Medical Trip March 2017

While our most recent medical mission trip to Cap Haitien departed on March 24th, it actually started the week before with a suitcase packing party.  With each trip, we have to weigh the pros and cons of taking items versus buying in country.  Can we get the medicines we need in country?  Will the medicines have the same effectiveness if not regulated by the FDA?  To alleviate these concerns, we’ve had medicines from Haiti (usually supplied by companies in India) laboratory tested and we’ve determined which ones should be bought in country and which must be hand-carried there.  The packing party filled six suitcases of medical items.

Some of you may have seen our fundraiser for baggage fees on these suitcases.  American Airlines is the only international airline that flies into Cap Haitien, and unfortunately, will not offer us any type of discount or waiver of baggage fees.  On the morning of March 24th, our team entered the airport fully intending to pay an exorbitant fee for all the medical supplies, but a kind-hearted check-in agent heard our story and waived our baggage fees completely!  The money raised for baggage fees could then be spent where it is needed much, much more – for medications purchased in Haiti.  What an amazing start to the trip!

On Saturday and Sunday, the team of American and Haitian providers and nurses, along with translators, worked at New Hope Hospital.  This was the first Espwa medical team in Haiti since the grand opening of the hospital, so this opened up a whole new way to serve more patients.  Our Espwa Medical Director, Jen Schmidt, relayed a story about a patient who evidenced signs of cholera, a terrible water-borne disease that ravages the digestive system and can lead to severe dehydration and death. The patient had traveled very far just to get to New Hope Hospital, where the team was able to pump him with fluids and antibiotics, before being transferred to the nearest cholera treatment center.  Schmidt said, “New Hope Hospital saved that man’s life.”  In an area that has never had hospital coverage, the aptly named New Hope Hospital is like a beacon of hope.  Over the two day period, the team saw more than 200 patients.

Starting on Monday, the team returned to the site of one of Espwa’s first projects, St. Anthony’s Clinic.  Although separated by only around 20 miles, the clinic was a night-and-day change from New Hope.  Without labs and testing or an extensive pharmacy, the team had to rely on their experience in the field – all members of the team have been on medical trips with Espwa in the past – coupled with Dr. Maklin’s intimate knowledge of common Haitian illnesses.  St. Anthony’s is always one of our stops, so many familiar faces greeted the team members.  All told, another 200 patients were seen on Monday and Tuesday at St. Anthony’s.

After a down day on Wednesday, the team served its final day in the Blue Hills community on Thursday.  The team set up a makeshift clinic at the local school building, similar to that of past trips.  The school’s proprietor, Thomas Dieuseul, had a new baby of his own this time around and the team was happy to see her thriving.  The team had a very full day and was able to see over 200 patients at Blue Hills, while furthering our relationship with the community.

The team safely arrived back home on Friday, March 31st after a week of serving at three locations, seeing over 600 patients, and deepening relationships with both our Haitian medical counterparts and the communities we serve.  We keep coming back, because we’re in it for the long-term.  Special thanks to Dr. Eugene Maklin who fights the battle for positive change in the Cap Haitien medical community each and every day.  Until next time!


Peace & Joy Initiatives

If you’ve followed our story with the Peace & Joy families over the past several years, you’ve hopefully seen the children flourish after placing them back into stable families (as opposed to the rundown orphanage we found them in).  Since then, our long-range vision has been to collaborate with the adult family members and help empower them with stable employment. When we first tried to implement this plan in 2015, we became aware of a savings collective that each family was participating in, called a “sol.” We didn’t want to disrupt the self-developed initiative, so we’ve been in a holding pattern, collecting information about each adult’s gifts, abilities, and resources (called asset-based community development).

Just recently, we’ve felt convicted about helping the families in areas of basic need.  In the aftermath of Hurricane Matthew and the resultant flooding and water-borne diseases, it has become more apparent that the families do not have simple infrastructure like improved plumbing and clean drinking water. There is always a risk of serious health problems under these conditions. If you’re familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, we have been trying to jump right to ‘esteem’ and ‘self-actualization’ assistance, such as empowering through small business, yet we’ve neglected some basic ‘survival’ and ‘safety’ needs that could dramatically improve quality of life almost instantly.

Through our network, we became aware of an opportunity to secure home toilet service for 15 families.  For about the cost of a cup of coffee, a family receives a portable toilet unit that can be placed in the home, as well as regular waste removal service for an entire month.  The organization, called Sustainable Organic Integrated Livelihoods (SOIL), employs Haitians at waste treatment centers and uses the recycled compost to help restore Haiti’s heavily deforested landscape.  This is a game-changer for the families and we fully support the sustainable business model that SOIL uses.

We’re also pursuing a partnership with a clean water well organization.  In Haiti, there are a number of NGOs and other entities that have the capability of installing the wells, but we want to make sure we find the right one. It is important to us that the proper research is done prior to installation, and that the sustainability and maintenance of the well is taken into account. More to come on this as it unfolds.

We haven’t made these decisions in a vacuum.  We’ve kept the families involved to ensure these are desired changes, and we’ve given them a stake in the implementation process. We know that forming these types of dignifying, mutually respectful relationships is the only way to build trust and develop the community for the long-term. Thank you to all who’ve shown an interest in supporting these projects – we’re excited to see this next frontier in the families’ journey out of poverty.


*Featured image courtesy of the SOIL website, www.oursoil.org, showing a family getting trained on how to use the new unit.