To Haiti and Beyond!: Part 2

In Jacmel, Emily and I met up with a great new friend of ours, Owens.  It was with Owens incredible help that we made our way to the Jacmel bus stop and negotiated our way onto a public bus (think 17 people crammed into 9 person van, weaving through crazy streets) and headed three hours away to Port au Prince!

Port au Prince is an incredible contrast to Jacmel.  Jacmel is surrounded by a beautiful beach, palm trees greet every corner, and the people are calm and friendly.  Port au Prince, on the other hand, is covered in garbage, the beach is not something you want to visit, and the people are a bit more harsh, and in reality, desperate.  Needless to say more, it is not my favorite day when I have to return to Port au Prince :).

A scene from Jacmel

A scene from Port au Prince.  Yes, I am a tad bit biased :).

Emily and I arrived at the bus stop in Port au Prince to find that our ride was not there waiting.  Hundreds of Haitian eyes immediately turned onto the "blans" (white people), and feeling it was not the safest environment we could be in, Emily and I walked the streets until we found a nice little lotto bar.  I paid the owner to allow us to simply sit there, we chatted up with a few of the local guys watching a soccer game on TV, and I was able to make a new friend who spoke English enough that he could translate between my driver (searching for us) and us, via phone.  Soon enough our ride arrived, and we were whisked away for a dear reunion with some of my long standing God's Chosen Ones Ministries (GCOM) friends.

With Djenna, one of my young friends I know through GCOM!

Me using our new patient record system to see patients!

GCOM is a medical mission team that attracts medical workers from all over the world.  Prior to this last March, GCOM would write notes from patient visits on little scraps of paper, and throw away the papers at the end of each visit.  This means that no patient visit could in any way refer back to previous visits (past conditions, diagnoses and medications unknown). In March, I sent GCOM a pilot paper patient record system, and GCOM gave it a try, and again shoved the papers (and other scraps) into little plastic baggies.  Emily, four incredible young ladies from Minnesota, GCOM translators and I, worked tirelessly to transfer what information we could into the new paper system designed to provide lasting order.  We then worked medical clinics in two of the villages GCOM frequents (Thomazeau and Ganthier), and used the new paper system to take notes on patient vitals, history, physical exam and treatment plan (and as an aside, I was finally able to see my own patients, independently!).  After MANY hours of work, at the end of our several days with GCOM, Emily and I were thrilled to complete a fully functional and organized (organized by village and then last name) file system with paper patient records within!!!

GCOM patient notes before our effots - scraps of papers shoved, with no order, into plastic bags

 GCOM's new completed patient record system created by Emily and myself!

When business with GCOM was complete, and after many laughs and much fellowship was had with our new (and old) friends, Emily and I took off for part three of our trip!  On to Fort Jaques!!!

Saying goodbye to our new friends!!

In Fort Jaques, Emily and I met up with my long-time translator and friend, Gardy, and set to work updating the education sponsorships I have in place on behalf of Moses Lake middle school students.  First was the updating of four young ladies high school sponsorships!  We met with the ladies, met with their principal, met with their care providers, and then conferenced with the girls again!

With three of the high school girls whose schooling is made possible by middle school students in Moses Lake!

And then was the updating of the younger students' sponsorships: two brand new first graders (as of last December)!  We spoke with the students, their respective guardians, their teacher and the director of their school.  The two young students then demonstrated their newly aquired reading and writing skills!  Just think, these are two young individuals who, with out the compassion of young students in Moses Lake realizing their potential to have an impact, would not have ever learned how to read or write!!!  These students' education was then paid for for another year with the funds raised by Chief Moses Middle School this last semester!

Michelet demonstrating his new writing skills as his father looks on.

Our last stop was checking up on the farming of one of our first grader's father, Keke.  I met Keke a year ago, and I can honestly say that I had never before met someone who had so little.  My heart was touched at not merely his desperate state, but at his honesty and genuine nature despite his circumstances.  He had previously had a small farm, but when his wife passed away two years ago, he had to sell his seeds in order to pay for her burial.  Left with land but no seeds or crop, I felt there was something that could be done to make Keke and his family self-sufficient again.  So approximately a year ago, Chief Moses Middle School students decided that they wanted to pay for Keke to have seeds, and six months ago I returned to Haiti to give Keke those seeds.  This trip, I was literally brought to tears when we pulled up to Keke's property to find his entire field teeming with green crop ready to harvest.  What an absolutely beautiful sight!!!

Keke giving a thumbs up in front of his new field!!!

The trip was absolutely full of ups and downs!  Emily had heat stroke and fell down a cliff resulting in scrapes and bruises, and I got an abscess and later became incredibly ill and had to be hospitalized toward the end of the trip.  BUT, we were sucessful in all we did, and Emily and I were able to act as not only travel partners and friends, but one anothers' doctors ;).


Truly, what a memorable and incredible trip where a difference was made possible (and the concept of the best kind of aid to deliver, explored), and I thank everyone for the prayers and encouragement that made this visit possible!  Please continue to pray for healing as I recover from my illness and head into the Miss Washington competition next week!! :)

With Love and Appreciation, Emily and I!!!