MISSION TO HAITI
by Charlotte Koch
Chapter 1
There were 12 of us on
the mission trip. All but one were from Boonville. Haiti is the poorest
country in the western hemisphere. Because the Haitians have cut down all the
trees on the hills, the climate has changed. There was no grass growing where
we were. There were large mango trees and cocunut palms and some other trees
and some spindly bushes. We were in part of Port au Prince. Because of the
danger we didn't get to see much of the city. This was primarily a medical
mission. There were 4 nurses, 1 doctor, and an assistent on the medical team.
They worked with interpreters, since most of the people speak Creole. The rest
of us worked at the House of Hope which is a girls orphanage. They have 32
girls and 3 boys. The boys are brothers of some of the girls. Their ages were
between 4 and 14. We had fun playing with the children, painting, organizing
storage rooms, fixing lunches and planting flowers. The men also did some
repair work. The medical team saw about 400 people in 4 days
Chapter 2
Mission to Haiti Sunday Feb. 13
Our lights came on at 5:30 AM today. I was
awake long before that, because the roosters were crowing early! We heard the
hogs rooting around later. We showered in cold water and got ready for church.
We had boiled eggs, fried bananas and Haitian bread for breakfast.
After breakfast we waited for transportation to
church. We waited and waited. Finally Angelo came and said the tap-tap
wouldn't work. Roger took a look at it and discovered there was no key. Angelo
didn't want to admit he had lost the key. Sister Bin ( the landlady of the
guest house ) said he could use her station wagon, which wasn't much better.
We had to go in two shifts. We sent the younger ones first. About an hour
later Angelo showed up again to take the rest of us. The church was about 5
minutes away. We wondered where he had been in the meantime. We got there
about 9:30. He let us out in a rocky, dirt street. When we asked where the
church was, Angelo gestured and said, Walk up that way and you'll hear them.
The church was more like a shed built on
another building. The sides were green wood with holes in it. There were two
bedspreads hung behind the pulpit. There was a motley assortment of chairs -
school desks, lawn chairs and folding chairs. To the left and up front were 4
rows of the cutest little children you have ever seen. They were all sitting on
little child size chairs.
They were singing when we got there. Church
had started at 8 A.M.. The songs were all in Creole, but one of them had a lot
of "hallelujahs" in it. We sang the Hallelujahs with them. The minister
welcomed us in English, but the sermon was in Creole. The children sat still
and were quiet through the whole thing. The finished up about 11:00.
After church the little girls showed us the way
to the orphanage. It was down another dirt rocky road. All the houses were
surrounded with high cement block walls They had metal gates for vehicles to go
through, and they are locked at all times. The orphanage had a metal door
also. They had a gate keeper who let people in or out. Once there and in the
common room, the children came and chose their special people. They liked
wearing our watches, glasses, and sun glasses. They also liked to braid hair.
The girls with long hair were their favorites.
For lunch we had lettuce cut up fine with a few
tomatoes served on a platter, Haitian fried chicken, fried bananas, and rice
and beans. We were enjoying it when we looked in and saw the children were only
having rice and beans. Then we felt bad.
After lunch a man came with souvenirs.. We
were encouraged to buy from him, since it was his only means of income. When we
got back to the guest house Sister Bin had peach cobbler and ice cream for us.
She appologized for the cobbler. She said she couldn't get any American flour
for it and had to use Haitian flour. I could tell the flour was courser than
American, but theirs was probably healthier. Anyway it was very good. We
repacked meds and got everything ready to go the next day.
Chapter 3
We were up
early Monday morning. After we ate oatmeal and Haitian bread , the tap-tap came
and we loaded up the two large suitcases with the medical supplies along with
our mission team. Sarah, Steve, Roger and I were left at the orphanage, and the
rest were taken to the school near-by. Sarah and I sorted out lunches for the
week, and Roger and Steve fixed an old washer and cleaned out a storage shed.
Because of the danger, Sarah and I were never allowed to go
outside the orphanage alone. Carol took us to the school later to see where the
medical clinic was set up. On the way we saw a skinny cow tethered to a tree.
I wondered what it ate, since there was no grass. We crossed an irrigation
ditch. Most of the time we could step across it, but when the water was running
we had to jump. There was a small field of sugar cane growing along the street.
That was the only thing I saw that could be irrigated.
The children went to school only in the morning. The little girls wore
green checked dresses. The boys wore green checked shirts. The older girls
wore blue checked dresses. Maggie and Kelly were doing hygiene classes at the
school. The children didn't speak English, so they had to work with
interpreters. The children were given color books written in Creole, and each
was given a plastic bag with a tooth brush and toothpaste and a wash cloth and
soap.
The medical clinic was in another room at the school. It was a small room
with openings with no windows. They saw all the school children and teachers.
In the afternoon they saw the adults and other children who came. In all, they
saw over 100 people that day.
The orphanage was built of cement blocks like most of the buildings in
Haiti. We were told this was because of the termite problem. The buildings
were probably stronger during the hurricane season also. They had built a
second story on the orphanage during the last year. When the paint arrived we
got ready to paint. The walls had been plastered over with cement. They were a
little rougher than our sidewalks. Since the paint was thin and the cement
soaked it up, you couldn't always tell where it was painted and where it was'nt.
We got the walls in two rooms painted and one ceiling.
The whole team was hot and dirty when we went back to the guest house that
evening - looking forward to cold showers. However there was no water when we
got there. Water is scarce there. Bin has to buy water from her neighbor and
can't always get it when she wants it. It came after a while and we were able
to get cleaned up.
After dinner and devotions we packed meds again and got things ready to go
the next day.
Chapter 4
Tuesday we had breakfast late, but it was good. We had some delicious homemade rolls, coffee, oranges and bananas. The medical team was at the school again. Roger, Sarah, and I started painting at the orphanage. It wasn't long before we ran out of yellow paint for the walls. While we were painting a crew of Haitian men we laying tile. They were using 17 inch tile. Before they could lay it, they had to clean the bits of cement and debris off the floor. Then one man took a hammer and evened the floor so the tile would lay flat. It was quite a challenge, but they were good at it.
After lunch Sarah and I helped clean out a storage room. There were a lot of supplies there that hadn't been used or gone through. It was a dirty, hot job. There were mice and large beetles in there too.
Because there is no ground cover, and a little breeze all the time, It was very dirty where we were. We could wipe off the table, but within 30 minutes, it would be dirty again. When the medical team was ready, we went back to the guest house . The medical team had another hot, busy day. They saw over a hundred people again. When we got to the guest house , we discovered there was no water again. We cleaned up the best we could with handi-wipes. The water came on after we had eaten dinner and had devotions.
Wednesday, we had an interesting day. Seventeen of us piled into the tap-tap for the trip up the mountain to the Baptist Mission. Because we were so crowded, it was not a pleasant trip. When we got to the mission, we could look out big windows and see the neighboring hills. They were terraced, but we weren't close enough to see what was growing there. It was very cool there. The mission had a school. The tourist attraction was a store. There, they had a lot of Haitian crafts and products for sale. It was very clean and the prices were reasonable. Out side there were a lot of street vendors. If you wanted something at a reasonable price there, you had to bargain with them. There was a restaurant there that served American food. On the way home,we were very crowded because we all had our shopping bags too. The trip was slow. It took us almost an hour to go 15 miles. I was glad to get back to the guest house. We repacked meds and got ready for the next day.
Chapter 5
The medical team had an interesting day Thursday. The did a medical clinic up north in the bush. They were a little late getting started because Angelo couldn't find a tap-tap to take them. The orphanage needed theirs. When they arrived there were a lot of people waiting for them. They were told that some of them walked for several miles to get there. The conditions there were worse than Port Au Prince. They saw a lot of people there, but couldn't see all of them . The people there were so appreciative of the medical team. They got back about 2 PM. They had another clinic scheduled at the school when they returned.
Sarah and I potted some plants in the morning. Roger painted the ceiling in the room that the men had finished tiling. There wasn't much for us to do in the afternoon. We sat and played with the children. We gave them all some little tootsie rolls. When we looked again we saw that they were eating paper and all. They didn't know how to unwrap the candy. We learned to unwrap it before we gave it to them. Sarah tried to show them how to blow bubbles, but they couldn't get the hang of it. She finally blew the bubbles and they had fun running and jumping to catch them. I started going through boxes in a storage closet upstairs. There were lots of toys in it, but the children didn't have anything to play with but dirt and rocks. This bothered me.
Steve went with the medical team, and was pretty sick when they came home from the bush. We all went back to the guest house a little early.
Friday, the medical team held their clinic at the church. It was the hottest day we had. The team was in a small room with no windows. It was very hot for them.
The electricity went off at 10 AM, so there wasn't much we could do. One of the problems in Haiti is that there is very little infrastructure. There isn't enough electricity to take care of the entire city, so they turn it off in one part to service another. There is no order to it, so you never know when you will have electricity. The Haitians have learned to hook their own lines into the transformers so they can get free electricity. As you drive along, you might see 20 or 30 lines hooked into the transformers. Sister Bin said it took about two weeks to replace a transformer. After lunch Sarah gave the children a valentine card with some little bear paper dolls inside. Roger showed them how to punch out the paper dolls and dress the bear. They had fun playing with those most of the afternoon. Maggie, Kelly and I worked on the upstairs storage room. Afterwards, Maggie showed the older girls how to play slap jack. After dinner and devotions we sorted meds and repacked some of them, took our cold showers and packed ou things.
Saturday morning we left about 8 AM for the airport. After three security checks, and having our luggage searched thoroughly, we were able to board the plane and start on our way home.
09/05/2005