Mission Trip Report for 27 January thru 10 February 2016
Overall Missions Goal: Serve God’s beloved poor.
Mission Focuses:
1. Continue to build sister parish relationship and understand current status of ongoing projects.
2. Finish Visa Process on a little boy with burns and return with him to the USA for surgery.
3. Collect sponsor student pictures for all the sponsored children in the school.
4. Provide additional training and supplies to the mid-wives.
5. Gather updated information on referral patients.
6. Meet with the new students in the University program and discuss how things are going. Provide new laptops to each of the students.
7. Investigate plan for water holding tanks and water supply for new water purification system.
8. Investigate ground for purchase for new clinic construction.
9. Determine plans on micro-loans and get projects moving towards beginning.
10. General generator and electrical maintenance and repair.
11. Organize patients to go to Lavallee for surgery/specialist checkout/testing.
12. Obtain CT scan for patients Jesula Charles and Pierre Virgin. Find surgeon to take the case of Pierre Virgin and also obtain X-ray of legs for Pierre Virgin to
determine next steps on him.
13. Discuss referral to Port-au-Prince and how that process is working.
14. GPS map out sites in Gandou to create plans for water projects and future construction.
15. Provide health care for the people of our sister parish in the following ways:
a. Run medical clinic/pharmacy and provide the best possible medical care to the greatest number possible.
b. Run dental clinic and provide cleanings, extractions, and restorations.
c. Create ID cards for patients for best possible patient tracking.
d. Continue with our referral program and referral patient tracking which provides the support for the people in our sister parish to get health care in the cities
of Jacmel or Port-au-Prince when we are not in Haiti.
e. Transport emergency cases from Gandou to city using our truck.
f. Continue to build and improve our program for malnourished children.
g. Continue to support, train, and encourage breast feeding.
16. Provide opportunity for our team to experience, poverty, sacrifice, life in Haiti and especially our sister parish.
Focus Area #1 - Sister Parish Relationship/Status of Ongoing Projects
Earthquake Rebuilding/Construction projects
Church
1. Between the last trip 6 months ago and this trip Father did a huge amount of work on the Church and put the roof on the Church.
2. This was a monumental task in the middle of the country side in remote Gandou Haiti.
3. Before this trip many people had looked at the height of the walls in the church and saw the steel tubing pile which Father had obtained to make the rafters
and said that it was not possible for him to complete this work without heavy equipment, but we learned that we should never say that God cannot find a way
to accomplish anything through the help He gives to the people who do His work.
4. When you walk into the church the roof is nothing but breath-taking. It is extremely large, very well constructed and organized. It is painted beautifully, and
appears to be very solid and strong.
5. The roof is so impressive, everyone marveled at the whole building. Truly a huge amount of sweat and pain and suffering went into its construction.
6. During the week the daily Mass continued to be held in the small chapel on the side of the Church, but on Sunday the large Mass was held in the Church.
7. Having Mass inside the Church was so much better than it was in the past when the Mass had to be held under the poor shanty pavilion outside the school.
8. The solid and tall roof with the open doors and windows still kept the sun off but allowed air to freely flow through the Church.
9. The acoustics in the Church were great. The choir, drummers, speakers, and musicians were all in the choir loft which made the sound of the singing
heavenly. Being with the poor is like being with the saint in Heaven. It is an honor to go to their Mass.
10. We praise God for the great work He had done through the help of the donors and the work of all the community that joined into the work of the Church.
11. In talking about the Church you can tell that Father takes great pride in what has been done.
12. Father put together a super wonderful total Church project summary report for us. It was several pages long with a nice cover all typed and printed. It
contained a high level summary of what he used all the money for. I specifically asked if he had done the work on the computer to make this report and he
did. We are so impressed with his organization and report. We are so thankful for our wonderful sister parish priest (Father Voltaire).
13. Father has set two goals for working on the church in 2016 before the December 2016 celebration of their patron saint. Father said without doors on the
Church everyday dogs walk into the Church and poop on the floor. He said it happens every day. Also he said they can’t keep anything in Church because
without doors nothing is secure. This includes Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Father included in his report a quote for adding doors and some security
windows (likely just frames with screens) to the Church. There are 11 in total. The total came to $6,077 US dollars. However he also reported that he has
$2,203 left over in the Church account from the Church construction. So he only needs $3,874 to complete this work.
14. The second project Father wants to complete on the Church is coating the cement blocks on the outside of the Church with a smooth cement. This is done
to protect the blocks and all the mortar joints. Father is working on getting us a quote on this. This will be significantly more money.
15. We ask everyone to pray that we find a way to continue to build God’s Church for the poor.
School Latrine
1. Between the last trip and this trip Father Voltaire also built a new latrine for the school kids. This was done because the earthquake of 2010, the latrine at the
school was severely damaged. He is worried because the cement floor which covered the deep latrine hole in the ground was cracked and two of the
cement toilet holes are cracked all around the base and appear to be at risk of falling in the latrine hole. It was no longer safe for the children to use this
latrine.
2. I took some time one day to visit the latrine and take a video on my camera as I walked around and inside the latrine.
3. The latrine is beautiful. Clearly there was a huge amount of work that went into this project.
4. Father had also sent us videos of the project as it was in progress. He showed us hole as it was being dug. It was very deep and they had several storms as
they built it which caused the hole to be filled up with water and the dirt needed to be dug out several times.
5. The latrine now has 6 stalls. A couple seem to be reserved for the teachers.
6. I think the hole was so deep that they hit some amount of water because there seemed to be some amount of water standing at the bottom of the latrine.
7. The old latrine was all broken down and clearly no longer in use.
8. I talked to one of the teachers and asked what they thought about the new latrine. They reported that it was good. They said some of the holes were a bit
small and difficult for the girls to use. I talked to Father about this and he said he already had plans for the summer to make the holes bigger.
9. As far as we are concerned this project can be considered completed.
10. We will provide information back to Wood-mizer for their donation on this.
Home Building/Rebuilding Projects for the Extremely Poor.
1. Father has several families that have no house to live in. One poor mother of many small children asked us directly for help to build her a house. She said
she currently lives in a structure made of branches and leaves.
2. These types of houses always leak and the wet mess that occurs inside is awful to live in.
3. On Sunday several members of our team went out to visit a family that is in great need of a home.
4. They took many pictures of the home.
5. They found 7 people living in a home that was 11 feet by 16 feet.
6. It was made of wooden planks with large gaps between them, roofed with pieces of corrugated metal.
7. The bed in the house was used for 3 adults and 4 children all in the same bed. Calling it a bed is a stretch. It was not soft like our beds. It was hard and
sagged at least a foot in the middle!
8. Father just reported that the material costs to build a good house for someone has gone up. He estimates that it would now cost close to $9,000US to build
a good home.
9. When we asked father which family in his community he would like to build a house for, he first reported back that there was one family he wanted to start
with. He described them as extremely poor and the father was sick. He sent pictures of the family and their current “home”. It is basically one room and
barely enough room to sleep in. A picture of the kitchen is a shown above. I can’t image the suffering involve in living with and using a kitchen like this one.
10. We asked Father to make a list of the people that need homes and provide it to us so we always know who is the next to get a home when someone comes
wanting to donate for this.
11. Father is going to email us this list and pictures.
Work on or in the Rectory
Rectory Floor Joist Replacement, Wiring, and Solar System Project
1. Once again between our last trip and this trip another project Father took from ground zero to completion is the rebuilding of the downstairs and floor joists
that hold up the floor on the upstairs part of the old rectory.
2. Father had this work done. He took the two small rooms downstairs and joined them into one. This was a huge improvement in the rectory. No longer do we
need to eat outside on the roof. We were able to use this new larger room for the lunch table and chairs all around the outside of the room can seat most of
the team.
3. The construction work was well done. Everything seems solid and sound. The wooden floor joints that were once used to hold up the floor but were
completely rotted out are now replaced with cement and cement blocks. No longer do we need to worry about the roof crashing down and killing someone.
4. The new solar system, inverter, batteries, and wiring are now all up and functional in the rectory.
5. Clearly this priest knows how to get much done.
6. We thank God for the improvements is has made in our trips.
Extra Sleeping Area for Our Team
1. This trip was an extremely large team and we were worried about where everyone would sleep.
2. Not long before the trip Father Voltaire emailed us and said that he had a house near the rectory that he was going to have some our team members to
sleep in.
3. This was the house near the old clinic that we used one time in the past for a dental clinic.
4. It is a nice place and Father had some beds set-up there for our team.
5. This worked very well to make more room for the men to sleep on the roof.
6. This also worked well because Father has started storing our dental equipment and supplies in the upstairs rooms that we typically slept in. The only trouble
with this is that is seems that now that Father has stored many items in our rooms upstairs that mice/rats have become more prevalent in this area.
7. During this trip there was only one day that it rained for a short period of time.
8. Typically it rains more on the summer trip. If it rains a significant amount we still have to deal with the leaking roof on the new rooms on the roof in the
rectory. Also the wooden walls have got some holes in them and I suspect when it rains hard they let the water into the rooms.
9. We should work out a plan to see if it is possible to get our people off of sleeping on the floor before the next trip.
10. For now I think we have other issues that are bigger than this issue. It is nothing compared to the issues our people in Haiti face each day.
11. Father told us that the next thing he wanted to do on the rectory was to add a bathroom onto the girls room that sleeps 7 women. Currently these 7 or 8
women that sleep in this room share a bathroom with the other women’s room which sleeps 5 or 6. So that means we have 14 or so women sharing one
inside bathroom and one outside bathroom.
12. We told him we would likely have trouble finding funds for this project. He said it would not cost more than a few thousand dollars.
Refrigerator/Freezer in Gandou
1. Now that the electrical system and the rectory is repaired this project is ready to start moving forward.
2. The old refrigerator was working fine.
3. Father said he is looking to add a true freezer to be able to store frozen meat for the school kid’s lunches.
4. He said he would like a solar powered freezer with batteries. He has seen some at other rectories and said they work very well.
5. We asked about what happens when there is no sun shine for several days and he said it is not an issue. The other systems he has seen have not had an
issue with this.
6. Father reported he would get a quote on this and send it to us.
Education for our Sister Parish People
1. Of the 343 students at Gandou this year which is an increase of about 30 students, 223 are being sponsored (a sponsored student is a student who has
someone other than his/her parents paying for the student’s tuition and helping pay for the food program at the school).
2. In Haiti, the school grade levels are K1, K2, K3, 1 – 13. In grade K1, a student’s age is 3 or 4. In Gandou, the grade levels go through grade 9. In 2010, the
highest grade level was grade 6. They have been working on increasing the amount of schooling a student can receive at Gandou. Their goal is someday
having a child receive his/her entire schooling, K – 13, at Gandou.
3. There are not enough classrooms for all the students to come to school at the same time. Therefore, grades K-6 start school at 6:00 am and end at 11:55
am. Grades 7-9 start at noon and end at 6:00 pm. For students to be at school by 6:00 am, some must start walking from home before 5:00 am and
remember that some of the students are very young. Fr. Voltaire, the priest at Gandou, wants to add classrooms so that all the students can attend class at
the same time.
4. This year, there are 13 students who are attending grades higher than grade 9, grades 10 – 13, at schools in Port-au-Prince or Jacmel. The Gandou Ministry
has paid $3000 for the tuition of these students so that they will be able to graduate from high school. Hopefully, these students will be supported in the
future until the Gandou program expands to K – 13.
5. In the Fall of 2011, the Gandou Ministry started a scholarship program for college students. The program would have sponsors pay for the students’ tuition
and in return the students would teach at Gandou for 2 yrs. There were 4 students who entered the program, 3 students studying education and 1 student
studying nursing. In the Fall of 2015, Gandou had 2 college graduates teaching at Gandou and 4 students with scholarships starting college, 2 students
studying education and 2 studying nursing. In the Fall of 2016, there will be another college graduate teaching at Gandou and anticipating 2 more students
with scholarships starting college. The 2 new scholarships are for students going into education. Fr. Voltaire will be giving his recommendations for those
scholarships. There will be a new procedure for paying the college tuition for the students. The ministry will send a check to Fr. Voltaire and he will give the
money to Saint Louis to pay the university for the tuition. There are some details that need to be worked out on how this will happen.
6. On this trip, there were 7 laptops taken to Gandou. The 4 new college students each receive one to use while in college. The other 3 laptops were for the
teachers to use at the school in Gandou.
7. Also on this trip, there was an attempt to set up a Skyping project with some students in the St. Louis School. Because of some technical problems, the
project was not successful. The technical problems are being considered and trying to come up with a plan so that Skyping can be done on the next trip in
June.
8. The people of Gandou see education as one big way of helping their young. Over the years, the Gandou ministry has been expanding their involvement in
the education program. The ministry needs help with the future funding of the following:
9. Building 3 more classrooms, a library and a teacher workroom (until all students can attend school at the same time, there will be no extending the grade
level). Fr. Voltaire is getting a quote and drawing for this project.
10. Building 4 additional classrooms to hold all grades K – 13.
11. Providing needed chairs, desks and supplies for students.
12. Sponsoring students
13. Supporting the college scholarships
Water project
1. The people of Gandou do not have water sources that are not contaminated. Hopefully, on the June, 2016 trip, the water purification system can be
installed.
2. To purify the water, the system takes contaminated water and injects chlorine into it.
3. One of the difficulties is getting a continuous water source at Gandou to purify. J
4. Just recently, the roof to the church has been completed. Fr. Voltaire is hoping to catch the water from the roof of the church in large tanks.
General Relationship Information
Next Trip
1. We discussed June 16-24. These dates were previously confirmed as good by Father and he had them memorized so he is planning on them.
2. Based on the changes in the rectory it feels possible to take a few more people on the next trip. Maybe one more pickup truck load of people so like 5 more
than this trip.
Nurse’s Visa
1. Our nurse (Germain) asked for our help of Bonnie to go with her to her the US embassy for her Visa appointment. Bonnie did this but they did not let Bonnie
go in with her and the denied her visa.
2. It is now up to Germain to determine the next step.
Seminarian from Gandou Project
1. Father said he would have these seminarians to write a letter to their sponsors. He will get it and email them to us.
2. We are still in need of more help for them and some several more people to be sponsors.
3. Father reported that $100 a month would be good. Anything would help.
4. If you know anyone that help let us know.
Internet in Gandou
1. We tried to setup a wireless router in Gandou and get a stable internet connection so that we could consider a Skye conversation with the kids at St. Louis
parish but the internet connection was not stable enough. We will need to figure out what to do next about this.
2. Our nurse in Gandou reported that hot spots will work in Gandou. Not sure how she knows this, but I guess if a cell phone works it will.
Sea Contain Shipment
1. Father was happy with how this went last time and reported that it would go even better this time because we now have the house in Jacmel to store stuff.
He reported that we could go ahead and send stuff on the next container.
2. Father reported that we should go ahead and send the old Stations of the Cross from St. Charles parish.
3. Father also reported he had talked to Mike Krekeler about a 6,000 watt diesel generator and he wants that sent on the next sea container.
Micro Loans
1. We spend time with Father further working on the micro-loan plan.
2. We came to agreement with him to use our recent college graduate Daniel Noel as the coordinator.
3. On the last sea container we sent several totes of shoes and a treadle sewing machine. We told father we wanted to get these to someone right away.
4. For the shoes Father said he would pick the people he will get them to and they would sell them.
5. Father confirmed the next step is for him to get with Daniel and pick the number of people, the number of shoes each will have, the % cost share, and write
a starting report and email it to us. He said this could be done by April1 2016.
6. For the sewing machine father said there is only one person in Gandou that knows how to use it. This is Jesula Charles who we brought to the USA for
surgery on her jaw.
7. Father proposed that we get the machine to her and have her do training course to teach others to use the machine.
8. This would not be a micro-loan but rather a training machine.
9. Father confirmed the next step would be a he and Daniel would talk with Jesula and form a plan and let us know the plan in March.
10. For the more general micro-loans our group decided we would start the program as a goat micro-loan project.
11. Father again confirmed Daniel would be the coordinator.
12. Father reported that the Church organization Caritas already has a goat micro-loan project and we could just follow their rules and structure.
13. This sounded great to us. Father said he would get us a copy of their rules and email it.
14. Father said they do 5 goats per family. He said they currently are doing 125 total goats.
15. Father reported that goats now are about 540 Haitian dollars or about $50US. He said the price goes up in December.
16. Next step is for Father to email us the rules of the Caritas program we will let him know how many goats we can afford to start with.
17. We should also not forget that last time Father asked us about starting a micro-loan project for seeds. Father told us that some of the seeds are provided by
the Church/Caritas. However right now the last two bean crops in Haiti have failed so beans are very expensive right now so it would be helpful to have
microloan for bean seeds now.
18. The success of the people would totally be dependent on the weather.
19. They plant 3 times per year, July, January, March.
Mission Focus Area #2 – Health Care for our Sister Parish
Clinic/Health Care Workers/Nurse
Malnourished Children Program
1. On our last trips Bonnie worked closely with our Nurse, Germain on a program to give special attention and care to the very malnourish kids that we see
coming into the clinic.
2. When we got to Gandou and some of the kids that were on this program came to clinic we were impressed with the care that Germain had given them.
3. Nearly every child on the program was gaining weight and looking much more healthy.
4. Our nurse had weight charts on each of the children and there seemed to be checks every month.
5. The program seems to be working well.
6. Below our current nurse explains weight taking/tracking on the malnourished children to our nursing student.
Referral Patients and Room in Jacmel to Stay
1. We spent significant time with the nurse, health workers, father, and Dr. Andre talking through the referral patients and the process.
2. Since the last trip and this one we started working with Dr. Andre in Port-au-Prince on referral patients and because this was a new process there were
several bugs to work out in the process.
3. We spent several hours of conversation on this.
4. At the end everything seemed to fine and everyone was happy continuing on as we were.
5. Here are the results for the referral patients completed since the last trip.
A. Oscal-38 referral patients accomplished. 19 of them were done in Lavallee with less work on his side so we paid him only ½ the bonus on these.
B. Ricgo-8 referral patients complete.
C. Xavier-0 referral patients complete.
D. Wilbert-14 referral patients complete. Many of these patients were cared for in Port-au-Prince and were difficult to deal with.
6. All the details of which patients were cared for and all the details of what was done, total costs, and receipts were written down in the referral binder.
7. The health care workers reported that the house we rented in Jacmel for them and the patients to stay at while in Jacmel or on their way to Port-au-Price is
working very well.
8. They reported they stay there about once per week.
9. They reported there are 4 beds there. They are the ones we sent last time on the sea container (these are good ones).
10. They reported they don’t yet have anything for water. Father said he would take some of the referral money and buy a Culligan water jug.
11. Father reported they still need a table and sheets. We told him to also use the referral money to help with this. Also we bring sheets every trip to Gandou so
they can use them.
12. The rent is up on this house in April and we plan to renew.
13. For the electric bill San Louis is paying and father pays him back.
14. Also during the last trip we recognized the great need for a house in Port-au-Prince.
15. Dr. Andre found a small shelter to rent for $4500 Haitian dollars for 6 months and he rented it.
16. Currently our pregnant TB patient is staying there and the health workers are staying there when they are in Port-au-Prince.
17. The house has a water supply, is close to the market, has one bed, and is safe.
18. Everyone seems to be happy with this house.
19. We are so excited to say that our referral patients are finally getting done. We are investing much more money in the program than before, but thing are
working.
20. The only challenge in the last six months with the referral program is it seems that Father has been holding back money thinking that he might run out. He
has also not sent enough money for the health care workers and patients when they go to the hospital in Port-au-Prince.
21. In one case we had a little girl patient with Potts disease go to Port-au-Prince with the health care worker and go three days without eating because Father
did not send enough money.
22. We reminded him that the process is that he simply needs to email us when he needs more money.
23. Once again we asked father to send enough money with the health care workers that they can take care of anything that pops up.
24. Father said he trusts all of them and they always bring receipts back with them from the city.
25. I told father that if he trusts them that he should send 2x the money he thinks they need and expect change and receipts from them every time.
26. We gave the health care workers two electric skillets one for the Jacmel house and one for the Port-au-Prince house. They were sooooooo thankful.
Referral Patient Transportation and the Motorcycle
1. One of main challenges of the health workers in getting the referral patient work done has been transportation.
2. Each trip we continue to monitor the use of the motorcycle we purchased for the parish.
3. They reported that Wilbert has been the only one to use it.
4. They said it was not used much in the last 6 months because there was an insurance issue with it for 4 months.
5. Everyone agreed this is resolved now and it will be used.
6. Previously they asked for a helmet and air pump for the motorcycle which we have not provided.
1. Continue to build sister parish relationship and understand current status of ongoing projects.
2. Finish Visa Process on a little boy with burns and return with him to the USA for surgery.
3. Collect sponsor student pictures for all the sponsored children in the school.
4. Provide additional training and supplies to the mid-wives.
5. Gather updated information on referral patients.
6. Meet with the new students in the University program and discuss how things are going. Provide new laptops to each of the students.
7. Investigate plan for water holding tanks and water supply for new water purification system.
8. Investigate ground for purchase for new clinic construction.
9. Determine plans on micro-loans and get projects moving towards beginning.
10. General generator and electrical maintenance and repair.
11. Organize patients to go to Lavallee for surgery/specialist checkout/testing.
12. Obtain CT scan for patients Jesula Charles and Pierre Virgin. Find surgeon to take the case of Pierre Virgin and also obtain X-ray of legs for Pierre Virgin to
determine next steps on him.
13. Discuss referral to Port-au-Prince and how that process is working.
14. GPS map out sites in Gandou to create plans for water projects and future construction.
15. Provide health care for the people of our sister parish in the following ways:
a. Run medical clinic/pharmacy and provide the best possible medical care to the greatest number possible.
b. Run dental clinic and provide cleanings, extractions, and restorations.
c. Create ID cards for patients for best possible patient tracking.
d. Continue with our referral program and referral patient tracking which provides the support for the people in our sister parish to get health care in the cities
of Jacmel or Port-au-Prince when we are not in Haiti.
e. Transport emergency cases from Gandou to city using our truck.
f. Continue to build and improve our program for malnourished children.
g. Continue to support, train, and encourage breast feeding.
16. Provide opportunity for our team to experience, poverty, sacrifice, life in Haiti and especially our sister parish.
Focus Area #1 - Sister Parish Relationship/Status of Ongoing Projects
Earthquake Rebuilding/Construction projects
Church
1. Between the last trip 6 months ago and this trip Father did a huge amount of work on the Church and put the roof on the Church.
2. This was a monumental task in the middle of the country side in remote Gandou Haiti.
3. Before this trip many people had looked at the height of the walls in the church and saw the steel tubing pile which Father had obtained to make the rafters
and said that it was not possible for him to complete this work without heavy equipment, but we learned that we should never say that God cannot find a way
to accomplish anything through the help He gives to the people who do His work.
4. When you walk into the church the roof is nothing but breath-taking. It is extremely large, very well constructed and organized. It is painted beautifully, and
appears to be very solid and strong.
5. The roof is so impressive, everyone marveled at the whole building. Truly a huge amount of sweat and pain and suffering went into its construction.
6. During the week the daily Mass continued to be held in the small chapel on the side of the Church, but on Sunday the large Mass was held in the Church.
7. Having Mass inside the Church was so much better than it was in the past when the Mass had to be held under the poor shanty pavilion outside the school.
8. The solid and tall roof with the open doors and windows still kept the sun off but allowed air to freely flow through the Church.
9. The acoustics in the Church were great. The choir, drummers, speakers, and musicians were all in the choir loft which made the sound of the singing
heavenly. Being with the poor is like being with the saint in Heaven. It is an honor to go to their Mass.
10. We praise God for the great work He had done through the help of the donors and the work of all the community that joined into the work of the Church.
11. In talking about the Church you can tell that Father takes great pride in what has been done.
12. Father put together a super wonderful total Church project summary report for us. It was several pages long with a nice cover all typed and printed. It
contained a high level summary of what he used all the money for. I specifically asked if he had done the work on the computer to make this report and he
did. We are so impressed with his organization and report. We are so thankful for our wonderful sister parish priest (Father Voltaire).
13. Father has set two goals for working on the church in 2016 before the December 2016 celebration of their patron saint. Father said without doors on the
Church everyday dogs walk into the Church and poop on the floor. He said it happens every day. Also he said they can’t keep anything in Church because
without doors nothing is secure. This includes Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. Father included in his report a quote for adding doors and some security
windows (likely just frames with screens) to the Church. There are 11 in total. The total came to $6,077 US dollars. However he also reported that he has
$2,203 left over in the Church account from the Church construction. So he only needs $3,874 to complete this work.
14. The second project Father wants to complete on the Church is coating the cement blocks on the outside of the Church with a smooth cement. This is done
to protect the blocks and all the mortar joints. Father is working on getting us a quote on this. This will be significantly more money.
15. We ask everyone to pray that we find a way to continue to build God’s Church for the poor.
School Latrine
1. Between the last trip and this trip Father Voltaire also built a new latrine for the school kids. This was done because the earthquake of 2010, the latrine at the
school was severely damaged. He is worried because the cement floor which covered the deep latrine hole in the ground was cracked and two of the
cement toilet holes are cracked all around the base and appear to be at risk of falling in the latrine hole. It was no longer safe for the children to use this
latrine.
2. I took some time one day to visit the latrine and take a video on my camera as I walked around and inside the latrine.
3. The latrine is beautiful. Clearly there was a huge amount of work that went into this project.
4. Father had also sent us videos of the project as it was in progress. He showed us hole as it was being dug. It was very deep and they had several storms as
they built it which caused the hole to be filled up with water and the dirt needed to be dug out several times.
5. The latrine now has 6 stalls. A couple seem to be reserved for the teachers.
6. I think the hole was so deep that they hit some amount of water because there seemed to be some amount of water standing at the bottom of the latrine.
7. The old latrine was all broken down and clearly no longer in use.
8. I talked to one of the teachers and asked what they thought about the new latrine. They reported that it was good. They said some of the holes were a bit
small and difficult for the girls to use. I talked to Father about this and he said he already had plans for the summer to make the holes bigger.
9. As far as we are concerned this project can be considered completed.
10. We will provide information back to Wood-mizer for their donation on this.
Home Building/Rebuilding Projects for the Extremely Poor.
1. Father has several families that have no house to live in. One poor mother of many small children asked us directly for help to build her a house. She said
she currently lives in a structure made of branches and leaves.
2. These types of houses always leak and the wet mess that occurs inside is awful to live in.
3. On Sunday several members of our team went out to visit a family that is in great need of a home.
4. They took many pictures of the home.
5. They found 7 people living in a home that was 11 feet by 16 feet.
6. It was made of wooden planks with large gaps between them, roofed with pieces of corrugated metal.
7. The bed in the house was used for 3 adults and 4 children all in the same bed. Calling it a bed is a stretch. It was not soft like our beds. It was hard and
sagged at least a foot in the middle!
8. Father just reported that the material costs to build a good house for someone has gone up. He estimates that it would now cost close to $9,000US to build
a good home.
9. When we asked father which family in his community he would like to build a house for, he first reported back that there was one family he wanted to start
with. He described them as extremely poor and the father was sick. He sent pictures of the family and their current “home”. It is basically one room and
barely enough room to sleep in. A picture of the kitchen is a shown above. I can’t image the suffering involve in living with and using a kitchen like this one.
10. We asked Father to make a list of the people that need homes and provide it to us so we always know who is the next to get a home when someone comes
wanting to donate for this.
11. Father is going to email us this list and pictures.
Work on or in the Rectory
Rectory Floor Joist Replacement, Wiring, and Solar System Project
1. Once again between our last trip and this trip another project Father took from ground zero to completion is the rebuilding of the downstairs and floor joists
that hold up the floor on the upstairs part of the old rectory.
2. Father had this work done. He took the two small rooms downstairs and joined them into one. This was a huge improvement in the rectory. No longer do we
need to eat outside on the roof. We were able to use this new larger room for the lunch table and chairs all around the outside of the room can seat most of
the team.
3. The construction work was well done. Everything seems solid and sound. The wooden floor joints that were once used to hold up the floor but were
completely rotted out are now replaced with cement and cement blocks. No longer do we need to worry about the roof crashing down and killing someone.
4. The new solar system, inverter, batteries, and wiring are now all up and functional in the rectory.
5. Clearly this priest knows how to get much done.
6. We thank God for the improvements is has made in our trips.
Extra Sleeping Area for Our Team
1. This trip was an extremely large team and we were worried about where everyone would sleep.
2. Not long before the trip Father Voltaire emailed us and said that he had a house near the rectory that he was going to have some our team members to
sleep in.
3. This was the house near the old clinic that we used one time in the past for a dental clinic.
4. It is a nice place and Father had some beds set-up there for our team.
5. This worked very well to make more room for the men to sleep on the roof.
6. This also worked well because Father has started storing our dental equipment and supplies in the upstairs rooms that we typically slept in. The only trouble
with this is that is seems that now that Father has stored many items in our rooms upstairs that mice/rats have become more prevalent in this area.
7. During this trip there was only one day that it rained for a short period of time.
8. Typically it rains more on the summer trip. If it rains a significant amount we still have to deal with the leaking roof on the new rooms on the roof in the
rectory. Also the wooden walls have got some holes in them and I suspect when it rains hard they let the water into the rooms.
9. We should work out a plan to see if it is possible to get our people off of sleeping on the floor before the next trip.
10. For now I think we have other issues that are bigger than this issue. It is nothing compared to the issues our people in Haiti face each day.
11. Father told us that the next thing he wanted to do on the rectory was to add a bathroom onto the girls room that sleeps 7 women. Currently these 7 or 8
women that sleep in this room share a bathroom with the other women’s room which sleeps 5 or 6. So that means we have 14 or so women sharing one
inside bathroom and one outside bathroom.
12. We told him we would likely have trouble finding funds for this project. He said it would not cost more than a few thousand dollars.
Refrigerator/Freezer in Gandou
1. Now that the electrical system and the rectory is repaired this project is ready to start moving forward.
2. The old refrigerator was working fine.
3. Father said he is looking to add a true freezer to be able to store frozen meat for the school kid’s lunches.
4. He said he would like a solar powered freezer with batteries. He has seen some at other rectories and said they work very well.
5. We asked about what happens when there is no sun shine for several days and he said it is not an issue. The other systems he has seen have not had an
issue with this.
6. Father reported he would get a quote on this and send it to us.
Education for our Sister Parish People
1. Of the 343 students at Gandou this year which is an increase of about 30 students, 223 are being sponsored (a sponsored student is a student who has
someone other than his/her parents paying for the student’s tuition and helping pay for the food program at the school).
2. In Haiti, the school grade levels are K1, K2, K3, 1 – 13. In grade K1, a student’s age is 3 or 4. In Gandou, the grade levels go through grade 9. In 2010, the
highest grade level was grade 6. They have been working on increasing the amount of schooling a student can receive at Gandou. Their goal is someday
having a child receive his/her entire schooling, K – 13, at Gandou.
3. There are not enough classrooms for all the students to come to school at the same time. Therefore, grades K-6 start school at 6:00 am and end at 11:55
am. Grades 7-9 start at noon and end at 6:00 pm. For students to be at school by 6:00 am, some must start walking from home before 5:00 am and
remember that some of the students are very young. Fr. Voltaire, the priest at Gandou, wants to add classrooms so that all the students can attend class at
the same time.
4. This year, there are 13 students who are attending grades higher than grade 9, grades 10 – 13, at schools in Port-au-Prince or Jacmel. The Gandou Ministry
has paid $3000 for the tuition of these students so that they will be able to graduate from high school. Hopefully, these students will be supported in the
future until the Gandou program expands to K – 13.
5. In the Fall of 2011, the Gandou Ministry started a scholarship program for college students. The program would have sponsors pay for the students’ tuition
and in return the students would teach at Gandou for 2 yrs. There were 4 students who entered the program, 3 students studying education and 1 student
studying nursing. In the Fall of 2015, Gandou had 2 college graduates teaching at Gandou and 4 students with scholarships starting college, 2 students
studying education and 2 studying nursing. In the Fall of 2016, there will be another college graduate teaching at Gandou and anticipating 2 more students
with scholarships starting college. The 2 new scholarships are for students going into education. Fr. Voltaire will be giving his recommendations for those
scholarships. There will be a new procedure for paying the college tuition for the students. The ministry will send a check to Fr. Voltaire and he will give the
money to Saint Louis to pay the university for the tuition. There are some details that need to be worked out on how this will happen.
6. On this trip, there were 7 laptops taken to Gandou. The 4 new college students each receive one to use while in college. The other 3 laptops were for the
teachers to use at the school in Gandou.
7. Also on this trip, there was an attempt to set up a Skyping project with some students in the St. Louis School. Because of some technical problems, the
project was not successful. The technical problems are being considered and trying to come up with a plan so that Skyping can be done on the next trip in
June.
8. The people of Gandou see education as one big way of helping their young. Over the years, the Gandou ministry has been expanding their involvement in
the education program. The ministry needs help with the future funding of the following:
9. Building 3 more classrooms, a library and a teacher workroom (until all students can attend school at the same time, there will be no extending the grade
level). Fr. Voltaire is getting a quote and drawing for this project.
10. Building 4 additional classrooms to hold all grades K – 13.
11. Providing needed chairs, desks and supplies for students.
12. Sponsoring students
13. Supporting the college scholarships
Water project
1. The people of Gandou do not have water sources that are not contaminated. Hopefully, on the June, 2016 trip, the water purification system can be
installed.
2. To purify the water, the system takes contaminated water and injects chlorine into it.
3. One of the difficulties is getting a continuous water source at Gandou to purify. J
4. Just recently, the roof to the church has been completed. Fr. Voltaire is hoping to catch the water from the roof of the church in large tanks.
General Relationship Information
Next Trip
1. We discussed June 16-24. These dates were previously confirmed as good by Father and he had them memorized so he is planning on them.
2. Based on the changes in the rectory it feels possible to take a few more people on the next trip. Maybe one more pickup truck load of people so like 5 more
than this trip.
Nurse’s Visa
1. Our nurse (Germain) asked for our help of Bonnie to go with her to her the US embassy for her Visa appointment. Bonnie did this but they did not let Bonnie
go in with her and the denied her visa.
2. It is now up to Germain to determine the next step.
Seminarian from Gandou Project
1. Father said he would have these seminarians to write a letter to their sponsors. He will get it and email them to us.
2. We are still in need of more help for them and some several more people to be sponsors.
3. Father reported that $100 a month would be good. Anything would help.
4. If you know anyone that help let us know.
Internet in Gandou
1. We tried to setup a wireless router in Gandou and get a stable internet connection so that we could consider a Skye conversation with the kids at St. Louis
parish but the internet connection was not stable enough. We will need to figure out what to do next about this.
2. Our nurse in Gandou reported that hot spots will work in Gandou. Not sure how she knows this, but I guess if a cell phone works it will.
Sea Contain Shipment
1. Father was happy with how this went last time and reported that it would go even better this time because we now have the house in Jacmel to store stuff.
He reported that we could go ahead and send stuff on the next container.
2. Father reported that we should go ahead and send the old Stations of the Cross from St. Charles parish.
3. Father also reported he had talked to Mike Krekeler about a 6,000 watt diesel generator and he wants that sent on the next sea container.
Micro Loans
1. We spend time with Father further working on the micro-loan plan.
2. We came to agreement with him to use our recent college graduate Daniel Noel as the coordinator.
3. On the last sea container we sent several totes of shoes and a treadle sewing machine. We told father we wanted to get these to someone right away.
4. For the shoes Father said he would pick the people he will get them to and they would sell them.
5. Father confirmed the next step is for him to get with Daniel and pick the number of people, the number of shoes each will have, the % cost share, and write
a starting report and email it to us. He said this could be done by April1 2016.
6. For the sewing machine father said there is only one person in Gandou that knows how to use it. This is Jesula Charles who we brought to the USA for
surgery on her jaw.
7. Father proposed that we get the machine to her and have her do training course to teach others to use the machine.
8. This would not be a micro-loan but rather a training machine.
9. Father confirmed the next step would be a he and Daniel would talk with Jesula and form a plan and let us know the plan in March.
10. For the more general micro-loans our group decided we would start the program as a goat micro-loan project.
11. Father again confirmed Daniel would be the coordinator.
12. Father reported that the Church organization Caritas already has a goat micro-loan project and we could just follow their rules and structure.
13. This sounded great to us. Father said he would get us a copy of their rules and email it.
14. Father said they do 5 goats per family. He said they currently are doing 125 total goats.
15. Father reported that goats now are about 540 Haitian dollars or about $50US. He said the price goes up in December.
16. Next step is for Father to email us the rules of the Caritas program we will let him know how many goats we can afford to start with.
17. We should also not forget that last time Father asked us about starting a micro-loan project for seeds. Father told us that some of the seeds are provided by
the Church/Caritas. However right now the last two bean crops in Haiti have failed so beans are very expensive right now so it would be helpful to have
microloan for bean seeds now.
18. The success of the people would totally be dependent on the weather.
19. They plant 3 times per year, July, January, March.
Mission Focus Area #2 – Health Care for our Sister Parish
Clinic/Health Care Workers/Nurse
Malnourished Children Program
1. On our last trips Bonnie worked closely with our Nurse, Germain on a program to give special attention and care to the very malnourish kids that we see
coming into the clinic.
2. When we got to Gandou and some of the kids that were on this program came to clinic we were impressed with the care that Germain had given them.
3. Nearly every child on the program was gaining weight and looking much more healthy.
4. Our nurse had weight charts on each of the children and there seemed to be checks every month.
5. The program seems to be working well.
6. Below our current nurse explains weight taking/tracking on the malnourished children to our nursing student.
Referral Patients and Room in Jacmel to Stay
1. We spent significant time with the nurse, health workers, father, and Dr. Andre talking through the referral patients and the process.
2. Since the last trip and this one we started working with Dr. Andre in Port-au-Prince on referral patients and because this was a new process there were
several bugs to work out in the process.
3. We spent several hours of conversation on this.
4. At the end everything seemed to fine and everyone was happy continuing on as we were.
5. Here are the results for the referral patients completed since the last trip.
A. Oscal-38 referral patients accomplished. 19 of them were done in Lavallee with less work on his side so we paid him only ½ the bonus on these.
B. Ricgo-8 referral patients complete.
C. Xavier-0 referral patients complete.
D. Wilbert-14 referral patients complete. Many of these patients were cared for in Port-au-Prince and were difficult to deal with.
6. All the details of which patients were cared for and all the details of what was done, total costs, and receipts were written down in the referral binder.
7. The health care workers reported that the house we rented in Jacmel for them and the patients to stay at while in Jacmel or on their way to Port-au-Price is
working very well.
8. They reported they stay there about once per week.
9. They reported there are 4 beds there. They are the ones we sent last time on the sea container (these are good ones).
10. They reported they don’t yet have anything for water. Father said he would take some of the referral money and buy a Culligan water jug.
11. Father reported they still need a table and sheets. We told him to also use the referral money to help with this. Also we bring sheets every trip to Gandou so
they can use them.
12. The rent is up on this house in April and we plan to renew.
13. For the electric bill San Louis is paying and father pays him back.
14. Also during the last trip we recognized the great need for a house in Port-au-Prince.
15. Dr. Andre found a small shelter to rent for $4500 Haitian dollars for 6 months and he rented it.
16. Currently our pregnant TB patient is staying there and the health workers are staying there when they are in Port-au-Prince.
17. The house has a water supply, is close to the market, has one bed, and is safe.
18. Everyone seems to be happy with this house.
19. We are so excited to say that our referral patients are finally getting done. We are investing much more money in the program than before, but thing are
working.
20. The only challenge in the last six months with the referral program is it seems that Father has been holding back money thinking that he might run out. He
has also not sent enough money for the health care workers and patients when they go to the hospital in Port-au-Prince.
21. In one case we had a little girl patient with Potts disease go to Port-au-Prince with the health care worker and go three days without eating because Father
did not send enough money.
22. We reminded him that the process is that he simply needs to email us when he needs more money.
23. Once again we asked father to send enough money with the health care workers that they can take care of anything that pops up.
24. Father said he trusts all of them and they always bring receipts back with them from the city.
25. I told father that if he trusts them that he should send 2x the money he thinks they need and expect change and receipts from them every time.
26. We gave the health care workers two electric skillets one for the Jacmel house and one for the Port-au-Prince house. They were sooooooo thankful.
Referral Patient Transportation and the Motorcycle
1. One of main challenges of the health workers in getting the referral patient work done has been transportation.
2. Each trip we continue to monitor the use of the motorcycle we purchased for the parish.
3. They reported that Wilbert has been the only one to use it.
4. They said it was not used much in the last 6 months because there was an insurance issue with it for 4 months.
5. Everyone agreed this is resolved now and it will be used.
6. Previously they asked for a helmet and air pump for the motorcycle which we have not provided.
