Friday April 26, 2013
Rough day of travel up at 3:00 a.m. and arrived in Port au
Prince at noon. It was dark by the time we reached Garcon.
Thursday night was a flurry of activity. We have been
packing since Monday night. Traveling to Haiti is always hard, but when in
involves a group of eight on a medical mission, it intensifies tenfold.
Cecile, a nurse practitioner, arrived at our house about
6:00 p.m. We packed and repacked supplies until we had 6 huge duffle bags maxed
out at the allowed 50 lb. limit. We are allowed on free checked bag each. Our second
checked bag cost $ 40. The cost of a third bag jumps to $150 so we are limited
to these six bags.
Team members Janine, a nurse, Chris her husband, and
Crystal, a surgeon, are all coming from Detroit. We will all meet up in Miami.
They are bringing five more bags of supplies.
The final two members of our team, Pevwa and Rose are our
translators. They are both Haitian Americans and are from the Miami area. They
will meet us in Port au Prince.
Around 10:30 Thursday night Haley, our daughter, and Casey,
her boyfriend comes. They are spending the night so that they can take us to
the airport at 3:30 a.m. Haley has
brought a large donation of children’s vitamins that somehow has to be
squirreled away into our luggage.
I am the first up at 3:00. I take a quick shower and wake
the rest at 3:15. We are on the road by 3:40. This time of the day traffic is
light and we are at the Nashville International Airport by 4:35. Surprisingly
there is already a line at the ticket counter. It does move quickly and we are
headed to security by 5:00. Things get a little testy in security. I had moved
some wheel bearing for the Gator, our primary transportation in Haiti, into my
carry on to allow more weight in our checked in luggage. This caused confusion
but it was not critical, just added to the stress of traveling by air in today’s
reality. We made it to the gate with minutes to spare. Our connection in Miami
was very tight, but I did manage to get us some coffee and cookies for
breakfast. We met Janine, Chris and Crystal and all boarded together for our
flight to Port au Prince. We touched down in Port au Prince at noon.
The new airport in Port au Prince has been completed.
Although small it is clean and modern. This is one place that the post-earthquake
construction is unarguably successful.
However, like pre earthquake days navigating through with
your luggage is not a pleasant experience. There are five “zones” you have to
get through. Two when you depart Haiti and three when you arrive. Each zone has its own set of baggage handlers
that aggressively handle your baggage with demands for compensation for this
“service”. I always try to make sure
that I tip at least $2 a bag, but when I have to do it each time a different
group “handles” our bags, it gets expensive. There is a genuine need for
assistance and I gladly compensate those who are helpful, but for the cost of
this “service” we can feed many children.
While waiting for our Pevwa and Rose, we met another aid worker
that was accompanying a Haitian that she had taken to the United States for a
medical procedure. Her name was Wendy. Wendy’s ride to St. Mark had fallen
through and she was stranded. That boosted our van load to 12 people plus I
estimated over 1,000 pounds of luggage. It was very noticeable when trying to
pick up speed or climb a hill. We had agreed on $350 U.S. for the
transportation, but I think there might be a little surcharge.
It was good to meet Wendy, I am sure that our paths will
cross again.
Once we cleared the airport we headed to an area that local
artist sells their work. We purchased many beautiful paintings and several
stone sculptures. We will have them available for sale when we return to the
United States.
The road from Port au Prince to Gonaives is now complete. It
is another example of success in post-earthquake reconstruction. We stopped for
food just south of St. Mark. It was our first meal of the day and very welcome.
The road from Gonaives to Grose Morne is still under
construction. Although the journey is only about 20 miles, it takes a good 1 ½
hours. We reached Sr. Pat and Sr. Jackie’s around 6:00.
It was almost dark when we got to Garcon. We received a very
warm welcome. The generator was running so that we had lights and a meal had
been prepared. We were all very thankful.
Full moon last night kept the roosters crowing most of the
night, but I was so fatigued that it barely disturbed my sleep. I arose at
daybreak to welcome the new day. Very peaceful. The rest of our crew slept
until about 9:00. We then feasted on bread soup. Bread soup is a hearty broth
with vegetables and chunks of bread. Very delicious, one of my favorites.
After breakfast, Pevwa, Rose and I headed back down the
mountain to Grose Morne with John Robert, Pevwas cousin. John Robert is one of
our local drivers and he came to get us in his Landrover. Pevwa and Rose went to visit relatives. This
is the first time in 12 years that Rose has seen her family here. She had not
told them she was coming because she was afraid her trip would fall
through. Obviously they were all
ecstatic.
I went to town to reactivate our cell phone and internet
service. What should have been a simple process took from 10:30 until noon when
they closed. Even then my phone does still not work properly. I was told I need
to take it to Gonaives for service. What a decision. If I send it to Gonaives,
it may or not be fixed and it will cost an indeterminate amount of money. I can
forget about having a phone or buy a new phone. We really need the phone very
little, but when we do, we do. The phone was purchased in February and has not
worked correctly since I bought it. So many challenges, so little time. I hope
to buy an unlocked phone when I return to the States and just buy a local Haitian
sim card.
When I finished with the cell phone company I spent the
afternoon with Sr. Pat. The time was well spent. She updated me on current
affairs and we laid out some plans for dealing with several issues that we need
to address while Denise and I are here. It was determined that our priority is
to familiarize the parish with the vision and goals for The Fr. Jim Bretl
Agriculture Center.
While Pevwa, Rose and I were in Grose Morne, Denise took the
rest of our team for a tour of the Fr. Jim Agriculture Center. We all met back
at Garcon, shared a meal and prepared for a 7:00 a.m. departure Sunday morning.
Sunday April 28, 2013
Up at 6 am for 7 am ride. Heading for Riverie Mancelle for a
week long medical mission. Fr. Gracia is going to delay Mass until 9:30 for us.
Barack, one of our drivers is picking us up with Sr. Jackie’s Landrover. As we load up, we realize that
there really is not enough room for all eight of us, our luggage and the 11
duffel bags of medication we are taking for the medical mission. We left the
medical supplies at Sr. Jackie’s when we first arrived in Haiti. When we get to
Sr. Jackies to pick up the supplies, she has arranged for Tiden, another of our
drivers to drive another Rangerover. We decide to take all of the bags and part
of our group with Barack, and the remainder of our group travel with Tiden.
This turns out to be a good idea.
Leaving Gros Morne we travel through the town dump on the
edge of the river that is Rivere Mancelle’s names sake. The dump has many pigs
and goats foraging for any available nutrition. It as an unpleasant stretch,
usually with fires smoldering and the stench of burning plastic hanging in the
air. Today there are no fires and with recent rains it is not too bad. As we
drive up the river there are women doing laundry, people bathing, and men
loading gravel and rocks into large dump trucks with shovels. The further we
move from town, the activities in the river become more infrequent, but there
are still occasional bathers and women doing laundry. Traveling up river there
are sections of road, but mostly we drive through the river bottom.
Even though this is the dry season there have been several
heavy rains lately and repairs to the road in the river bed have been washed
away. When we are almost to our destination we drive into the river to cross it
and get stuck in a deep hidden hole. Barack our driver gets out and locks in
the hubs, but even in four wheel drive we almost do not get out. An elderly
peasant lady instructs us that we must back out. While rocking back and forth
the vehicle stalls and will not restart. Again Barack gets out, this time
popping the hood. Seems we have a bad battery terminal. Barack wiggles it while
I crank and it restarts. He jumps back in; rocks, stalls and we repeat the
starting process. When we finally get backed out we discover that there was a
deep hole hidden beneath the surface of the water where we were trying to
cross. Evidently another vehicle had been stuck there for several days and the
hole had not been filled back in.
We continued on and farther along the rocks became larger
and closer together, becoming more and more difficult. After our last serious
hurdle we realized that Tiden, who was following us, could not make it further.
We were thankful that we had loaded all of the duffle bags in the lead
Rangerover. The part of crew that was with Tiden ended up walking the last
section. Not too far and not too difficult, if you are on foot.
As we come around the corner at the top of the last stretch
of hill, the church stands beautifully silhouetted against the mountains and
clear blue sky. It is unexpected in this remote rugged setting. Every time I
make this journey I am surprised anew with this visual treat.
The church is full, the parishioners singing, waiting for
our arrival so that Mass can begin. We must unload before we move to the
church. We accomplish this quickly and soon join in the celebration. We are
treated as honored guest and Fr. Gracia request that we process in together as
a group and sit on the side of the alter. The singing is uplifting and we are
able to share the joy even though we do not understand the language. After Mass we have many friends to greet. We
share warm greetings for the better part of an hour. People here do not rush
off after church, but linger, sharing friendship and life. There is no mad rush
to be the first one out of the parking lot or the first one to the local
restaurant. I feel so blessed to share in this culture.
Tomorrow will be the first day of the medical mission, so
this afternoon the medical team unpacks and organizes the medications and sets
up their exam rooms. My sole contribution is preparing some solar flood lights
for back up lighting in case there is a problem with the generator. Not an
unheard of possibility. I am not a medical person so my job will be to count
pills in the pharmacy.
We are thankful for Pevwa, our translator. To call him our
translator is totally inadequate. He not only translates, his insights and
wisdom add immensely to whatever situation we face. He is dedicated and
committed to serving the community. This afternoon I was especially thankful
for his help with our meeting with Fr. Gracia.
There is new difficulty with the schools. It seems that it
is a case of unexpected consequences. President
Martellys has promised free education. The money to the schools is not
consistent and does not go to all of the schools. Some of the teachers do not
understand this and are dissatisfied. We have two schools where the teachers
have walked off. Fr. Gracia is rehiring substitutes, but it has caused a
hardship. This is the time of year that the older students are preparing for
their high school admittance exam and cannot afford to be delayed. The
principles at the affected schools are working with the older students so they
don’t fall behind. The younger students are suffering. Fr. Gracia and all here
are doing all they can to remedy the situation. We appreciate the deep
commitment of the local communities to work together to overcome these
stumbling blocks.
