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