It's Friday night after our day in Jacmel. Here we are shopping at a local artist's shop. Jean, Steve, Dianne, Susan, Terry, and Daphne.

 I've been trying to think how best to explain our experience so that those who have never been to Haiti may have some idea how  it feels to be here. For me, this has been a special week. One of our translators, Mario Guerrier, He died about one month ago from conplications of diabetes. He was 60 years old. Throughout the week we reminisced about  him with our other translators. "Don't worry, be happy!" A "Marioism". One of the translators had recorded what turned out to be his last conversation with Mario. We all stopped and listened to the call as we walked down the mountain after clinic one day. This week has made me realize how much I love the people with whom we have now worked many tines. When my translator, Peterson, says good bye to me, he always says, "I love you." I replied the same. This time I felt that we both meant it. Terry

I am  so happy to receive our traditional visit from the people of Christ Church, Atlanta, and St, John's Minneapolis. This is always with joy that every time the people of both communities welcome them with very open hearts. Their presence is a way to testify to the love of God to their brothers and sisters living in both communities. We have communion together, we pray together, we  sing  together, we nourish ourselves spiritually. The people are so happy to have this opportunity. I want to take this opportunity to use my voice to thank you  on behalf of these two communities for everything you represent for them. As you can see on their faces,  they are always happy to see you and they give good testimonies for the clinics to help them be physically in good health. We will never stop thanking you for everything, Christ Church and St. John's . We will stay united in prayer. Thank you. Pere Kerwin Delicat.

When we  get together with our brothers and sisters in Haiti, we are not Haitians or  Americans we are not rich or poor, but  we come together with one Christian heart.  Daphne.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It's been a magical week. It starts with a shy smile from a little girl in a pink uniform. There are so many things. All the people I have been with have been generous, helpful, things that friends are. They try to bring out the best from everyone around them. It's been enriching. Everything from the motorcycle  ride to the walk down the mountain has been fabulous. Jean.

 

 

I've loved meeting the Haitian people and the communities that were served by them at the mobile clinics. So many people are so warm and generous. The whole team of doctors, nurses, and other clinic team  members have been enjoyable, especially our  Jamaican team member. Susan

 

 

Every time I come to Haiti, I feel like I never left. Although I can't explain it t all, I feel completely at  home here. I have so many friends here. Although we live very different lives, I feel no barriers between us. I never want to say that I am here to serve anyone, because we are all one body, and so we  serve each other. Every group that I bring here is different, but at the end of the week, we all have the same heart  for Haiti. Dr. Dianne.

Steve is sleeping, so he will add his thoughts later. In the meantime, the American women  are laughing and reminiscing about how much Steve  has added to our trip. He turned 80 this year and decided to celebrate by joining us for his third trip. Steve is a remarkable person. He runs the eyeglass station with the assistance of a translator. This year we added a  Haitian optometrist to our team,  Dr. Laguerre  Guearry.

They were a great team.

Our goal is to put the Americans out of business. We came pretty close this trip.

 

Dr. Alex LeBrun, who joined our team for the sixth time.

Our nurse, Evens Joicin, his  wife Elda, and their baby Edvins, born July 17. Evens runs the clinical program at the Episcopal Nursing School in Leogane. He Supervises the nursing students at our clinics and goes to our communities monthly to follow up with our patients.

Dr. Rudolph Richeme, a resident in orthopedic surgery, and his wife, Myrlene, a nurse, rounded out the medical team.

 

 

Rudolph operating on  the altar at St. Joseph's with an interested audience!

 

Dianne laughing with our dentist, Dr. Emmanuel Bastien.

 

 

Even one of our translators who is attending engineering university in Port au Prince came to help us sort  and pack our meds. Watson Drouillard

And, then the rest of the story, Introducing the Hopital Ste. Croix Beauty Shop.

Just a quick note to let everyone know that we are well and have had two successful days of clinics. The first day at St. Philippe and St. Jacques we saw 230 patients and 16 in the dental clinic and today we saw 235 patients at St. Joseph with another 16 in the dental clinic. We have an optometrist with us this trip. He traveled from Gonaives to be with us. He brought his machine that tests eyes and is able to diagnosis and treat various diseases including glaucoma and cataracts. An ophthalmologist in Port au Prince has offered to perform the cataract surgeries at no charge. What a wonderful gift! I'll  add more some other time. I'm using the internet stick of one of our translators and I do not want to wear out my welcome! Terry

Bonswa from Duluth, Georgia! Yes, you read correctly. I am writing this on Friday evening in Duluth. Mechanical trouble on my flight scheduled from Atlanta to Miami caused the flight to be delayed to late afternoon (at least!) which did not help me at all in trying to get to Port au Prince. So, I'm scheduled on the 7am flight in the morning and will meet the rest of the team when I arrive about noon. While I have not heard from the team beyond Miami, I know they made it that far and have not heard that they did not make it to Port au Prince. So, I feel sure that they are  happily ensconced at the Visa Lodge and the beer drinkers are enjoying their first (or maybe second) Prestige of the trip. Ok, maybe I was not really as happy as I appear to be in this picture while I was awaiting my son Chip  and his girlfriend Marine to pick me up from the airport!

 

 

Here we really are happy enjoying a fabulous lunch at the Sundial Restaurant atop the Peachtree Plaza Hotel in Atlanta.

Traveling back to Haiti

It's Tuesday night and we are all preparing for our trip which begins on Friday. Everyone's bags are packed, weighed, and rearranged as needed. We are anxiously awaiting our meeting at the Miami airport where we will be arriving from near and far. The Atlanta group is small, but mighty - Daphne Gary and me. We have both traveled to Haiti many times. Steve Steinberg is joining us again from New Orleans. He is a master with fitting our patients with glasses. Our Minneapolis crew includes our fearless medical leader, Dr. Dianne Pizey, and two new team members, Susan Tapp and Jean McGuire.

This will be a special trip because we are taking another step in our journey to including more and more Haitians on our team, and eventually putting the Americans out of business. Our other two doctors are Alex LeBrun, who has now been with us several times, and Rudolph Risheme, who has been on our team once before. We have a new addition - Guerry Laguerre, who is an optometrist. He will be able to see patients with eye problems and refer them to the clinic in Leogane or Port au Prince, as needed. Rudolph's wife, Myrline, who is a nurse, will be joining us and assisting in triage. Our dentist Emmanuel Bastien is returning, as is our nurse Evens Joicin. Evens and Myrline will supervise and train our nursing students.

Because we have so few on our team who speak petit petit Kreyol, we will only have three translators. We have requested some of our same translators, but we will have to see who is available to work with us.

We have made arrangements with Notre Dame to purchase salt which is treated with the medicine which prevents filiariasis. We were able to provide this salt to our patients one other time. Since then, it has been unavailable. The salt is a great gift and an opportunity to educate our patients about how to prevent filiriasis. You may know this disease as "elephantitis". The lymph system is attacked causing  huge swelling of the extremeties. There is no effective treatment, so prevention is the answer to stopping this disease.

Every trip to Haiti is a little different and filled with adventure. Please hold the people we serve in your prayers. Please pray for a successful week and safe travels for us. 

Terry Franzen

I wanted to fill in "the rest of the story" for you. The last day at St. Joseph's we saw the patients from St. Nicholas - all 240 of them for medical treatment and 17 for dental treatment. So, my "fear" that our sending our nurse monthly to the communities would mean that we would have fewer patients did not come true.

When we left St. Joseph's, we discovered that the road had been graded. There is no longer a gigantic rock in the middle of the hairpin turn! It's a miracle, as Pere Kerwin declared!

On Thursday, we organized, inventoried, and re-packed the left over meds for the next trip. Then, we set off on our traditional visit to the Nursing School, and trek out to the beach. There is such progress throughout the town since our last trip. There are new gutters with a drainage systems being installed and new roads with interlocking pavers. There are many new homes and commercial buildings being constructed to replace those that were destroyed by the earthquake. There's a new park being built where the old market had previously stood in the center of town. Most amazing, however, is the new Obama Beach Club complete with jet skiis, a stage and dance floor, bar and restaurant, and small hotel. This is just down the beach from the landing for the boats coming over from La Gonave with charcoal and livestock. What a contrast!

Friday, we headed across the island to Jacmel. We laugh about the magazine we get at the airport, "Magic Haiti", but the beach at Jacmel is really magical. The water is a gorgeous aquamarine, the mountains in the distance are stunning, the palm trees shading the tables and chairs are inviting, and the boats and fishermen are picturesque. If only everyone could see this part of Haiti, tourism would flourish and poverty would be eliminated.

We sadly headed to the airport bright and early Saturday morning, but are looking forward to returning in the fall.

Welcome to Haiti!

We have no wireless this trip, and the electricity just went off! So, this will be quick. We've had two great days of clinics. We saw 255 at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques yesterday and 220 at St. Joseph's today. Our dentist treated 22 yesterday and 15 today.

The  road to St. Joseph's is being repaired ! Hallelulah!The St. Joseph's school is fully operational and is amazing. We now have 455 students. It is the largest school in the area.The new desks are beautiful! The walls at the church at St. Joseph, which were damaged in the earthquake, finally had to come down, so we now have plywood walls on the sides.

The school at St. Phillip and St. Jacques has started construction. There will be 6 classrooms. They plan to keep the temporary school up and would like to buy more land behind the school to build a new church building.

Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes, Knees and Toes at English Club!

 

Do not expect more until we return, when I'll add more information and some photos. Until then, those of you who have been to Haiti can ponder the question which a student in our interpretor Watson's English Club asked me Saturday - "Do you see heaven in Haiti?" Of course, my answer was "Yes!", but then the follow up question, "Why?" Bondye Bon. Terry

Off to the Haiti Connection and Leogane

Our US team is busily preparing for our next trip to Haiti. Our team includes the following:
Christ Church - Busy Belden (first timer) and Terry Franzen
St. John's - Dianne Pizey, MD; Cynthia Miller, RN; Kris Waters, RN (first timer); Geneva Martin (Cynthia's stepdaughter and a first timer)
Washington, DC - Dr. Bob Rosenthal and his daughter Sarina Rosenthal (first timer)

Everyone except Bob amd Sarina are attending the Haiti Connection Conference in Port au Prince, April 10-12. Dianne and Terry have been asked to present about our clinic experiences at the conference. They have invited Hilda Alcindor, the Dean of the nursing school, and Pere Kerwin Delicat, our partnership priest, to join them in discussing how our clinics are more successful because of the collaborative effort of everyone involved. Hopefully, the new administrator of the Hopital Ste. Croix will be available to talk, also.

Bob and Sarina arrive on April 12 and everyone will travel together to Leogane, where we will stay at the Hopital Ste. Croix guesthouse as in the past. Dr. Alex LeBrun and Emmanuel Bastien, DDS will be joining us for our clinics. We will have our usual contingent of nursing students, plus our nurse Evens Joicin to assist us. Finally, we will have translators to help those of us whose Kreyol remains petit petit, despite our besst efforts.

We plan clinics at Gressier on Monday, followed by clinics at Jasmin on Tuesday and Wednesday.

I will try to update the blog throughout the time we are in Haiti, but the internet is "spotty" at times. Remember, no news is good news!

Please keep our partners and us in your prayers.

Terry