The buildings are scheduled to be completed in February 2012. I really believe that none of this would have happened had the earthquake not occurred - at least not on this same time table.

Unfortuately, our students cannot attend classes at our church during the construction, so Maxo and Jean (the headmaster) are desperately seeking land they can rent to use until the buildings are complete. The plan is to erect tarps on the land and have school in a less than ideal temporary setting. School is set to start a week from today. We are to get a further report tomorrow.

One of the other great things that has come from the construction project is employment for many people in the community. There are no jobs in the remote area where our school is located, so this is truly a God send for the entire community.

We've arrived!

We arrived safe and sound with little issues in either the Miami or Port au Prince airports. We loaded into 2 vehicles (Kerwin's mini-van and the hospital's land cruiser) with our bags in the back of a pick up truck (all 34 of them!)Just as in the spring, the bags were covered with a tarp, apparently now sop. We rested some, unpacked, organized, and repacked the bags dividing items into Gressier and Jasmin bags, and started packaging meds. We had a great late lunch of pumpkin soup, mamba (peanut butter) on bread or crackers, and pineapple. Kerwin just arrived with the left over meds from the spring trip, as well as all the new medicine he purchased here for this trip. So, we have our work cut out for us sorting, packaging,and labeling tonight and tomorrow after church. Fred enjoyed the first Prestige for our team.
Steve F. quickly followed. Until tomorrow......

We're off!

After much packing, now up to 13- 50 pound bags from Atlanta (yes, we will be paying extra!), at least 5 from Minneapolis, 1 from New Orleans, and 1 from California, plus our carry on bags for our personal stuff, we're ready for our trip. Thanks to everyone who rallied together and supplied more vitamins this week! Hopefully, we will have enough for all our patients to have a 6 month supply. I think it will be like the loaves and fishes, and we will be fine. The Atlanta group is meeting up later afternoon and we will wing our way to Miami to meet up with the rest of our team. Please keep us and everyone in Haiti in your prayers. Terry