SOUTHERN AFRICA

 We moved to a retirement community to free ourselves to travel; then COVID interrupted! This time last year we started to resume our love of travel - finally. First with a trip to Canada:  Western Canada by Train & Ferry: Grizzlies, Orcas & Totems- It was a beautiful trip, even though I contracted COVID in the airport and spent some unpleasant days enroute.

Our second adventure was in September 2022 to Israel and Jordan..an outstanding trip to amazing places.

This September 1 (2023) we continue our travels with a Road Scholar trip described this way,

"Start your journey by experiencing Cape Town's complex history and dramatic natural beauty. Then board Rovos Rail for an evocative train trek to Victoria Falls, making a stop along the way to search for magnificent wildlife. In Zimbabwe, follow in the footsteps of Dr. Livingstone to marvel at Victoria Falls, then journey to Chobe National Park to witness elephants and Cape buffalo quenching their thirst along the Chobe River."

I have spent many days sorting clothes, cameras, medicines ( we are old folks, you know!), and imagining how to get it all in 2 carry-on bags and 2 back packs! And can hardly wait to depart. I will try to find a way to use this blog to make notes. It has been a LONG time since I tried it. Wish us luck in everything.

Dorene 22 Aug 2023

FRIDAY -- ON THE HOME STRETCH !

By now we are getting a little tired of being HOT! Our showers are a blessing, but the effect only lasts so long.

Today we are targeting only 100 medical patients, but Joe has a full set of dental patients,  maybe 10-15?  He is upstairs and we don't really see much of him.  Even his waiting line is upstairs and out of sight.  However, EVERYONE downstairs knew exactly when he got a compressor that worked!  After days and days and failed repair attempt after failed repair attempt, on the last day we rented a compressor ($65 for the day) that arrived at about 11 am. 

Joe conveniently had the noisy device positioned OUTSIDE so the noise was not in his work area. Unfortunately (and unintended he assures the medical guys) the compressor was just outside the open windows of the doctors and sounded like full fledged construction 3 feet away.  Needless to say it is hard to use a stethoscope on a construction site!! 

We were fortunate that the morning went more quickly than the past couple of days.  In the relative peace, Kay was able to begin the inventory of the treatment room, to speed the final work when we are done.  We had done more than 60 by lunch time which was certainly fortuitous because on this our last day, everyone brought in their leftover "fixin's" for lunches.  The pharmacy team made PB&J sandwiches before the prescriptions from the first patients arrived.  We got cold drinks for all the team and the translators, and we all took a lunch break on the benches in the sanctuary together.  The remaining cookies, nuts, etc.  were distributed to the Haitians after we ate, and it was like a miniature "feeding the 5000" only it was only 25 or 26 folks.   There was more than enough for all!

After lunch, while we waited for everyone to finish, final inventory of the pharmacy got underway. Translators began wishing us good bye and we called everyone together to get the team photos.  After a few minutes the chaos turned to order and we got the pictures.   Joe went back to finish his last two patients, and the rest of us started folding up tables, and stacking chairs.  The long, hot, wonderful week has come to an end.

We were honored with some visitors before dinner-- members of the HOM administration came to the Palm Inn Hotel to thank us for coming and wish us well.   Semo, our interface to HOM for the mission team logistics,  one of the pastors at Cite Soliel Church where we enjoyed the great music on Sunday, Mrs. Sterling, this very nice and capable woman who is in charge of the translators and the tap taps, and two others visited with us on the hotel patio, but left before dinner. 

Everyone was tired, but we all feel it has been a very good week.   Tomorrow we will spend the morning touring Port au Prince, have lunch, and get to the airport by 3:30pm.  Everyone is already checking out the cool temperatures in NC.   The 49 degrees forecast for tonight is only 1/2 what the temperatures have been every day this week here.   We are all ready for that! 

THURSDAY ---- SCHOOL DAY!

Time moves faster as each day goes by! 

The routine in the clinic moved things along quickly, even though our medical team had more "serious" patients than any trip before. Unfortunately our poor dentist Joe never got a compressor that worked until noon on Friday.  We joked that his having to treat his patients with totally inadequate equipment was almost like pulling teeth  (OK, I'm sorry for that!) Nevertheless he did manage to extract more than 100 teeth during the week, as well as train four different people as his assistant.   And we never saw Joe without a smile!

Thursday started even earlier than usual.  We hit the road at 6:30 am! The traffic at 6:30am was unbelievable, and once again the tap-tap ride ensured we were wide awake! Our first stop was at the HOM campus Terre Noire, where Nadege Gay's office is located and where we delivered the children's clothes last year.  As we pulled through the gate, leaving the mad, mad world of Haitian traffic behind, we heard children singing.  We hopped out of the tap taps and headed for the courtyard, to find all of the school children lined up, by class, their teacher standing at the head of the group, lustily singing songs in unison. The sight and sounds sent chills over each of us. 

At the end of one song, everyone turned to the right and began to sing the Haitian National Anthem, with the teachers and many of the students making the Haitian salute, the same salute as used by their former 'masters', the French.  The principal made some announcements, and then class by class the students filed into the sanctuary for the worship program held on the last Thursday of every month.

At this point those team members with a Sponsored Student at Terre Noire met with the child, gave them a small gift, and had their pictures taken.  I wandered off with Nadege to pick up some Science Books to help us prepare for our mission trip to the schools next spring, and to look at the new library. In just three years, Nadege has created 4 new libraries, one for each school. I was very interested to learn how to donate French books to these beautiful spaces for these wonderful children.  I also met the school Administrator who Nadege says does "everything". He started at Terre Noire when he was 3!  Another example of the success of the school! 

At this point, those "new" team members, on their first visit to Haiti, took one tap tap to visit Jacky at the high school and see the new construction underway for grades  10-13. The classrooms are immaculate of course. Leon expects to have this new building completed next year for the rising class to begin, even though at this point they are not sure where the money will come from.  HOM truly operates on faith.

 Outside the building,  a group of students were working in a garden where they not only learn but  grow some of their own food.  HOM uses the "Stop Hunger Now" food that WPC helps provide, augmented by some other items, to feed 1600 people each day! 

The rest of us proceeded to the clinic to get set up and begin to see patients.  At 7:45 am when we arrived, there were the 110 people already awaiting us.  At lunch, the doctors had a short conference with Dr. Quincy, the Haitian doctor, to exchange information and questions from the experiences so far this week.   Tonight, Dr. Quincy, accompanied by his two children whom we met last year, and his mother in law joined us for dinner, and the medical information sharing continued! It is so great to return to Haiti and be able to spend more time with the people we have met and to enjoy the relationships that are developing.

We have had two of our translators for all three years, and it is such fun to get back together with them and work with them.  They really are friends of ours now and they are able to take over more and more tasks in the clinic, helping it all work so much better and be so much more fun! Chenil, for example, took over completely receiving patients at the front gate, doing the admissions paperwork, getting the age, weight, etc. and directing them to triage-- something I had been doing last year.

By Thursday, he had also gotten Sergo, who managed the crowds outside, and the two tap tap drivers (who have to sit around all day waiting in case we need them) to become involved in helping people before triage. As they became more engaged, they were happier doing something to help, and their smiles and helpfulness continued to increase.  Such a wonderful thing!

Once again we enjoyed a good dinner, and gratefully retreated from the 95+ degree heat all day into our air conditioned bedrooms, hoping that the generator will once more keep the power going all night so we can sleep in comfort. 

Each day we are more tired, but still look forward to the next.   God is indeed good to us. 

Is it really Wednesday already???

I can't believe it is already Wednesday, but it seems like we have been here a month!

The standard routine begins with  breakfast at 6 am with fresh fruit, some type of bread, cereal, pancakes, or omelet (most of us have omelets), papaya juice that tastes like tasteless grapefruit juice, and wonderful coffee  Adventure begins when the two tap taps roll into the courtyard of the hotel.

Each day we load each tap tap with 6 or 7 team members, a translator or two, and a row of huge suitcases full of clothes for the kids down the middle between our knees. We are sitting on wooden benches, backs to the steel roof braces, holding on for dear life. We pile our backpacks and water bottles on top of the suitcases and off we go.

We get to the clinic a little before 8 am, after hitting some of the most horrendous potholes and dodging buses , motorcycles, other tap taps, people, pigs, goats, and cattle, If we were a little sleepy when we started out the noise of beeping horns, and rattling vehicles ensures we are wide awake when we arrive.

At the clinic the cinder block porch rail on either sides of the door serves as benches for the more than 150 people awaiting medical treatment from either the Haitian side of the clinic or our side.  These people arrived as early as 5 am to get in line to be seen by the clinic, paid their fee, and began to sit patiently in the already 90+ degree heat for someone to help them. Most of them walked to the clinic because they could not afford the public tap tap transportation.

We pile out of the tap tap and make our way up the steps and through the front door...an iron gated entrance that resembles bars on a jail cell.  These doors are kept latched all day long, and patients are only admitted with papers showing they have paid.  Sergo, one of our Haitian helpers signals to the Haitians in line which ones are to enter the clinic waiting room, when we indicate to him how many we need at that time.  One thing that is of utmost importance to Haitians is that the order of ‘first come, first served’ never be violated through the whole process of admission, triage, access to doctors, lab work, and filling prescriptions.  If we for some reason -- valid or by accident-- we appear to move someone ahead of their ‘place in line’ we receive clear non-verbal, and sometimes verbal expressions of dissatisfaction.  

Each morning we gather in the triage room to start each day with a prayer that all the team and the translators read aloud and then disperse to begin work.

Monday, as the first day, we experienced growing pains in getting everything to run smoothly, but by today -- a day when the morning was the most challenging by far-- people were shifting roles, backfilling for each other, translators stepping up to do admissions by themselves, and even the tap tap drivers helping us with tasks as things got really hectic.

Creative solutions are derived when available equipment don’t quite meet the needs...for example the IV bottle hanging from the ceiling in the treatment room because the stand wasn’t tall enough.  Similar ingenuity is applied in selecting medications and treatments using the resources we have at hand.

Today (Wednesday) has been the most challenging by far. It seems word got out that we have 4 really good doctors, and not only are getting more patients each day  --- 100 Monday, 120 Tuesday, 150 today --- but the severity/criticality of them seems to be increasing, This morning pushed the limits of the facility and the resources for our staff to provide the needed care. But of course, they did!  However, lunch never seemed so welcome You would be surprised what an ice cold Coke can do to rejuvenate tired doctors and nurses.  By the end today we were all worn out.  Fittingly our evening devotions from Isaiah 40 reminded us that the ‘Lord gives strength to those who are weary’ and those who rely on the Lord will “find new strength … like eagles soaring upward on wings.”

Our dentist Joe gets kudos just for figuring out how to be able to do anything.  The best thing about his work space was it is air conditioned.  Once he found his compressor would not work, and other equipment missing or not working, he joked that maybe he would have to use a shop vac to do suction as he worked on teeth.  In spite of having machine repair people come for multiple days, key equipment does not function.   And instead of a dental hygienist, we are rotating nurses and non medical staff both to serve as his assistants -- on the job training each time.  With all this the dental team  is doing 10-20 extractions a day---finishing after lunch and then joining the rest of the team in the clinic to help in the pharmacy and other tasks. And he stays unbelievably upbeat through it all.

While the clinic was charging along today,  Pat  and Nadege Dorleans (Pastor Leon’s daughter and superintendent of the 4 schools of Haiti Outreach Ministry) with some help from other team members took ALL of those clothes made/donated by so many people  (at least 8 large suitcases full -50 lbs apiece) across the courtyard from the clinic to the classrooms of Cite Soliel. Starting with the 3 year olds and moving up classroom by classroom, every boy and girl in the whole school, through 6th grade got a new outfit...thanks to you all.  

We took some pictures and videos of this which we can share when we return but let me try to give you a little notion how this worked.  

First Nadege enters the classroom, followed by Pat and her helper(s).  As Nadege enters, the little children spring up and stand by their seats and recite a respectful greeting to Nadege, along with her title.  They are allowed then to sit back down.  

Piles of dresses and boys outfits (pants/shirt) are placed on tables and the teacher, helpers, Pat and Nadege start picking a piece of clothing from the stack and holding it up to each child. If it fits, they are presented with it.  If not, another one is tried until there is a match.  And the adults move to the next child.  I only saw the smallest children, and Pat says the children’s reactions varied with age group, but let me describe the pre-schoolers.

Watching the fitting isn’t so interesting.  What IS interesting is after they realize they get to keep it, the recipient starts to smile, holding it up, maybe standing up and dancing with it.  But the other children at the table at first are not sure they will get one and watch uncertainly the whole process.  They don’t understand the ‘criteria” for getting something.

For example, one little boy at the end of the table got a set of clothes.  He began to touch it, move it around, examine it.  The teacher instead of moving to the two boys next to him at the same table, moved to the next table (I believe the next clothes set in the pile was too big for those two boys.)

These boys first looked at their neighbor’s outfit, turned to watch the teacher move away, glanced at each other and then...they sat up straight in their chairs,  put both hands nicely on the table,  put on big smiles and tried to look saintly.  Their eyes however had widened and they clearly wanted to get the gift but were afraid they might not.   The expressions on their faces can only be described as “HOPEFUL” , and when they each got an outfit can only be described as “ECSTATIC and RELIEVED”.     This sequence of hopefulness and happiness continued throughout the classroom.

In devotions tonight someone commented that the education these children are getting will be their way up and out of the poverty in Haiti and enable them not to have to depend on clinics such as ours for themselves and their families.  Yes, we are helping folks in the short term in the clinic, but we are helping folks for the long term in the school with our clothes donations and by those who have chosen to sponsor a child in the school for the year.  Both are extremely important ways to help these people of Haiti.

Each day this week has been an amazing experience.  The supportive chemistry of the team, the actual help given to more than 370 people in 3 days, the sight of these children and their joy in receiving the gifts of clothing, and the blessings and hugs from children, patients, translators, teachers, tap tap drivers, members of the church congregations, and the smiles and waves from strangers walking and riding up the street ...and more than I have time to describe...have combined to make us feel fortunate to be able to experience this trip to Haiti.  We are truly blessed.

Hot Haitian Sunday!

It has been a long, hot, but satisfying day.   We started with breakfast at 6 am.

Dressed in our Sunday best..men in dress shirts with ties,  women in knee length dresses with shoulders covered,  we climbed into the back of the two tap taps, avoiding the spare tire on the floor, to head to church.  In each tap tap we squeezed three large suitcases of medications between our knees as we sat facing each other on board benches under the brightly painted metal roof.  At least when the tap tap was moving some air flowed from front to back to relieve the heat.  We commented on how much cleaner the streets were compared to last year, and guessed the amount of dust was less because everyone was in church instead of on the road.

We arrived at the Cite Soleil campus around 7 am for church. (Yes, church starts at 7 and goes for 3 hours!) Before entering the sanctuary, we unloaded the medications into the clinic next door and stowed our backpacks with a change of clothes inside.  We entered church from the side and took our customary seats in the first two rows in the back center section.

The sanctuary itself is an open building --a corrugated steel roofed building with white benches for pews, arranged in three sections from side to side, and easily holding 1500 to 2000 people.  The raised platform at the front has a pulpit in the center, a 4-5 piece band to the right, a screen just to the left of center where words to the songs are projected, and several sets of microphones for the speakers, singers, and band.  A young woman with an amazingly strong voice leads the congregation in singing praises and hymns.  Every Haitian is an alto or a bass, and the beautifully harmonized music fills every square foot of space in the huge sanctuary and can be heard all over the neighborhood. It sounds like the music from the Lion King, and goes on song after song for over an hour.

We stayed at this church through the welcoming of the people who were attending church for the first time (we had several), the handing out Bibles to some church members, announcements, the sermon, communion, and the collection.  As we filed out of our seats to return our communion cups and make a offering, we continued outside to head for our second church service for the morning.

The trip to this church was truly an experience.  Tap taps have no shock absorbers to begin with, so this journey through one of the poorer sections of Port au Prince, roads unpaved and full of huge pot holes, little goats and big pigs browsing along the side of the road, people walking or driving randomly along was more than memorable.  We were relieved to see the outside walls of Repatriot Church at last!

Our second church service began for us after most of the music had finished.  As we headed for the back door to the church, Pastor Leon greeted us outside with open arms and lots of hugs! As we took our seats he returned to his seat a few rows ahead of us with his wife Jacky.  A bit later in the service, Leon went to the front, make a short speech (in Creole), and then introduced his son who was visiting Haiti with his wife, his daughter Nadege, and of course his wife Jacky.

We stayed at this church through communion and the collection and by now it is nearly 11 am. After a quick climb to the roof of the school next to the church to gaze at the mountains and the town surrounding the HOM campus, we returned to Cite Soliel clinic to unpack the meds and set up the clinic for Monday.  Our new team members were beginning to recognize what it is really like without air conditioning!  The temperature was well into the 90's but as they always say, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity!".  Our previous trips were in November and October and we can really feel the difference!  Next year we should probably come a bit later than September.

We worked at the clinic until 1 pm, setting up the triage rooms, the exam rooms, getting the new team members oriented to the equipment and supplies, unpacking the medications, and setting up the pharmacy.  By that time it had been nearly 7 hours since breakfast and we were definitely hot and hungry.

Lunch was a buffet on a patio beside a pool at the Visa Lodge Hotel not far from our own Palm Inn Hotel and we did not linger long over lunch.  But before we could seek respite from the heat, we had one more thing to do.  We headed to the supermarket to buy the "fixin's" for our lunches for the week. We did not spend much time there because the  call of the air conditioning in our rooms and the pool just outside was irresistible and we were hot, hot, hot and tired.

 Everyone just rested and relaxed until dinner, we had devotions, reminding ourselves that God is with us on this journey and will give us the strength when we need it.  We then headed to bed before 8:30 pm.  Monday will come early and there will be much to do!

We Made It!

We had a good trip....on time, even!  Our plane from Raleigh landed at the gate for departure to Haiti so we used the same plane with only a 20 minute layover!  That helped ensure our bags would arrive with us (and they did!).

I had a window seat for the first time, and I hope some of the pictures of the enormous thunder (hurricane?) clouds out the window in the distance will turn out. (The airplane window is quite an interference.)  What really amazed me is how truly mountainous Haiti is as seen from the top, and how covered with trees!  I love mountains, and the terrain of the entire  island is actually beautiful.

Chocolate brown rivers flow from the mountaintops, cutting curvy valleys as they seek their home in the sea.  Small collections of shiny squares scattered among the valleys and peaks mark villages with tin roofs reflecting the afternoon son.  Almost no roads visible from the air.

It seemed most of the population of Haiti is situated between the last mountain ridge and the seacoast. T Because most homes are built inside walls, the towns here looked like piles of sticks arranged in squares, variously colored by the houses and roofs within, and jammed right up against each other covering all the land on the seaward side. There is no green to be seen there.

The chaos at the Haiti airport was very much diminished from previous trips, but we were sad that the musicians at the airport who greeted us the last two times weren't there.  I guess they only play for the early flight.  $2 a cart got us baggage carts to help us with our HEAVY bags and everything (people and bags) fit in the three tap taps that awaited us.

We were into our rooms and ready for dinner by 7pm, and coming back to the hotel was very comfortable for those of us who have been here before.  After dinner and devotions we carted all our meds to Kay's room and left her and her roommates to once again SORT the stuff to take to the clinic tomorrow. Tomorrow after church and after we set up the clinic we will re-organize the already sorted clothes to take them to the school later this week.

The weather is sunny, clear and about 95 degrees.  The air conditioning in our rooms feels great, but no one seemed to be suffering outside as we had a slight breeze.  We had a brief power failure just after dinner so the new team members can start to get used to life on generators.  I guess that was just Haiti say "Hi".   The hot water showed up for showers, so all is good.

I don't have any pictures ready to include but wanted to report a safe trip, and a happy team ready to go!

Breakast is at 6am so heading for bed.   Thank you, God for our fun first day.

Thursday -- Keeping our fingers crossed

Sunday was truly a blessed day...blessing of the dresses and clothes and the Mission Team at both services was terrific.   "Clothes and stuff " everywhere, to quote some of the children.   Looks like we may have at least 18 suitcases full of the medications and clothes to wrestle through the airports.  Our own clothes...scrubs and shirts... in our roller bags and backpacks.  Chris' blessing and the love pouring forth on us from everyone in the sanctuary just continues the constant and selfless support we have been receiving all year from so many people from so many places.

Everyone on the team thanks all of you for helping us take your blessings on to the people of Haiti.

Hurricane Maria is predicted to impact northern Haiti perhaps tomorrow (Friday) but the weather predictions for Port au Prince where we will be is HOT!  (mid to high 90s) and with showers. Sounds like last year.  I guess we will be having a lot of "conferences" with Neal in the pharmacy, as it has the only air conditioning.

We meet at the airport mid morning Saturday, and head to Port au Prince via Miami around noon. Keep us in your prayers and thanks for helping us return to the clinic at Haiti Outreach Ministry.

Here is a 7 minute "video" of Sunday's blessings.

Blessings of the Mission Trip