Education

Education is the basis of all we do here at HHF. Yes, we provide many services from food to pre and post natal checks to newborn assessments to immunizations to a center for children with kwashiorkor to a laying-in center for high risk OB's to the services of health agents in move than 100 villages served by HHF. But the main leg on which all of it rests is "EDUCATION."

Visitors from the states often give inservices to staff - from the latest techniques in newborn resusitation to the proper technique in doing certain tests, to the latest in diabetis care. Staff hold weekly inservices for other staff in reviewing such things as emergency evacuation of a high risk mother to proper injection sites for immunizations. And, every day, the mothers who come to the Center for evaluation and consultation are first, as a group, given education in the many aspects of pregnancy and newborn care. The women at the laying in center have classes 5 days a week as do the parents of the children with kwash. The future for the people we serve is not just what WE do for them now, but what we have taught them to do for themselves.
Till next time. God bless
Mary Ann

"It was such an inconvenience!"

How often do we say those words - "it was such an inconvenience!" We might have been referring to the fact that the store where we usually buy something was out and we had to go down the street. Or, because of road construction we had to go a few miles out of our way, or,... or...

Now let me talk about what happened today. I went on a prenatal, postnatal, and pediatric immunization "post" to one of the villages in the mountains serviced by HHF. My purpose for going was to familiarize a new translator with how a post is operated and what would be expected of him when he translates for medical visitors in the coming weeks/months.
Before we left, one of the Haitians told me "this road is bad". And if they say it is "bad", believe me, IT IS BAD! So it was. For over 1 hour we rocked, bounced, slid, and did almost anything else one can do in 4 wheel drive. But we made it and the scenery was, as usual, breathtaking.
Many had walked for hours to get there. 3 women had newborns; 20 were pregnant; and young and old came with children needing their immunizations - I would estimate about 100.

Since my job this trip was not as a provider of care, but one of observing and educating, I had time to mentally review what was happening. Here are some of the things I realized:
1. The "waiting room" for the prenatal women is pictured above. Their chairs? The roots of a very old mango tree! And, as time passed and the sun moved in the sky, they would have to find a new spot in which to sit.
2. The room for injections was PACKED with people holding children from 3 weeks to 4 years, awaiting their turn. No electricity, roaming dogs, and noise as only a room full of hot, fussy children can be; and the onlookers (children of school age), blocking the door wanting to "see" what was happening. Since the door was the only source of light for the workers to see what they were doing, there were frequent reminders to "move away from the door!"
3. A grandmother sitting patiently waiting for her grandchild's name to be called. About 18 months of age, she had just fallen asleep when it was her turn. Needless to say, the "shot" woke her up fast! And grandmother left with a squirming, crying child.
4. Not all the immunizations were completed when it started to rain. STOP EVERYTHING, pack up, get in the vehicle, and start down the mountain -- or we will have to spend the night as the road is too dangerous if it is raining.
5. But, don't worry. The health agent is staying - and we left enough vaccine for her to complete the immunizations.
6. About 1/2 hour into the return trip we passed the grandmother with the child I mentioned above. Laying upside down on her head were her shoes - she had better traction walking on the now slippery road in bare feet, especially since she carried not only the sleeping 18 month old, but also some food she had gotten on her trip. I have no idea how long she still had to go before arriving home.
I could go on - but I won't. However, I do know that the next time I feel "inconvenienced", I will try to remember how hard everyday life is for many people in this world, and, instead of feeling sorry for myself, or complaining, I will send a prayer heavenward in thanksgiving for what I have.
Till next time. God bless! Mary Ann
P.S. Remember me telling you about the little kwash boy who had the convulsions? Well, we finally got a trip arranged for him to go to Port Au Prince to see a pediatric specialist. Devan, the nurse in charge of the kwash program was going with the mother and child and we secured a place on a chartered flight for them. The little boy died 11 hours before he was to leave. In a way, the timing was a blessing as the mother's mother and family were here to support her. She had lost her husband in the earthquake and this was her only child. Sometimes it is so hard!

The Happy and the Sad

Today was one of those "mixed" kind of days. Except, here in Haiti, it is often "very happy" or "very, very sad".

First - the happy part. The picture shows a mother with a beautiful pair of twins, boy and girl. Her husband was in Port Au Prince at the time of the earthquake and was killed. She and her other 2 children, ages 2 and 4, were with his mother in the town of Abricot, farther west of here. She was at the center for 2 weeks before delivering. In talking with her, she said the boy looks like the father and the girl like herself. And when I got ready to take the picture she begged me not to wake the boy - because "he yells and yells when he cries!"
New lives beginning!

Remember the last post where I talked about the baby with the high fever? I went to the hospital yesterday to see how he was doing and was told that he died over the weekend. Heartbreaking!

And then this afternoon, one of the children at the Center who has not been doing well, had a series of convulsions. Medication rested his poor body but didn't answer what else is wrong with him. In the U.S. we would get him to a regional center as soon as possible, run a battery of tests, and get to the bottom of the problem. Here, we try to find a pediatrician in the COUNTRY who can help us and then have to figure out a way to get the child and his mother to where ever he needs to go. And it is not just getting him there - they have to have a place to stay and food to eat. The place they need to go is probably Port Au Prince, but, despite the earthquake having been in January - and this is June - there aren't places to stay, and many hospitals haven't been rebuilt. Land line phones are practically non-existent, and cell phone numbers seem to change repeatedly. Often the only way to communicate is through the internet and, like publishing this post, this is the first time I got a connection in days!

So, tonight you have heard from me both the good and the bad. And, you know what, it does affect one! It is at a time like this that we learn what real poverty is all about, including the poverty of our own impotence in situations like this!

Take care. God bless. And do say a prayer for the people of Haiti and the poor throughout the world. Mary Ann

I wish I had brought my camera

These are the times when I wish I had brought my camera:
1.A child who had been in the kwash center in January returns for a check up 2 months after discharge - growing, bright eyed, and almost unrecognizable
2. The worker, stripped to the waist, his body wet and glistening in the heat, all muscle and bone as he swings a sledge hammer demolishing the front wall into the center
3. The parish church festival, when 24 young priests proceed the bishop - most of the men under 40 (would that my home diocese be so blessed to have so many young men)
4. That same festival, when 4 middle-aged women, dance bare foot up the aisle, each with a basket of fruit balanced on their heads (a basket so heavy and full that it takes 2 people to lift it down from their heads when they arrive in front of the bishop)
5. The workers unloading cases of food from the truck that arrived today from Port Au Prince with the materials from the last container. No - a picture wouldn't do. It would have to be a video showing the rhythm as they literally threw the cases from one to the other, not stopping until all 300 plus were neatly piled in the depot. It was over 90 degrees in the depot and the sweat literally ran off their faces. But they laughed and joked as they worked.
6. And then there are the pictures I would love to take - but once you are here awhile, it is hard to "invade another's space" as they do the things that come naturally:

• like the pregnant women lying on floor instead of on the beds, because the tile is the coolest place they can find;
  
• or one sitting on the floor while the other braids her hair;
• or the ambulance trip to Moron where we find a women in the dispensary who has just lost her 3 month fetus and the floor is covered with blood; but the nurse midwife gently cleans the woman before we transport her back to Jeremie where she will have surgery later in the day
  
• or the obviously poor couple who come in with their 7 day old child and the child is thin, dehydrated, jaundiced, too weak to nurse, and has a temperature of 104 and all they had to wrap the child in was a man's old shirt. They try to understand what is happening as we help the mother express breast milk into a medicine cup to pour into the child's mouth, and while we wipe the child with water and alcohol to reduce the fever before he convulses. Then we direct them to the hospital, but not before giving them something with which to wrap the child. (but not too tight because it is so hot!)

Well, that is just an inkling of what has happened the last 2 days! Take care. And don't forget to pray for and help the poor of this world - including those here in Haiti and those in your own back yard. God bless Till next time. Mary Ann

Church and State

Yesterday was a national holiday, the Catholic feast of Corpus Christi, (the Feast of the Body of Christ.)
This is a major feast for the Churches and their parishioners. And the HHF Chapel also celebrated. Tents are put up at peoples homes in the area. They are decorated with flowers of all sorts, the ground is swept, and material is placed on the ground. This had such a personal meaning for people that many had given their bed sheet (possibly their only one) to be used to cover the ground on which the people stood.
This was all prepared the night before and then A number of people stayed in the tent all night long, singing and praying. Our Chapel had 3 tents within about a 5 block radius of HHF.
Sr. Maryann supplied everything from hot bean sauce for the people to eat with their rice, to the tents themselves, candles, flowers, string, and shower curtains (which were decorated). This we did the night before.
Yesterday morning we left for the first tent at 6 AM, accompanied by "Mon Pere" (the priest) and altar servers, and carrying the monstrance, vestments, cross and incense. At each tent we began with the enactment of a Bible story (The Last Supper, The story of Zachery who climbed a tree to see Jesus, and the Story of the 7 wise virgins). Then we had benediction . Following that we processed to the next tent, singing as we went. Father led with the Blessed Sacrament and one of the servers walked backwards the entire way, incensing it.
And near each tent, the road was blocked off. The people had used different color sand and flowers to make pictures right on the road.
After the last tent, we came to our chapel where we ended with Mass. This all lasted until about 9:15 AM.
During much of the rest of the day, people visited with each other under the various tents. It was truly a day of celebration.
It was a full day, and, believe me, I slept good last night!
That is it for tonight.
Take care. God bless. Mary Ann
(I am sorry the pictures are not better, but I hope you can get an idea of the "tents" and the ground sand paintings).

Now and then

Here are the two pictures. The one on the right was taken this past week.
The one below was taken after she was here weeks, so some of the swelling had already gone down and she has received a unit of blood. But she still couldn't sit up by herself. Gelinste is now a happy girl. She and her mother return home to Castionne on Saturday.
Mary Ann