Giving Thanks

It is Friday night after Thanksgiving and I finally have some time to add photos to the blog and to add a few reflections of the trip.

Things were quiet after the election, which resulted in a run off in the presidential election which will be held in December. Jude Celestin is expected to win, so we shall see.

Since all was quiet, we were able to travel to Jacmel and enjoy a relaxing day at the Hotel Cyvadier before returning home the next day.

The Atlantans had an early flight home, but the Minnesotans were able to visit with Pere Kerwin and his family while awaiting their flight. 

Going to Haiti makes us thankful for those whom we now call our friends - our Haitian team mates, our patients, our priests, those who staff and take care of us at the guesthouse, our drivers, the staff and teachers at our schools, the lay leaders and their families, and all the families at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques and at St. Joseph's. We are thankful for those who live in Haiti and serve at Hopital Ste. Croix and at FSIL, the Episcopal Nursing School, and who provide care for our communities. 

We are thankful for the opportunity to go to Haiti ourselves and for the small part which we play in improving our communities. We are thankful to all of you who support us by your prayers and donations so that we can continue to improve the lives of those we serve, one small step at a time. 

Thursday Night

It's after 10 and only the night owls are still up - Sandra, Bob, and me. We had a long day of organizing and getting prepared for the next trip. In the late afternoon, Dianne spent some time up at her partner, St. Phillippe and St. Jacques, learning about their plans to add a 10th grade (Secondary 1) in the 2016-2017 school year.

Yesterday was another eventful day in Jasmin. It seems that at each clinic there is at least one patient who is gravely ill. This day, it was a 17 month old boy, who had pulled a pot of boiling water over onto himself that morning. Luckily, our clinic was operating and Dianne was there. The young mother was understandably upset, and the little boy was in a great deal of pain. After giving the boy some Tylenol, Dianne had to abrade some of the burns, and then cleaned, treated, and wrapped the burns and blisters. The Mom told us that she lived close to the church, and lived in a house with a dirt floor. Dianne was concerned about dirt and the risk of infection, but unfortunately, this is the situation.  Although we gave her medicine and more dressings, the dressings needed to be changed daily, and Dianne told the Mom to take the boy to the hospital for this. We hope and pray that she is able to do so, but the closest hospital is where we stay which is about 1 to 1 1/2 hours away by 4 wheel drive vehicle. This mom was barefoot when she came to our clinic carrying her son. It is so difficult to describe the conditions in this mountanous community if you have not seen it. Her best hope of getting to the hospital is by moto. So, just try imagine what it would be like to carry your 17 month old toddler who has sustained second degree burns to his torso, arm, and back, down an extremely steep and  bumpy road, on the back of a moto, before reaching the main highway to get to the hospital. Then, think how easy it is for us to access medical care in the US.

Today has been an interesting day. The results of the Presidential election were announced in the late afternoon. There will be a runoff in December. There was concern about unrest after the announcement. Pere Sonley had been in Port au Prince, and said that there were some demonstrations, but things in Leogane are calm. We enjoyed a walk around town before the announcement and hope to be able to go to Jacmel tomorrow. We shall see how things are in the morning.

Everyone has now deserted me, so I am heading to bed, also.

Tuesday Night

This is my second attempt to post to this blog tonight. I'll save frequently this time!

Tuesday night is one of my favorite times in Haiti. We have completed 2 days of clinics (340 and 296 patients) and do not have to pack up when we leave Jasmin (and don't have to haul bags down the stairs and up into the trucks in the morning.) We have little meds to pack because most everything is already up the mountain. So, everyone is relaxed.

The acupunture clinic opened tonight courtesy of Cynthia, and both Bob and Brenda took advantage of Cynthia's expertise. Both are now very relaxed, having capped off their acupuncture sessions with a few rousing rounds of Bananagrams.

In the past, I have written about the sounds and smells of Haiti. The sounds of Haiti have increased in  volume. HSC, the hospital where we stay, is now the center of maternity health in Leogane as MSF no longer delivers babies. We met the on-call OB-GYN Saturday night, and the next morning he told us he delivered three babies. Judging by the sounds, there have been at least that many babies born each night we have been here.

It must be the season. We saw several new babies in clinic both days. They were very cute, but a couple were also quite sick.

This is my second Presidential Election in Haiti. It is quite interesting. This time, there are more than three candidates, with the front runners being one supported by the current President and former rock star, Martelly; one supported by former President Aristide; and one supported by former President Preval. Apparently, the wife of a former President is waiting for there to be a provisional government with her appointed as President. The election was 10 days ago, but no results have been announced. They were to be announced tomorrow night, and now will not be announced until Thursday night, the last we heard.

We have had a grand time getting to know our new priest, Sonley Joseph. He is very nice and seems to be getting along well with the congregations and schools which are now under his care.

 I met with him and the principal of our school tonight, so they could fill Sandra and me in on the expansion of the school to include 10th grade, the plan to build 2 new classrooms to accommodate this and additional class expansion, and the great news that all of our students passed the national exam for 9th grade. Our school is the highest quality of the 3 in our community, and it received a commendation from the government. Everyone is excited and very proud of the students!

Sandra and I gave 4 computers to the principal today. He was thrilled when he discovered that the cases contained computers! He has a room set up for a computer lab and they plan to add internet via a Natcom "stick" and wireless router. A computer lab is a 10th grade requirement, so the timing could not have been better. Our school has come a long way in a few short years.

We reacquainted ourselves with people at both locations.

Today, I was excited to see Sofini, her mom, and her brother at the clinics. They just came for a visit today and will return tomorrow for treatment.

Marie, the woman who made the crocheted skirts for me in the spring, brought another 15 skirts today, and Elise made 3 for older girls. So, if you need a baby gift, contact me! These skirts are a way for these women to earn money to help support their families and for us to earn money for the clinics.

I'm pleased that I finally got an update on the blog tonight. Now, I will leave Cynthia to finish her homework and go to bed like the rest of the team. Until tomorrow. Terry

Saturday Night in Haiti

After a long day of travel yesterday, and a long day of counting and packaging pills today, we are enjoying a relaxing evening. Some of us are agonizing about the GA-FL game and others could not care less!

Our travel from Miami to Port au Prince via American Airlines was a disaster. The two hour trip morphed into a more than 12 hour ordeal due to mechanical problems with first one plane and then, another. The first plane had a cracked windshield. After trying to fix it all afternoon, the airline found another plane for us, but by then we had lost the crew. After the crew finally arrived, we loaded onto the plane, only to be told we could not  take off because someone had not gotten onto the plane, but their luggage had. So, all the luggage had to be removed from the plane, the errant bags found, and the remaining bags reloaded. Finally we were ready to go. By now it was after 7:30 pm. (Our flight was scheduled for 1:00 pm.) When we arrived in Port au Prince, we had a bumpy landing, and came to a stop. The pilot then announced that we had lost the nose steering gear and that we would have to be towed to the gate. After waiting for that to occur, we arrived at a gate, to be told that the hydraulic fluid had leaked out of the plane, so we would exit from the rear of the plane. Those of us in the back were happy about that! When we finally arrived at baggage claim, the bags did not arrive for a really long time because they could not open the baggage compartment of the plane.

Happily, Vundla at the Diocese of Haiti had arranged for someone to meet us to expedite our travel through customs and our drivers were patiently waiting for us. We were a little nervous traveling through Port au Prince at night, but no traffic made the trip much faster than normal. When we arrived at the hospital guesthouse, the usual porters were there to haul the14 large bags upstairs, and amazingly Janine had dinner waiting for us at midnight!

Today, we spent the day packaging meds. Throughout the day, various members of our Haitian team, including Frantz, Emmanuel, and Evens came to greet us. It was wonderful to see everyone.

Tomorrow morning, we will go to church for All Saints Day at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques, and then finish up the meds with the ever popular pouring of the liquid meds and creation of the STD and Prev Packs.

Now, some of us will play Bananagrams, before hitting bed early.

Another Halloween in Haiti

We are getting ready to spend another Halloween/All Saints/Gide Day in Haiti. The Americans leave on Friday, October 30, and will travel that day to the guesthouse in Leogane. Our American team has already suffered one casualty, as Steve Franzen will not be able to go with us as planned due to injuries he suffered in a recent car accident.

Our remaining healthy American team includes Dr. Dianne Pizey; Dr. Bob Rosenthal; Cynthia Miller, RN; Brenda Ziebel, LPN; Sandra Durbin; and me, Terry Franzen. Brenda is our only "newbie" this trip. We look forward to welcoming her to Haiti and hope she loves it as much as the rest of us do. Our American team comes from Minnesota, Georgia, and Maryland, and includes members of Christ Church, Norcross, GA and St. John's, Minneapolis, MN as well as non-member friends. We welcome all to join us!

Our Haitian team continues to grow, and we expect all will be veterans this trip, except for our new priest. (Of course, we thought that was the case last trip, but we had some last minute substitutions. Travel to Haiti requires flexibility!) Our Haitian team members include Frantz Codio, MD; Charenne Codio, MD; Rudolph Richeme, MD; Emmanuel Bastien, Dentist; Marie Lourdes Bastien, Dental Assistant; Evens Joicin, RN; Myrline Richeme, RN; Laguerre Gerry, Optometrist; and our new priest, Pere Sonley Joseph.

Our lay leaders at each location, Maxo Louis and his wife Elise at Jasmin and Joseph LaBorde and his wife who we know as Madame LaBorde at Collin assist with the organization and set up of the clinics. We will have 5 translators and 5 nursing students with us. We will not know who they are until we see them on Monday morning before the first clinic. Our skillful drivers are also very important members of our team, and Janine and her guesthouse staff keep us well fed and happy.

We are sad that Pere Kerwin will no longer be with us. He has been with us since the beginning in 2007, but has now been moved to a new position as Dean of the Cathedral in Port au Prince. This is an important position in the Diocese, so we are pleased for him, but we will miss him.

We are so looking forward to meeting and getting to know our new priest Pere Sonley Joseph and his wife, who live in Leogane.

I will try to update the blog daily while we are in Haiti. That is very much dependent upon the state of the electricity and internet, and my fatigue. So, no news is good news! We hope you will stay tuned and consider coming along with us sometime. Terry

Haiti Reflections

I have not had time to add photos to this blog or to tell "the rest of the story" as has been my practice on past trips. Today, however, I gave the sermon at church about our Haiti experience in April and then showed a slide show of photos from the trip. I thought I would add my sermon to this blog. I think it tells the story. I will add photos to illustrate it. I tried to add the video slide show, but the file is too big to upload. Check out the Haiti page on the Christ Church website to view it there. www.ccnorcross.org. Terry

HAITI REFLECTIONS

June 7, 2015

And Jesus replied, “Who are my mother and my brothers?” And looking at those who sat around him, he said, “Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother.” Mark 3:33-35

As some of you know, it is very difficult for me to talk about Haiti from my heart. It is easy for me to tell you “just the facts”. Our team included folks from Minneapolis, our Iowa dental team, and me from Christ Church. We treated 800 patients over 3 days.

 

 

We had a wonderful team including many new people. When our usual translators took jobs for 5 days with another team because we had only 3 days of work for us, we had new translators – Richardson, Casimir, and Gerard.

When our usual optometrist LaGuerre was “stuck in the Dominican Republic (whatever that means), his friend Giermo traveled from Mirabelais where he works with Partners in Health to work with our team.

 When our dentist Emmanuel traveled with the other team, our American dentist Terry and his team worked extra hard to see patients, and then Emmanuel stepped in on Saturday to see those Terry could not see during the week.

 

 When Doctor Rudy could only be with us 2 days, he enlisted the help of one of his friends, who traveled high into the mountains with us to see patients on Wednesday.

And then there are the strengthened connections. Doctor Frantz Codio joined us for the second time, and brought his doctor wife Shareen to work with us.

 

 

Nurse Evens Joicin brought his nursing students to work with us

and his wife and two children visited with us.

Then, there are always surprises in Haiti. Frantz and Shareen’s daughter Shaneka was born at Gwinnett Medical Center because Shareen’s brother lives in Lawrenceville. Opthamologist Frantz Large finally was able to come with us on Monday and saw patients who need eye surgery, which he will perform at no charge in his clinic in Port au Prince.

When I realized that the reason my usual wad of money was light because I had forgotten the money to pay the Haitian staff, our translator Marcos and Pere Kerwin swung into action to help me get the money which Steve transferred to me out of the clutches of Western Union.

Participating in the celebration of the feast day at St. Marc’s on Sunday and rocking to the music of many choirs, including our friends at St. Phillippe and St. Jacques.

Waking to no water in the morning in my room, and late in the week realizing that it was my room only, and I could use other’s water first thing in the morning before it was fixed.

And then there are the gifts, seeing our translator Peterson’s face when I presented him with his computer repaired by Ed Fair,

admiring the new book shelves for the library at St. Joseph’s paid for by the SPCK donation,

seeing the joy on the sick children’s faces when they got their comfort dolls or bears knitted by friends across the US,

 

 

watching our patients carefully pack their meds into the cloth bags made by our friends in Iowa and Minnesota, seeing Sofini’s excitement when I gave her a photo of us together, feeling Sofini’s arms around my neck as she whispered, “Mesi anpil”,

 

and discovering I can buy solar powered lights for $15.00 at the Western Union, bringing light to those who live in darkness high up in the mountains.

One of the funniest moments was seeing Casimir’s puzzlement when he told me that there was a lady in the yard who said she had some skirts for me. I, of course, had completely forgotten about the cute crocheted skirts I had seen in the fall and my request that the mom make 10 for me to buy in the spring. So, here they are! I have sold one and the proceeds will be used to help pay for our clinics. So, buy one today! It’s our new micro-enterprise to help support the community and our clinics. (Unfortunately, the photo of the craftswoman did not turn out.)

So, these are our brothers and sisters in Haiti. They are the people who walk up to 4 hours to see a doctor at our clinic. They are very young and very old.

 They are the teachers and students at the school.

 

 

 

 

 

 They are the children who are not in uniforms, a sign that they do not go to school because they cannot afford to attend.

They are the families who live in darkness once the sun goes down. They are the young girls who walk down the mountain to the river to collect water for their families, and then carry it back up the steep mountain road in large buckets balanced on their heads. They are the mom with her two little children who roasts corn in the school yard for those attending our clinics.

They are the young men on the motos ferrying people up and down the mountain. They are the moms cooking in the yard over an open charcoal fire. They are the old men leading their donkeys laden with rice up the mountain to sell at the market. They are Jeanine and her staff who take such good care of us at the guesthouse.

They are the kids dressed in their finest, putting the Americans to shame on Sunday morning.

They are the musicians and choirs that bring the spirit of God into church. They are the people and the country that I have grown to love. They are the people whose lives have been changed forever because of your care, concern, prayer, and, yes, your money.

Of all these things, however, it is the relationship we have built over time with the people of Jasmin that is the most important. When I talked with the Bishop of Haiti many years ago about establishing a partnership with a church in Haiti, Bishop Duracin told me, “If you have $1000, and your choice is to come or to send the money, then come. It is the relationship and that the people who know that you care which is most important. “

 

So, we go twice per year. Join me in October for another visit with our Haitian brothers and sisters.