Mission Trip- June 30 - July 8, 2010
Team:2 doctors, 2 nurses, 1 pharmacist, 2 dentists, 3 translators, 9 support people
Dates:Wednesday, June 30th flew from Indianapolis to Miami where we overnighted. We flew into Port-au-Prince in the morning on Thursday and drove straight out to Gandou. Clinic was held on Friday, Saturday, Monday, and Tuesday. Sunday was reserved for Mass, visiting homes, and meetings. On Wednesday we drove back to Port-au-Prince and most of the group flew to Miami for an overnight, then home on Thursday. Four team members stayed at Matthew 25 for an extra day or two.
Clinic Results:
• Medical – total of 1109 patients (Friday 160, Saturday 301, Monday 296, Tuesday 352)
• Dental – approximately 150 patients
Travel Items:
• The airlines were much more strict on carry-on bag size and numbers. We didn’t have problems in Indy, but a few people had to go back and check their bags in Miami. Because the other bags had been checked in Indianapolis, the computer in Miami showed that they hadn’t checked any bags, otherwise there would have been a $100 fee per bag.
• Dr. Pablo and Chip missed the flight into Haiti due to confusion about the time for the flight. They were able to catch the next flight into Haiti. We waited for them at the Port-au-Prince airport while we were arranging trucks.
• We had requested 2 pick-up trucks from Matthew 25 house. When we arrived they said they were only able to rent one small SUV for us. They thought with Fr. Nexcene’s truck that would be enough, but it wasn’t as we had a total of 20 people including Fr and translators, 26 large bags, and everyone’s personal bags. While the group waited in the hot sun at the airport parking lot, Laikaard and Joe were able to find a rental place that had 2 trucks available.
• Due to waiting on Dr. Pablo and Chip, having to arrange our truck rentals, and Fr. Nexcene arriving at the airport late, the group didn’t leave until around noon. We had arranged for Laikaard to translate and had requested 2 translator/drivers from Matthew 25. They only provided one. Fr. Nexcene arranged for San Luis to translate, so we had enough translators. We were 1 driver short, so Joe drove one of the trucks to Gandou.
• We arrived in Gandou without any trouble. We did stop once to fix a slow leak in one of the tires. It was after dark when we arrived.
• On the way out at the end of the week, we only had a few problems. Fr. Nexcene’s truck was stuck in the mud once and we had one flat tire.
• The group stopped in Jacmel to visit with the new Bishop. We dropped off a patient with a vaginal hemorrhage at the hospital in Jacmel, and one of the health workers and another referral patient.
• We stopped in Carre-four to briefly visit with Marjorie’s two children and aunt. Marjorie is the lady who is staying with her baby, Fariana, at the Rennekamp’s while Fariana is being treated at Shriner’s in Cincinnati for burns she received in a fire in a tent city following the earthquake.
• We arrived at the airport in sufficient time, overnighted in Miami, and had no trouble with the travel home.
Port-au-Prince Earthquake Situation:
• There were still many tent cities in Port-au-Prince, Leogane, and Jacmel. Clean-up was underway. Several places we saw teams working with sledgehammers, shovels, and wheelbarrows to remove the rubble and demolish homes. There were also work teams at several spots on the road cleaning up rock slides.
• A government group has gone through the cities and marked the homes with spray paint, using different symbols for which needed destroyed and which were alright. The translators reported the people were responsible for destroying their own homes at a cost of about US$2500. They also reported many people were simply repainting the spray paint symbol on their home to match the approved symbol.
• There was only limited reconstruction beginning, most of the effort seems to still be on tearing buildings down.
• School has resumed and in the cities, will last through summer to make up for the time lost. There will be a brief break in the fall, then resume again.
GPS Project– Chad and Aaron spent the week hiking through the area. They took GPS points for houses, villages, and water sources. They also learned the hard way, that just because the water coming from the spring looks clean, doesn’t mean it is
Meeting With Father and Health Workers:
Earthquake
• They haven’t been able to begin construction yet on the school or church. Transporting materials will be the biggest problem. To help save the cost of transportation, Fr. Nexcene is planning on beginning construction on both the school and church at the same time. He will begin moving materials up at the end of July. There will be one head construction person, then separate teams working on the school and church.
• Instead of repairing the 3 damaged rooms in the school, which would require demolishing a large part of it, they have decided to build 3 new classrooms. Fr. Nexcene reports that this should cost about the same as repairing the other rooms. The new rooms will be the same size as the old ones, but will have a tin roof instead of a concrete one. This is at the request of the parent’s of the school children.
• We have $26,000 in donations to cover the cost of this project. $15,000 has already been sent down. This is what Fr. Nexcene will use to begin the project. After the project is started, he will send us pictures of the construction in progress and a more detailed plan, then we will send the remainder of the money.
• The plan to repair the church has also been changed somewhat. For several years, it has been a goal to enlarge the church, so this will be included in the plans. The original plan was to take down one wall, and expand it. Then add additional pillar supports throughout the church. After talking with the Bishop of Jacmel and the archdioceses engineers, Fr. Nexcene has now decided to demolish and completely rebuild the church. This is due to the original construction occurring in the 60’s and 70’s when weak clay was used.
• We recently had a donation of US$75,000 to cover the original estimate of repairing the church. With the new plans we are uncertain of what the cost will be. Fr. Nexcene and the Bishop feel that even if they can’t complete the construction all at once, it should be built well and how they want it, even if it takes them a few years to find all the funding and complete the construction. Fr. Nexcene is beginning this project with $20,000 that was received prior to the earthquake from a group called Legliz nan Distres (The Church in Distress). After the construction is begun and we receive photos and a detailed plan for the rebuilding, we will send the donation we received in increments.
• We didn’t see much progress in rebuilding homes, but they are working on demolishing the crushed homes. Some homes are now completely gone. It also appears they are back to living in some of the damaged homes. There are still many people living in tents in the area.
• We had a donation to rebuild 2 homes, for US$3000 each they will be 2 room concrete homes with a porch. Fr. Nexcene and the parish council chose 2 families that didn’t have means to rebuild on their own. They will transfer the material for the homes with the material for the other construction projects. A local builder will be in charge of the construction.
• While we were in Gandou, a UNops representative showed up. He was looking for a place to land a helicopter in the region. It appears they are planning on building 200 shelters in Gandou. The shelters will serve as homes for the families. They will be wood posts, with plywood walls and a tin roof. They plan to transport the material in nets under the UN helicopters. In the future, the families can finish the walls on their own. Fr. Nexcene was optimistic that this would happen, but said that many times groups come and promise things that don’t happen. We are praying that this will happen.
Clinic
• The midwife training program is now complete. While we were there, Fr. Nexcene presented completion certificates to the 25 individuals (out of 30) who were faithful to the program and also passed an oral interview with the instructor. They also each received a basic midwife kit. The new midwifes are from many of the different sections of Gandou.
• The health workers report that the blood pressure program is working well. In the past, they have had to visit many of the homes to follow up with the patients. Now they report that almost all of the patients are coming to the clinic for their follow-ups. They think the people are feeling better, seeing better, having less headaches and now want the medicine. They feel that the people are starting to understand what blood pressure is and how it affects them. They also said that the people are now recognizing the connection between strokes and high blood pressure. Because the medicine is preventing the strokes, they said the people are realizing the strokes weren’t connected with voudou.
• The referral program is working again, although slowly. Following the earthquake, the surgeries are now free at the San Michel hospital in Port-au-Prince. We are still paying for transportation, consultations, lab work, medicine, and supplies. Because they are now free, there is a 2-3 month wait to get a date scheduled. The other hospital in Jacmel is private and very expensive, so they are trying to keep using San Michel.
• The health workers are still asking for a food program for the malnourished. We have left them a list of questions about how the program will work several times. We tried to cover the questions with them in person, and it appears they haven’t yet thought out many of the details. Some of the questions include what types of food will be prepared, who will prepare it, where will it be stored, how will the patients be chosen, how will they be monitored, etc. We left them the questions again and asked them to try to prepare a proposal for the program including a budget. We are hesitant to send money for a project that isn’t well thought out, because it may not be able to continue.
• The health workers are requesting another health worker or two to help with all of the current projects. They operate the clinic on Mondays and Fridays, in addition to the blood pressure and referral programs. They are also requesting a motorcycle to help with the transportation involved in the midwife program. They current go on foot or by animal to Blokhaus, then take a tap-tap to Jacmel.
School
• The school year and exams finished in Gandou the week before our trip. They were beginning to enroll students for next year.
• We delivered penpal letters from several St. Anthony’s children to the students at St. Francis Xavier.
• Fr. Nexcene is hoping to start a project to help students continue their education after they finish at the parish school, which only goes to 6th grade. He said many families can afford to send their children to Port-au-Prince for school, but cannot afford the housing. Some families had previously found places for their children to stay with relatives, but these most of these homes didn’t survive the earthquake. Fr. Nexcene would like to rent a house in LaVallee (a town on the way to Gandou) for the children to stay. Their parents would pay for their tuition at the secondary school in LaVallee and also provide their food. Fr. Nexcene found a house that he can rent for US$3000 a year. It can house 20 children and 1 adult. He is looking for our help with this.
Other
• The truck needs four new tires. The cost is US$196 each.
• The internet and magic jack are working well. We set up a time to same-time with Fr. Nexcene every other Sunday evening. Hopefully this set time will help improve communication and response times to e-mail questions.
• The solar system and inverters have been installed and are working well. They provide enough power for everything in the rectory except the refrigerator (which is propane). Unless he has 2 cloudy days in a row, he hasn’t had to run the generator at all. This is greatly cutting down the need for fuel and also trips up and down the mountain/wear and tear on the truck. We were able to string cords down to the clinic when we were working there. After the church is complete, it will also be able to provide power for lights there.
• We discussed dates for the next trip. We are looking at late January or sometime in February. There is a diocesan priest retreat in January, and the dates for that haven’t been set yet.
Father Nexcene’s Priorities:
• New tires for his truck.
• Help renting a house for secondary students in LaVallee (described above)
• He would like to have tables built for the preschool classes. He says that when they eat lunch, they have to hold their plates on their laps. This works alright for the older kids, but is very messy with the preschoolers.
• A motorcycle for the health workers.
• Expanding the clinic building and repairing some of the cracks from the earthquake. He would like to add a room for sick patients to stay the night, a room for a nurse to stay in the future, a latrine, and better doors.
