Back in Haiti

March 21,2019

Things have been quite here in Haiti for a couple of weeks now, so Bob and I returned to finish what we started on our last trip, and to aid Fr. Chris ( from St. Thomas Parish in Cookeville Tn. ) visit his sister parish Riviere Mancell. Cecile a long time benefactor that has traveled with us several times is also coming. We arrived a week ago to prepare for their arrival.

Last week was spent in many meetings. Two long meetings were about composting toilets. We need to build new toilets for the children at the school in Buchon Richard. We met with the Fr. Dashmy the priest over the new Parish and he stayed with us a few nights. Currently he dose not have a home or a church. Fr. Dashmy has fairly good English , he is very much wants to work with us but we are limited as to how much help we have to offer.

We have also been involved in how to distribute the funds donated to victims of last Octobers Earth Quake ( no nothing moves very fast here in Haiti). There are hundreds of family homes that were damage during the Earth Quake and of course limited funds to distribute. Fr. Dashmy did not know how to distribute the funds without causing problems in the parish. F. Jannin up in Riviere Mancelle somehow chose four families and divided the money between them. We suggested to Fr. Dashmy to look to the early church for advice and have the church committee identify the poorest families and to help them. We also suggested that church members help with the repairs. He thought this was a wonderful idea and called a meeting where this idea was presented to the church committee. The committee was given the list of names, we are waiting to see what they decide.

Along with all the meetings there was a big wedding. Monishka the school director got married. For the most part the Haitians don’t get married . They usually will say they don’t have the money.This was a very large affair for Haitian standards. It caused lots of excitement, her mother is one of the ladies who work for us. So many things were borrowed from us.

Some of you that have followed our work from the beginning will remember Fr. Jadotte, he came to con-celebrate at the wedding mass. It was wonderful visit. He seems to be doing well, enjoying his retirement. He looks very healthy.

Of course there are the people coming to me for help with medical problems. My young friend Kenley has a young brother ( around 25), who has TB. The government demands people stay in the hospital while the TB is active. The government covers the cost of the hospitalization and TB medications. But they do not cover the cost for medications for secondary infections or food. So this can be quite the burden. The Haiti project is helping with this expense.

Last Tuesday A dad brought his five year old son to us telling me he had a fever. What I noticed that the young boy was having.trouble breathing. I gave the father money to take the child to the hospital. The father waited until Wednesday to take the child to the hospital, he was admitted. I was already in Port au Prince , I received many phone calls asking for help with the expenses. I recommended the call Fr. Dashmy for help. This morning I received a message at 6:30 that the boy needed oxygen, oxygen is very expensive in Haiti. The father could not get a hold of Fr. Dashmy . So I called Sr. Jackie and asked if she could arrange for the boy to get the care he needed and we would pay for it when we returned to Gros Morne. She said no problem. When we return tomorrow I will go by the hospital and check on both of them.

We look forward to going to Kalabot this weekend with Fr. Chris and Cecile. Fr. Chris was a missionary priest in Jamaica and we think he will be able to give us some new perspectives. He plans to meet with Fr. Jannin to establish new budgets for the parish, Cecile will translate for him. Monday is the Parish feast day. So Bob and I will be able to see many friends. We will return to Garcin On Monday afternoon. Tuesday we will bring our guests back to Port they will fly back to the US on Wednesday.

We will have another week, and a lot to accomplish before we return the following week. We are going home to prepare things to send on the sea container. This year Bob and I will be managing the warehouse for the sea container. We have been helping for the last several years. This year we have said we would be willing to take on a larger role. So we will be busy through most of May.

Thank you for your interest and your prayers,

Denise