Visit to Gonaives

It was just a quick visit, mostly to introduce Dorothy, our new friend Katie, and Kervens' sponsor to the city of Gonaives. Kervens had been the oldest child at Dorothy's for years but he has been living in Gonaives since shortly after the earthquake and we miss him! We wanted to see him and as a bonus, give Dorothy's new car a chance to drive above 20mph. Here's a little taste of the scenery in the city and on the way there.

Designated driver

I learned how to drive a stick-shift 6 years ago when I was living in Belgium. I never got entirely confident but I drove on the pedicured roads of Brussels. The thought of driving a manual car in Haiti, however, terrified me. Imagine maneuvering the wild pot hole-filled streets, avoiding pedestrians, chickens, pigs, goats, taptaps and moto-taxis while managing a stick-shift. Not to mention, Port-au-Prince is entirely hills, most of which are plugged with nose-to-nose traffic - rather challenging to the rookie manual driver!

Clearly, I am being forced to overcome my fears. I was invited on a trip to Gonaives this weekend, as a sort of guide, since I have been there often and know the route. My friend Dorothy does not love driving, so I knew that I would probably be called upon to drive a portion of the way in her new stick-shift, but I did not realize that actually, I was there as the designated driver.

Seven hours of Haiti roads later, I had taken us all the way to Gonaives and all the way back without incident. Fear gone; I'll drive anywhere now.

Click here to experience our entertaining drive ... I think I may have a career in ATVs ahead of me!

21 Stones

Last week, I worked with a group from the US called 21 Stones led by Pam Peoples and her husband Owen who I met last spring when they were visiting an orphanage in Delmas 75. They began planning with me during the summer to return with water filtration systems to distribute to families I take care of in the ravine and around Delmas 24. I was nervous - anytime a group of 13 foreigners is giving things away there is very high potential for rioting and violence or at the very least, a lot of resentment towards me and my staff for not having enough for absolutely everyone in the city!

During the week prior, I sent Lucson and Wesnal out with 90 little cards. They gave the cards to the families we treat most often and to other families that they know are particularly needy. Then on the first day, we worked inside the clinic at Delmas 24. Everything went like clockwork; in fact, things were so under control that I actually admitted a few additional people to receive the extra filters, something I would normally avoid at all costs for security reasons.






The second day, we trained and distributed in the ravine on Delmas 31. I had tried to rent the large warehouse where we did food distribution last year, but the caretaker wanted an exorbitant amount so we settled on the tarp-covered area in a corner of a tent city. At Delmas 24, we controlled the crowd effortlessly because we were inside a building working behind closed doors. Here though, there was no obvious barrier between the Americans, the people chosen to receive water filters and those who would not receive. I had 4 of my Delmas 24 staff as bodyguards and "bouncers" but I was still a little anxious when we arrived.






Remarkably, the training and distribution went seamlessly. We roped off the area and easily kept spectators outside the rope while we admitted small groups of recipients. The visitors would train 4 or 5 Haitians at a time how to use the hand pump filter system, they would make each person demonstrate the technique and then they would all, American and Haitian alike, drink the filtered water. I have tried since the earthquake to get the people in my neighborhood to drink filtered water but they have refused so I was thrilled to see group after group cheerfully drinking the water! And unlike last spring when over 300 people rioted during the food distribution, only one person got boisterous. Everyone else made gentle reproaches ("Why don't you have one for me?" "Can't the Americans give us food too?" "You should bring more next time, Kez!") or merely watched intently.



In addition to my usual translators, Sendhie and Josilien, three of my youth group kids joined us as translators. Ruth, Junior and Anthony have been at youth group longer than I have and they are part of what we call "the core", a sub group of about 20 teens that is sincerely serious about growing in their faith. They did a great job translating for us. I wish they didn't have to go to school so I could use them more often.




What could have been a scary and overwhelming few days instead was a very effective and helpful experience. I have already heard from several families that they are using the pumps regularly, and we are all looking forward to 21 Stones' next visit to Haiti.

A special day for Johnny J

Monday started quite normally for Johnny J: an onslaught of medications (AIDS meds, vitamins etc)...


...some breakfast...


...adjusting his pants and shirt to fit his skinny arms and legs...


...nannies working on the finishing touches...


...a little walk with Cha-Cha and Kez...


...and the seemingly normal morning ended very unnormally like this!


It was Johnny's first day at school!

He wasn't the only one of Dorothy's kids to go. Mich, Rosa, and Claudine all had their first days of school ever on Monday too. Cha-Cha started last year at an English-speaking school run by our friend and neighbor, Dottie, called TLC Barefoot School (where my roommate Dannae used to teach), so he has already completed a year of school and has been back in class since August. All the Haitian schools open this week or next. With the 3 months of school lost after the earthquake, schools ran through most of the summer, so the government called for a later school opening date to allow time for national exams durin the vacation.




I got to meet Johnny's teacher and explain to her a little about his living situation and about his hearing and speech problems due to his recurrent ear infections. I did not tell her that he is HIV positive; there is far too much stigma attached to that diagnosis. Hopefully she will be patient with him and hopefully he won't be too shy to speak. All in all, he was a real trooper and didn't even whimper when I said good-bye and walked out. I am so proud of my little boy!

Where Keziah has been, Part 5: Everything else

And then there's everything else.

Visits from medical visa patients, both those who have been to the US and returned to Haiti and those who are waiting to go.


Visits from families who need school sponsorships for their children.


Arrangements to get more advanced care for Bergine, the poor 20 year old with that horrid skin condition in the ravine. He is currently at Dr Joey's hospital on Delmas 33 but I am going to try to move him to the Miami University Hospital team that has taken over a hospital off Route de l'Aeroport.


Last week, we finally made a little breakthrough with the medical visas we've been waiting for. Sebastien, a little boy with hypospadius (a penile problem), got his passport so we have scrambled to get his final documents and will file for his visa next week. Vanessa, a 15 year old with severe heart condition, got her final paperwork from the US, so I took her and her father into the Embassy this week and got her visa. She will fly out on Saturday and have surgery on Monday.



Meanwhile, I got called on to substitute teach part-time for a friend of mine at Quisqueya Christian School. I would get up early, see patients, do visa paperwork, arrange things for my houseguests, and then hurry to school. Teach for a few hours, meet with students one-on-one for a few hours, and then go home or to clinic to work some more. As always, it's very odd to leave my world of dirt poor needy people and surround myself by the wealthy students at QCS, but I am so grateful for the opportunity. I know many of the upper classmen from the substitute teaching I did in 2008, but nearly all of them evacuated after the earthquake, so I haven't seen or spoken to them in months. It was a pleasure to be with them again and to hear their stories.



And of course, the usual medical care, at clinic and at my Shoebox where neighbors and workmen show up with back pain, heartburn, infections, wounds that need cleaning, and high blood pressure. It's a funny cycle - when I get busy, I have less time at home so when I am at home my neighbors crowd me complaining that they never see me, which just makes me busier thereby making it even harder for me to get up to the tent city to see them. It tires me, but I love having that relationship with them and being able to serve my community in some way.

Where Keziah has been, Part 4: Ravine

It sounds odd to call a ravine full of trash beautiful but some days, I am truly struck by a strange beauty there. It lives mostly in the good-hearted people but also in the water, the tents, the sunset, even the trash.






I have read reports that less than 2% of Port-au-Prince has been rebuilt since the earthquake. Remarkably, houses have been reconstructed in the ravine! Every week, I see men laying blocks and mixing concrete, building not only homes but also walls along the narrow ravine walkway.



In April 2009, one of the ravine parents stopped me because his infant daughter's leg was swollen, hot and stiff with infection. It was serious enough that I sent them straight to the hospital. Over the following months, I checked on that baby regularly as the infection went away but the affected knee stayed stiff and immobile. We sent the child for x-rays, had her seen by several American doctors, worked on physical therapy with the family, but saw no real improvement. I guessed that she would never walk properly on the leg. The last time I saw her was in the fall of 2009 - I remember we prayed for the knee that day - and then I didn't see them again until this past week.

My patient and her parents in 2009

We were walking down through part of the ravine neighborhood when I heard a voice yelling my name at the top of his lungs. It was the baby's dad and he made me wait while he ran around the corner to his little shack and came back with the little girl. She was walking perfectly.

My patient and her dad September 2010