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On this page, several of our Haiti missioners have shared their perspectives and reflections on their experiences in Haiti.
A Medical Mission (February 2008)
Reflections on Haiti
By: Cindy Atkins
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Huntsville, Alabama
I was impressed by the beauty of Haiti. The countryside is beautiful. . . mountains off in the distance in every direction, bright blue sky with gathering clouds over the distant mountaintops, beaches, and rivers and rocks. Lots and lots of rocks of every size, shape, color, and composition. . . everything from gravel to boulders big as houses. The city of Port au Prince is beautiful. . . palm trees, ageing Victorian houses tucked almost out of view behind garden walls, churches, taptaps, and every other thing that can be bought and sold. The Haitian people are beautiful. . . . .they have very dark skin, dark eyes, elaborate hair, and are elegant, angular, and lively.
I was impressed by the pride of the Haitian people. In a country that seems to be made up, in large part, of dirt, dust, smoke, and wind, the people are clean. They scrub their children, wear their best clothes, elaborately braid and decorate their hair, and the women carry their handbags even though they may be empty. Because they carry heavy packages on their heads, they learn to stand straight and tall and walk with an air of assurance and calm.
I was impressed by the patience of the Haitian people. They bring their children to the clinic where they sit quietly and wait their turn to see the doctor. . . some of them with a desperately sick child on their lap. There is no attempt to put themselves ahead of others . . . they just wait. The nurses or one of the helpers at the clinic may notice that a baby is in serious respiratory distress, or that a 12 year old boy is crying because of a headache, or a toddler is so weak from malnutrition that he cannot even sit up, and they get moved to the head of the line - otherwise, they just wait.
I was impressed by the dark of the Haitian nights. Even in the city, despite the traffic and the excitement of the upcoming Karnaval celebration and the great numbers of people milling about conducting business of one sort or another, Haiti is very dark when the sun slips beyond the horizon. There are no street lights and very few houses or shops with electricity. Headlights from vehicles driving by and occasionally someone's candle or oil lamp are the only break in the darkness, and it's not much. I'm curious about how it would be to live in darkness, how easy it might be to be overcome by it.
. . . but I was most impressed by desperation. No money, no job, no healthcare, no electricity, no running water, no food. How do people maintain their beauty, their pride, and their patience in the face of such adversity? The only things that make survival possible are help and hope. Help from those of us who have so much. And hope that only comes from God.
A Letter to Family and Friends
By the Rev. Dr. Foster Eich
St. Bartholomew's Church
Florence, Alabama
We have returned from our trip to Haiti. We had a wonderful trip! Thanks to all for prayers.
A bit of background: Haiti was the second independent country in the Western Hemisphere. It was a French colony. In about 1799 the slaves (who greatly outnumbered the French) rebelled, and they won their independence in 1802. They have been ruled by a series of dictators ever since -- three in one year, for example. The infamous "Papa Doc" Duvalier ruled for maybe 12 years. Many Haitians will tell you that that was their most presperous time, despite the despotism of his rule, because there was order in the street and "things got done" that were helpful to the citizens. They presently have an elected government. Good things seem to be happening. (For example, heaps of garbage lined all the streets a few months ago. This past week, the streets were clear of garbage.)
There are still UN peace keepers in Haiti. The Haitians have mixed feelings about this presence. They appreciate the peace, but they don't like having foreign troops in their country.
The official language is French, but the language of the common people is "Kreyol"--a language based mostly on a close approximation of French words and African grammar. For many years Kreyol was not written down, but now it is. It is an official, legal language. The spelling is phonetic, which makes it easy to read.
I made this trip with considerable trepidation. I have never worked at a real mission project, and I wasn't sure how I would do without lab and x-ray. But I made a decision to just do what I could do, and leave the rest to God.
Our team consisted of six women (Ginger, 2 nurses, a deacon, and the two women who made it happen) and me. Our hosts were Father Valdema ("Pere Val") and his wife, Carmel, who is a nurse. They speak English rather well. Carmel decided to do something to alleviate the rampant malnutrition she saw in young children, who were not getting enough protein. She runs nutrition clinics, and provides poor families with a relatively inexpensive form of protein. I had a Haitian counterpart, Dr. Eloy. We also had an excellent interpreter: Dioni. We had Haitian pharmacists and pharmacy techs.
After arriving in Haiti, Pere Val drove us to his largest church, St. Simeon (in Croix-de-Bouquet) where we unloaded about 9 suitcases full of vitamins and other medicines. We then checked into our motel, which was clean and--for the most part--comfortable. Their food was quite good.
On Sunday February 3 we went to church at St. Simeon's. I was able to give them a greeting in my very limited Kreyol. Our deacon, Gerry Aston, read the Gospel in English. During the service a dog sauntered down the aisle and curled up in front of the altar! An acolyte escorted him out.
After a two and a half hour service, we had a delicious lunch at the rectory: fish soup and bread. We then spent the afternoon packaging vitamins and inventorying the other medicines that we would be using.
We had a clinic at St. Simeon's on Monday. On the 3 following days we held clinics at outlying villages of Thomaszeau, Thoman, and Fond Parisienne. Pere Val had churches in these villages. (He also had two other small churches that we did not visit.) We saw a total of about 465 patients: adults and children. Usually they steered the adults to Dr. Eloy, but I saw a number of adults, too. The oldest person I saw was 86--pretty good for a pediatrician! All got Vitamins and worm medicine. I learned to recognize and treat Malaria, a true scourge in Haiti, which is often fatal if not treated. Among the kids, the greatest scourge is malnutrition, especially Kwashiorkor (protein deficiency). There were people with illnesses that we could not treat, or that we could only treat a little. I think that we did save some lives. The children were precious! They all wore clothing that must have been their very best -- for a visit to the doctor!
The hotel and the rectory had good plumbing, but the outlying villages only had privies. The hotel and the rectory had good water, but the villages where we conducted medical clinics had no water, other than that which they walked miles to get and then carry home (on their heads).
We spent our last day shopping, visiting the Episcopal Cathedral in Port-au-Prince, and visiting an iron works art shop. The artwork was delightful!
A poignant note: on the last night we hosted a meal at the hotel for our Haitian co-workers. We enjoyed a delicious soup, roast goat, a few vegetables, French fries, and rice, plus cake for dessert. At the end of the meal, one of our Haitian friends observed: "And to think--some people eat like this every day!"
Sharon Drachlis shared with us a sermon written by a pediatrician--priest, who had come there in January. They were to spend the night in the village of Crochu, which could only be reached by walking the last 45 minutes. She was not wanting to spend the night there, because of not having a good place to sleep, the poor condition of the privies, etc. But when they arrived, she found that the residents had fixed up a vacant house with the only 4 beds in the village, and they had cleaned up the privy seat and then covered it with blue plastic tape--so that she could see that it was clean. She ended her sermon with, "Jesus said, 'Inasmuch as you have done it to one of the least of these, you have done it to me.' But I couldn't help but wonder, ''Who are the least? Is it them, or is it me?"
Who, indeed?
What does Haiti Need?
By the Rev. Deacon Gerri Aston
St. Andrews Episcopal Church
Birmingham, Alabama
On the way back from one of our clinic days where we had all worked very hard trying to meet the needs of the people who had come, some from long distance on foot, to receive medical help, someone asked the question of our Haitian team members: "What is the ONE thing that Haiti needs?"
In the heartbeat or two of silence that followed my thoughts raced. There is so much need. The medical needs we had been addressing that needed follow-up, the abject poverty, the devastated environment, they all screamed for attention. But then our interpreter Dioni answered. "Prayer! What Haiti needs is prayer, and more God-fearing people to work for the people of Haiti." Yes, Haiti needs resources to meet medical, infrastructure and environmental needs, but Haiti needs our prayers.
So my hope is that as our Diocese prays each week for our companion Diocese of Haiti, that we will do this with our whole heart and mind. We are in companion relationship with the Diocese of Haiti. That means that each and every one of us is joined with the people of Haiti. Those of us who have been privileged to walk in the Haiti dust are the connectors between those who live on Haitian soil and those of you who pray weekly for these incredible people. Please pray your with your whole heart.
A Construction Misson (October 2007)
God Painted Haiti
By Jane Berry
St. Thomas Episcopal Church
Huntsville, Alabama
God painted Haiti with brilliant colors, from the deep blue of the Caribbean surrounding the island to the rich greens of the mountains. The landscape is lush with exotic trees, shrubs, and bold flowers blooming in red, orange, yellow, and purple. The people have taken the colors of the landscape and woven that beauty into their everyday lives, from the clothes they wear to the decorations in the houses. Haitian artwork reflects the vibrancy of all that surrounds them. The artists paint pictures of the beautiful landscape with palm trees along the beaches and bright flowers in the background. In the foreground are Haitians in bright colorful clothes, the women in long skirts that billow in the warm breezes, with flowers in their hair; the colors are accentuated by the ebony color of their skin. But these colorful landscapes are in the memories and in the hearts of the Haitians, and are not there today.
Gray is the color of poverty. The political landscape has washed the color out of Haiti. Rubble of dilapidated concrete buildings, torn aluminum roofing, dust-covered garbage weaves shades of gray in all directions. The soil of the city is gray, matching the broken concrete walls wherein many will go to sleep tonight hungry. The skin of the people is gray from the dust stirred up. Street merchants continually wipe a layer of gray off of their wares they hope to sell. The once green mountains are now scarred with bold streaks of gray that could be mistaken for snow. The trees on the mountain have been forested for furniture, but more importantly for charcoal to cook what little food there is. The river running through the city is gray from the soil running off the mountains. The ocean is gray where the river empties into it, chasing the fish further out to sea, making it impossible for the people to eat the food that was a staple in their diet for centuries.
Haitian parents watch their children's bellies swell unable to help them. Parental love cannot heal starvation. A lack of protein in the diet, and eating only one meal a day causes distended abdomens, swelling of the face, legs, and arms; the hair discolors and begins to fall out; the final stage is weight loss so severe that the skin is drawn tightly over the bones, usually infant bones.
Hunger not only affects the body, but affects the mind. Even if the body is healed by improved nutrition, the cognitive abilities may never develop. Hunger not only affects the body, but affects the spirit. A toy offered to a child will cause a riot among the crowd; a piece of candy will cause a stampede. Hunger causes greediness and insatiability on many levels. Adults attack each other fighting for a bucket of clean water that is provided everyday. The uncertainty from one day to the next of the basic requirements to sustain life creates emotions and reactions that we will never know.
Color is slowly returning to Haiti in the school uniforms worn by the children everyday. Brightly colored dresses, coordinated pants and shirts for the boys blossom in the busy streets on their way to and from school. Color is returning to Haiti as the children learn from dedicated, professional teachers equipped with the necessary resources. Color is returning to Haiti as the mountains are being planted with trees to stop the erosion of soil. Color is returning to Haiti with nutrition clinics, with educated Haitian health workers who implement food programs.
Haiti will not recover quickly, but it will recover with long-term commitment of monetary and resource assistance. God would love to look at Haiti, and see the color returned to the landscape; see the people well-fed, well-dressed, and well-loved. Help put a smile on God's face with a gift for our sisters and brothers in Christ who are suffering in Haiti. The eyes of God are on Haiti.
