Back in Haiti again!  Have been here 6 days now and this is the first chance I have had to write.  Spent all day Monday traveling, first by air then by car from Port au Prince to Les Cayes.  The solar panels I brought down for the compost house would not have made it with me on the small plane and I needed to make two stops on the way.  One at an orphanage in Grand Goave that has asked for help with its water supply, “Servants of All”, and the second stop was to find a girl who was approved for Gift of Life heart surgery last year.  Her mom had tried once to get her visa, was denied because she did not have the right documents, but apparently is so poor and a little bit slow or afraid, was not able to follow up properly to put together what they needed.  We tried to contact them numerous times with no success, although a family friend at Mt. Sinai said they were still hoping to get her here for surgery.  I came armed with new letters from the hospital and the doctors office and from GOL to see what I could do.  My driver, Jean Garry, was very helpful in finding her place.  We arrived in Petit Goave in the dark, her street and house was supposed to be somewhere behind the Catholic Church.  We wove our way through numerous streets blocked with mounds of dirt and gravel, others washed out.  No street signs anywhere.  Jean Garry asked at least a dozen people for directions and when we got close we started asking if anyone knew her.  The last guy we stopped responded with, “are you here for her chart?” (somehow I knew that’s what he said, even though my Creole is almost non-existent!)  At first Jean Garry said no, he thought the man misunderstood what he asked, so I interrupted him and told him, “wait, if he thinks we are here for her chart, he must know of her—and if she has a new chart, maybe we are here for her chart!”  Turns out, this man not only knew her, but is the one who has been helping her get examined and put her chart together!  She lives just up the street on the corner!    The house, if you can call it that, just looks like some sheet metal stood up against a wall with people living behind it.  According to her records, her father is deceased, don’t know why yet.  We find the girl and her mom just kinda hanging out there with some other people and begin trying to ascertain if it really is her and if they are still interested and able to come to the US for life saving heart surgery.  It seems like they are.  The neighbor friend, Joseph, is most helpful, apparently mom, Paulonne, is a little slow or just so unfamiliar with what to do, she really needs help.  Schmide, (pronounced Schmeed) is quiet and a bit shy, but as I find out later, is not so shy that she cant ask for what she wants!  I promise to see what can be done to set up an appointment at the Embassy for Thursday or Friday.  Jean Garry agrees to call Joseph to let him know when to be in Port au Prince.
The road to Les Cayes has not improved much in the 3 or 4 years since I last rode on it!  It takes us a total of 5 ½ hours to go 120 miles!  Between traffic and the many sections of road that are dirt, full of potholes, or almost washed out completely, it is a mixture of driving as fast as possible when the road is good, to crawling over and around the many obstacles!  Jean Garry has not yet been to the “farm” so once we get into Cayes, I direct him thru the city to the exit from the road, down our mile long gravel, rutted, road/driveway!  Dan welcomes us, and heats up some rice and beans for these two tired and hungry travelers, its late, so everyone else is in bed.  Jean Garry eats, and then turns around to drive back home, which is not quite as far as Port au Prince.

Tuesday brings what has now become the usual smattering of frustrations and joys.  The grey water pump in the kids neighbor hood is not working again, I assume it is clogged with debris but also discover that someone has removed the steel cover we had bolted to the concrete wall, protecting the connection (and anyone who might touch it), the outlet is hanging out of its box, and the connections on it look dark from shorting out when it rains and gets wet.  Later I have Dan call Maurice, who is supposed to be doing electrical work, to come, remove the pump, clean it, repair the outlet etc.  We did that whole routine a few months ago, and I am pretty sure he can handle it on his own this time.  I am most interested right now on trying out the new “Feri pump”, a compressed air power water pump.  Kevin Scobey (Scoobey for short) and I pull out the gas powered air compressor, dig thru our supplies for fittings we will need, and set out finding enough of the right size pipe—that is anything but an easy task, takes about 2 hours of asking a dozen people for the current location of various tools, keys to get to the tools,  etc.  finally have enough materials put together to try out this pump, but then the question is where?  This kind of pump works best in a deeper well, it can be used in shallow applications but you need to have a special timer hooked up to your compressor as well.  We first try it in the one pond they are using a trash pump in for irrigation, not deep enough, the Feri pump sends large sprays of water 50 feet into the air, but its not a steady stream like we want.  We then go in search of a deeper well, there are several hand dug wells around the fields and property, but we cant find anything deeper than about 20 feet.  We calculate we need at least 50 or 60 feet to make this work properly—I told the company in Australia that makes the pump we would be using it at 70 – 100 feet and they said this should work well at that depth.  I am planning on using it at the north neighborhood in conjunction with a series of solar panels, wind turbine, composting toilets, 12 volt lighting and fans—hopefully all independent of the power grid.
By now its getting late, so we decide to try it in the morning at the kids neighborhood where we know we have a well that is 60 feet deep.  We will just have to pull the electric pump out, insert this one, and if it works well, we may install it there permently.  The pump  that’s there now is not pumping enough water to fill the 500 gallon tank that’s there, (there were two tanks, but you may recall one was hit by lightening a few weeks after we installed it).    We take some time to look at the existing well pump near the quad, it runs almost constantly, is something of a large contraption, originally designed to run on pedal power, solar, or battery, or converted city/generator power.  It has been repaired and modified numerous times and currently something is leaking badly on it again.  Its one of the reasons I am going to insist that we install a back up well and pump as soon as possible- when this pump quits for good, we will be struggling until we get something else in place.  I learn some other difficult news in discussing this pump with Marc, some time ago, part of the pump was pulled out of the well for repairs and apparently the well casing collapsed about 30 feet down.  It had been drilled to 120 feet and had fairly good water, but now we are only drawing from 30 feet, mostly ground water, and there is no way I can use the Feri pump in this location if we had to.
Anyway, the joys for the day were seeing the kids again.  Michael, that used to carry my back pack is now really big and likes to help me when he is not in school, Scoobey has a group of 8 or 10 boys that he has been working with in the metal shop, cutting, welding, etc.  they made a forge to heat metal from scratch that uses a bicycle pedal to run it, they are making an elaborate gate for the front entrance, and soon they will begin to work on making the large clean out doors for the compost house.  That was another joy,  To see the progress of the compost house that I designed and drew was pretty cool.  Some of the construction details are not quite as we discussed in October, but they are putting a fair amount of Portland cement in the concrete mix and they are filling the lower walls solid, so I am fairly confident it will be a good sturdy structure for its purpose.  First floor is almost finished and the second floor is going up!  The exhaust pipe size is too small, and they are missing one, I discuss it with Jr., not sure he fully understands, but I know we can adjust that later.
Another plus to the day is the visit by a representative from the Farmer to Farmer program, a Dr. Darma something.  He is doing a very thorough job examining all the plants and planting practices and later has several serious talks with all the guys involved in the farming and nursery planning and implementation.   Number one issue is irrigation.  “There is no point in calling this a farm if you don’t have irrigation” he said.  The guys are doing some irrigation but its sporadic at best.  One of the items on my list of things to do is to come up with a viable project that we can apply for a matching grant—obviously it has to be irrigation, combined with drilling more wells and buying more pumps.  I am jumping ahead for a moment, on Saturday afternoon, after the water summit was complete, John Johnson, myself and Dominique (a Haitian women who we met at the conference who may be able to help us with clearing containers thru customs) had John Garry drive us to the Double Harvest Farm to take a look at their practices.  WOW, what a huge project and its easy to see why they are the main supplier of produce for all of the Port au Prince area.  They use a lot of hydroponics for their seedings and they use an incredible huge drip irrigation system for all of their farming.  The produce that we saw growing, they have about 100 acres of it, all look large and healthy.  They have a 300 foot deep well and huge water pumps, a 250,000 gallon back up water tank/pool, all kinds of equipment, buildings, etc.  The manager of the place told us in the few minutes we spoke, “one of the most important things when working in Haiti, is to have a back up for everything”.  I had been discussing that same thing with Darma concerning our own well pumps.  I am not sure that we can put in a complete drip irrigation system at this time, but it definitely is the best way to be growing plants in Haiti.   If anyone knows how to get a very large grant to do that sort of system, it would be the way to go, but until then, we will most likely work with a canal and flood system that Darma and I discussed and he thinks should work just fine for now.
Darma is supposed to be putting together a list of his suggestions and sending me and Dan a copy so we can try to follow up on them.
Needless to say, the amount of work that needs to be done to really make things work well, is incredible.  Yet, I am convinced that it can be done if we can get and keep enough committed people and funding put together.  Darma is also convinced that there is no reason why we cannot feed our own kids all the produce they need from our own land as well as have a sizeable, steady cash crop that would pay for the operation of the farm.  We should not be growing corn at all!  It is not nutritious, is hard on the soil, is not worth anything in the market, and wastes valuable cash crop space.
He also believes that another key initial ingredient that needs work is the field preparation.  None of the guys in charge of the farm management know how to drive the tractor!  None of them really knows how the field should be prepared and the old man that is currently paid to drive the tractor, only knows how to use the triple plow, which should only be used once or so per year on each field.  The disc harrow should be used almost constantly, but by the looks of it and the fields, it has only been used on a few occasions.  We also do not have a furrow making setup—something else to look into when I get home.  Since I do have some experience farming, albeit with horse drawn equipment,(Thank-you Alvin) and I also know how to run the various aspects of the tractor, I volunteer to spend some time on Wed.  teaching these guys some of this stuff.  – Unfortunately, Wed. starts off with torrential rains and flooding, so all tractor plans are post poned.
Wed.= tons of rain and flooding overnight into the morning, when it breaks a little, Kevin and I decide to try to air driven pump in the well in the kids neighborhood.  We get down there, all set up, try to pull out the existing pump—-and its stuck!  I mean really stuck!  Sand and sediment must have settled in on top of it, hopefully kids have not thrown junk down there, although that thought crosses my mind, but we cannot force it too much, it may break, and then we would have no water for the wash house.  For some reason we are not meant to try this pump just yet.  From what we did see of it pushing water, once we get the pressure balance right, it will produce a lot more water with less energy than any of the conventional electric pumps we are using.  I need to send a note to the guy in Australia that I spoke with a few times to see if he has any other ideas at this time.  We cannot wait to get the well drilling rig out of customs and start drilling real wells and getting pure water!!  I really hope this new contact with Dominique will help and we will be drilling by mid January.  John Johnson is pretty sure his retired well driller friend will come down then for a month to teach a group of our older guys how to run it.
Ok, on to the next thing, I quess it’s a good thing there is no end to the projects that need to be worked on, if one thing hits dead end, there is always something else to do!  Kevin and I decide to take a look at the rotator/rototiller attachment for the tractor.  Bertinee told us the one time Soluk had it hooked up it was smoking, so they haven’t used it since and none of them were sure what to do with it anyway.  We get it all hooked up, make some adjustments to the depth of it and such, and then try tilling in several areas with no problem and no smoking!  Not sure what they were doing wrong but am pretty sure they didn’t have it hooked up correctly.  I spend some time with Kevin at least explaining the farm uses and techniques for each of the attachments, especially the disc harrow (thank-you Alvin) so that when the ground is less soaked, he can work with the farm guys and at least get them started.  That is making a long story short of course,  just wish I could be around more to see the farming and field prep thru.
Next, Maurice informs me that the main switch on the generator burned up yesterday and we cannot use it until we install another one.  He has found a used one in town, the connections are not quite the right size and he is not sure how to mount it or hook it up.  We spend a few hours mounting it, and adapting it to fit our needs but eventually we get it up and running.  Hopefully it will last a while!

We finish out the day by going to the Rotary meeting to talk to them about applying for another grant.   They seem positive enough, but apparently their district has adopted a new policy that all grants have to be submitted in writing, fully filled out to them and to their district rep. To be approved by both before signing.  This will definitely slow things down, for some reasons, Haitians seem to love paper work, just for the sake of paper work!  I talk to Jack on line later and we decide to proceed with the application anyway asap and keep our fingers crossed.
Thursday—have to head to Port au Prince for the water summit around 12.   Nick, a young guy that volunteered at Espwa for a while now runs the Norwich Mission house in Petionville. I hear the place is nice, not sure what the guesthouse John Johnson has found is like, so I plan on checking out Nicks place and possibly staying there for my three nights in Port au Prince area.  Later, when JohnGarry picks me up, I make contact with John, stop at his quest house, a Methodist place, not too crazy about the neighborhood, so on to Nicks place.  Nick is glad to see me, the place is very nice, up on a hill, a good wall around the property, reasonable rates, so I decide to stay there.  I have some time to kill before going out to dinner with Nick and some others from there, it’s the first time I feel like I can and probably should relax.  They have a very friendly playful German shepherd, Tarma.  Have a great time with her in between catching up on email and working on this journal!  Two young guests arrive who are businessmen from Fla. Who have started a company using older donated sails from sailboats, that initially they were giving to poor fisherman to help them with their trade.  Now they get so many sails donated, they decided they can make some really great handbags from these and sell them in the US and beyond, donating part of the proceeds back to areas that need it.  They are here to see who could manage things here and have the bags made by local people here—definitely entrepreneurial types.  They also say they would like to make a donation to Theos work, I give them our info—we shall see!

Friday, Jean Gary picks me up around 8, too early really, but he cant seem to understand that the appointment is at 11, he has already told Joseph and Schmide to be there by 830, so I hope they may let us in early to the US consulate.  We meet them in front of the consulate, not far from the Presidents palace.  Have to go around the back of the building to “gate 3”, its really just a door!  There are already about 100 people back there waiting on line to get an appointment.  I check with the guard at the door, sure enough we are on the list for 11 and the guard says we cannot go sooner!  By now Jean Gary has left to go to the airport to pick someone up, so we head out on a brief tour of the central square and some photos by the palace.  We see a playground in a park, I can tell Schmide wants to check it out, but she is too shy to ask, or maybe its that she is all dressed up for this occasion and doesn’t want to get her dress dirty!  We sit in the shade nearby as I see her repeatedly glancing towards the playground, I finally say, come on, lets check it out!  She has fun climbing around, but obviously doesn’t have much muscle to climb across the monkey bars.  Back by her mom, a woman selling Piti, triangles of bread, stops by us, Schmide tells the woman she will take one, she only has 5 gourdes that I had just given her after a magic trick and it costs 10 gourdes, about 30 cents.  Immediately she says no thanks and the woman starts to leave, but of course I stop her and offer the extra—Schmide is very happy and shares with her mom.
We get back to the embassy in time for our appointment only to wait with the crowd, must be 200 now, for our name to be called.  Apparently people kinda struggle to get near the front of the crowd to have their Ids chosen to be put on a list who will later be called in for interviews.  Not everyone is chosen and around 1130 I see the guard tell the crowd, that’s it for today, they are not taking anyone else.  We finally get called in around 1230!  After several meetings with 2 different agents there, we receive her visa approval about 230!  Yeah!!  We go look for Jean Gary who is now waiting out in front, tell him the good news, explain to them they have to pick up their passports and visa next week.  Mom and Shmide give me hugs and kisses along with Joseph who offers heartfelt thanks, it feels good to have done this, all the waiting was worth it.
Now I can go to the water summit meeting!  The summit meeting at the Montana hotel, the best Hotel in Port au Prince, is well attended, maybe 300 people from Rotary groups, church groups, government reps, NGO’s etc. , both Haitian and non-Haitian.   A goal is set to provide pure drinking water to the entire country in the next 10 years. It would be more accurate to say that the goal is provide a way for everyone to purify their drinking water  thru a system of building, donating and /or selling water purifiers to every school first and then every home.  Many people will still be getting their water from rivers, ponds, shallow wells of polluted ground water, and sometimes even puddles!  We hope to be able to supply pure water from our deep wells once we have them in place.  The information is helpful to us, but we may be more helpful to those in Southern Haiti at least, if we soon have the capability to drill deeper, more pure wells for others around us.  Then the only concern will be that people transport and store the water in clean containers.
As I mentioned earlier, after the conference was over on sat. John, Dominique and I go check out Double Harvest.  On the way back Dominique says she needs to get back to take her daughters and some friends to an outdoor concert in Port Au Prince in the large public area near the palace.  I had heard about it, some of the people at Norwich house were hoping to go.  The crowds are predicted to be huge, the artists are two very popular rap guys, Akon and Jean Wyclef.  Last time, 10 years ago, when a concert like this was held, it turned into a huge riot, Wyclef had to stop after 20 minutes, many people got hurt and it was a mess.  So this is going to be a huge thing, that I was planning on staying away from!  Dominigue wants to know if I would like to go, apparently she has some sort of VIP passes so they won’t be in the midst of the crazy crowd. I have heard so much about this thing at this point, I say, “what the heck, might as well check it out!”.  We stop for a quick dinner, leave John Johnson with Jean Garry, and head to pick up her daughters and friends who are hanging out at the Montana.  Turns out her VIP passes are pretty good!  Once we get down town, park by a nearby friends house, work our way thru the huge crowds up towards the stage area, we push thru the barricades, the police let us thru, and then go up to the balcony of a hotel that the band has reserved, about 75 yards from the stage!  Akon body guard/manager greets us up there and invites us to help ourselves to food and drinks,  before long her daughters want to get closer and head, with their passes, to the VIP stage, only about 25 yards from the main stage!  I guess we have no choice but to follow, so back down into even more of a crowd, and then up on the stage!  The concert in largely sponsored by Voila, one of the two cell phone companies here.  Dominique greets the owner or chief manager of the phone company on the stage, we stand next to him! A little while later, a woman and her daughter, very well dressed, stand next to me on the other side, Dominique says Hello, and tells me it is the Presidents woman!   The concert is awesome, Akon and Wyclef are really good, (and I never liked rap!) but they have a really good message for the crowd.  They compliment the crowd on the progress the country has made and encourage them to keep it up!  Its up to them to change this country and to make it all they know it can be!  The crowd seems to love the whole experience and message, at one point Akon repeatedly crowd surfs while singing, has to stop occasionally to pull his pants up that the crowds keep pulling at!  The concert goes from about 730 to well past 1130!  We leave just before the end to avoid the mob exit!  At home, Jack sends me a news report that says more than 100,000 people were there!   Something of an historic event, I would say!  Really cool, and I am really mad I did not bring my camera to it!

Well I think that’s it for now,  I went to bed tired, got to the airport and back home with no problems, even though it was nasty snowy, icy weather at home.  The cold felt good, and now its back to try and make all the great plans and ideas come to fruition!  Once again I appreciate all the support I receive to make this happen and keep up the work at Espwa.  We are truly giving Hope to so many who desperately need it!  Until next time, Ouvwa…   Pastor Andy

DIARY OF A JOURNEY March, 2001 and October, 2001

This is the diary of my first trip to Haiti.
It all started on Thursday March 15. I went to Rotary as usual for breakfast at 7:30. I asked old friends Jack Reynolds and Jeff Wells, “what’s new?” They respond, “we are going to Haiti next week, want to come along?” I think for a minute and respond with something like, “well, yea, maybe.”. Of course they think I am not serious but after some questions, like “what are we going to do there?” and “what would I need to do to go with you?” and “If we can work out all the details, do you really want me to go?”, they make it clear they would like me to go. There is a lot to do in one week, I would need to get some immunizations, need to reserve a ticket on the same plane, I need to have my passport renewed.
Everything gets worked out except the passport. Through a mixup of forms and a mis-delivered package, I am all packed and on my to the airport with Jay Fowler and Jeff Wells and I have no passport! Jack Reynolds has left a day before us and we will be meeting him in Port Au Prince.
We are going to Haiti to help Jack and his brother-in-law, Father Marc with some work that needs to be done on an orphanage Fr. Marc runs. Father Marc started an orphanage two and a half years ago. He had been in the navy for a few years as a chaplain and that is when he was first introduced to the people of Haiti. I am sure I am oversimplifying, but from the way I understand it, Marc felt a great need in Haiti, believed he could make a difference there, believed God was calling him to do something in the Les Cayes area, and now three years later, there is an orphanage for 115 boys in Les Cayes, Haiti, called Kay Espwa (House of Hope). Kay Espwa now works under the auspices of “Theos Work” (Theos is Greek for God), it’s a not for profit 501c3 corporation that’s been set up to help raise the necessary funds to keep the orphanage running. I think that is enough background to begin to get into our experience.
I am not sure why I wrote this journal, I don’t usually keep notes on much of anything. For some reason, after the first day of this trip, I decided (or maybe God convinced me it was a good idea), to begin keeping a diary of each days events. A lot can happen in a day, and usually does on a trip like this, and I didn’t want to forget important things. I first wrote this in short note form, but have since begun to tell the story more completely. I hope you enjoy it. Let me back up to the first entry in my diary.
“Thursday 3/22/01 – 6:30 AM - Arrived Jay’s office.
The passport saga isn’t over yet. I’ve decided to leave it in God’s hands. If he wants me to go, passport will be at the airport, if not…,
We have to make an extra trip over to the Delta Dash terminal where the Passport Express company says my passport will be waiting. Yes! I’m going! The passort is actually there, even the people working at the desk there seem surprised when I insist it is supposed to be there and they insist it won’t be unloaded for an hour. They finally check the back desk, and miracle of miracles, its there! Yes! I’m going!
We head back to the American departures terminal. The Terminal is packed. Our gate area is filled with black Haitian people except for us and three Mormon missionaries. I change our seats so that we are together, when we get on the plane we meet “Helen”. She is 62yrs. old! She comes right over to us once we sit down, I wonder if we stand out or something. Apparently She likes Jay! She stands and talks with him and us for over 30 minutes even though she has other work to do. Apparently she is not assigned to our section but she makes sure that we get free drinks for the flight!
Next to me is a Haitian man, he owns a pharmaceutical company and teaches chemistry in a provincial school. Another stewardess gives me 6 decks of cards for the orphan kids.

1. We arrive late morning the luggage, or should I say supplies for the orphanage, take forever to come out. We meet Fr. Marc, then we work our way through a huge throng of beggars. It is quite an experience, I meet the fastest one legged man I’ve ever seen, he chases us as we roll our carts to the truck, and then he asks for one dollar. Dollar seem to be very popular here, many people ask for one dollar!
2. We learn the Isuzu pick-up broke down the day before and won’t be repaired for some time. Two days before, the rack body Chevrolet got caught in demonstration traffic. Bertinee was dragged from the truck, nearly choked to death, and rocks were thrown at and break windshield, Clemont takes off.
3. We end up taking big truck everywhere—it’s a good thing, there’s better view, more breeze and we have tons of luggage and supplies for Kay Espwa.

1. Port Au Prince is dirty, congested, chaotic, and poor. Only the military and government roads seem to be any good, yet there is a new public park being built in center of city.
2. We are going to be staying at the Prince Hotel for tonight, we cannot make it to Les Cayes before dark, and we want to look at potential new property for a new orphanage in the morning. The hotel is very nice, $60. per single with AC. For dinner we have chicken salad sandwichs w/onions. Onions and I don’t get along too well, so I take a couple of Rolaids right away. We all talk with Marc about his dreams, his plans, and grimly enough, his possible Death? You see, Marc wants to build a new orphanage in the country somewhere so that he can get the kids out of the city and teach them a whole new way of life. He would also like to be able to house somewhere between 500 and 1000 kids in a family like setting. With something like that in mind, we feel we need to discuss the big picture and lay our all possible scenarios, foundation organization, fund raising, bylaws, and what would happen in the event of Fr. Marc’s untimely demise. We try not to dwell on it too long, and we all think its somewhat comical, even if very necessary discussion.
3. Friday 3/23/01 – 5:30AM I rise on time and cannot believe that its morning already. We leave at 6AM to see the property at Mami’s school- NE of Port Au Prince about one hour. We are amazed at the kids and adults bathing and washing in irrigation ditches alongside road. The water looks clear but animals are also using the water for drinking and ???

-7:30 AM– we see the property, visit the school kids who are all in uniform, they all look beautiful, there are 150 – 200 kids here already yet more kids keep coming. We see more naked kids, in the road nearby. This is a nice area, its open and spread out all around us, there are 2.5 acres which Mami wants to give to Marc for dorms etc. Marc’s current orphanage (115 kids) is on about ¼ acre in the middle of a city.
-We meet Mami, she is a very nice mulatto woman, she is strong, proud, a hard looking person. We tour the school, we hear Lenten songs being sung by the children in the large chapel which Mami had built on the property, they also sing a welcome song for us. About 300 enrolled in her school. About ½ of the classrooms are outdoors, open air style. We meet Playboy’s Suzie Kramacher, who has stopped by to see what Mami is doing here and possibly increase her support. We have café’ and bread with Suzie, she is funding school’s lunch program and is building on second story in October. If Marc accepts the property offer, Mami wants him to run the school and chapel, they even have a pool, which is now empty.
We leave around 9:30 AM (its supposed to be 4-5 hours to Les Cayes), about ½ way to Les Cayes, we come upon a “manifestation”, we would call it a road block and a demonstration. It looks like a group of 40 – 50 Haitian young men, they have an old wrecked car pulled out across the road and some tires burning, blocking the main road. “Luckily”, there is a bypass road we can take. The Detour is very rough, we travel through a very poor area, and I wonder why the houses are put up so close to the road, they must get full of dirt and mud. It seems very congested with shacks and shanties one on top of the other. We are often driving along a waterway, obviously very polluted, yet we wave up and down hundreds of times to happy and surprised kids and adults. They don’t see many “Blancs” come this way. (could it be the reason for the road block?)
There are so many potholes and rough areas, that we drive with everyone except the driver, standing up most of the time, unless the road has a good stretch. I am feeling quite hot, I have put sunblock on twice already. We finally stop for lunch around 2 at the halfway point, it is a sort of gas station rest area, market place where it seems almost everyone stops. Only Fr. Marc and I take a “pee break”. Everyone else is too dehydrated to have to go, but we don’t know that yet. We make use of the rather public open air outhouse (walls on three sides, only about 4 feet high— which drains directly into the street and of course is standing in the middle of the street!) everybody can watch and joke, Photos anyone? Jack says, “no way” will he go here!
Clemont and Bertinee get lunch for us with Jack’s money, we share fried planten, with coleslaw(spicy), goat, and potato like roots of some kind. Not Bad, I am really hungry. Cokes and V-8 splashes for everyone.
Oh yeah, earlier on detour, a bus got stuck on a bridge, I mean literally stuck on the edge of the bridge, there was not enough ground clearance to get over the washed out edge of the bridge. Traffic stopped dead, while we got out and stretched for 20 minutes, Fr. Marc finds another orphan boy! Apparently his mother had gotten a new man some time ago, he did not like this boy from her previous man, so out he goes. His name is Papoosh, he neither reads or writes, nor knows how old he is, he knows some numbers, he’s very quiet. Kate, who is riding with us, (another friend of Father Marc, from California who is riding with us) kind of adopts him, he also has lunch with us.
Finally the road clears of traffic as we go up and down many mountains on much smoother roads. We keep trying to estimate the wind speed by how much our hair gets plastered back (hard to do when Jay has no hair!) It is a beautiful area, resort quality, water even looks clean.
Its after 4:30 when we finally arrive at Les Cayes, it is a nicer city, it appears more organized, and somewhat cleaner looking (as long as you don’t look in the drainage ditches that line all the roads.)
The orphanage is great, the kids are great, and they all want to know our names, we shake hands with everyone, hang around for a while and try to get an idea of the layout of things. I show them a few simple tricks, which they think are very cool. They try to copy them, its very funny to walk around and see many trying to do the tricks and not getting them right.
We drive 10 minutes to the Infirmary where we will be sleeping, to unload all the supplies we brought. We meet the old priests, Jeff tries to get on their good side by inviting them to an indoor soccer game later, (in their building) They are not too amused.
We wash up briefly, then sit with Jay and Jeff, talking theology, Jay says what if there is other life in the universe, can’t God and Jesus’ plan work for them also? Jeff finally comes around some, but is not convinced, Jeff is sure there is no possibility of other life. Jack finishes his shower and we all discuss more theology and then we pray together. Its time to go back to the orphanage….
We play some more with the kids, I show them a few rope tricks, they love the “broken finger trick” and the connected fingers trick. They all practice for the next few days.
Dinner is delicious, eggs? With onions and chicken if I remember, fries, and great bread. We go over to the chapel for a quick few welcome songs. Kids sing great, clap, dance, and play the bongo drums, Raymon is great with the kids, he seems very much in charge.
Afterwards I meet Franckie, he’s very sickly, something seems to be wrong with his spine, his breathing, he’s lethargic, seems to have a lot of pain when he moves, his head is cocked to one side and back most of the time. No one seems to know what to do??? I feel lumps in his neck-the left side larger than the right, a little larger than a lima bean and harder.
Kids, kids everywhere, all wanting to touch us, hold hands, and see more tricks. Its now time to go back to the infirmary, we replace the door lock on the supply closet that the old priests let Fr. Marc use, my Swiss army knife saves the day again! Jack and Jay’s ceiling fans are not working, I fixed Jacks with just the touch of that magic knife, Jays needs spare parts. (we will “acquire” those tomorrow)
The rum is good, it is still very hot, we put a bunch of water bottles in the freezer that is there, hoping the electric will stay on long enough to make a difference. I shower, brush, take my Pepto Bismol, (to prevent travelers’ diarrhea), feel over heated still and somewhat wobbly—sea legs from standing in the truck 8+ hours, Thanks to God for a great day—I pray everyone at home is well.

3/24/01 9:27Pm
Saturday, woke up to roosters, turkeys and ?? 4-5 AM, I didn’t hear my watch alarm, got up at 6:15, showered under a thin stream water, warm at least, there’s no mosquitoes, which seems like a sign from above, and I share fruit and snacks with whoever else is hungry from my “snack pack”.
7AM Our truck arrives, we head back to Kay Espwa, (Hope House). At 7:30 AM the roads are already busy with people working, the kids at the orphanage are lined up like soldiers in three long rows facing forward. They all have on different t-shirts, shorts, pajamas, and no shoes. The smallest one, 3 year old Papou, leads part of the morning excercises and singing. (“and a child shall lead them”). There are some gymnastics, and even one boy (Gabriel) who seems somewhat retarded, takes a turn leading the group. Everyone laughs when he imitates Raymon, they clap and cheer in support when he is finished. Already we are getting a sense of all that Father Marc has done with these boys. There is not only a sense of order but also respect and caring for one another that can only be something that Marc has taught them.
8AM The kids have a breakfast of spaghetti, rolls and jelly or cereal for us.

At 9AM we head out for a tour of an especially poor area of town by the river, we meet some of the relatives of some of the boys, aunts, cousins, and such, some of the boys are from this area. We see Teneece’s thatched hut. His family still lives there, but they had more people than they could feed so they kicked Teneece out. He really doesn’t want to be in the picture we take there. We are literally swarmed with local kids as we walk along. A huge crowd follows us wherever we go. We cross the river again on tires placed as stepping stones and wonder at all the women and girls washing clothes, bathing, and then drying them on the gravelly dirt. We get back on the truck to the orphanage, played Frisbee in the courtyard with a bunch of the boys, did more rope tricks, they especially loved the torn napkin trick. The boys want to know from Fr. Marc if I am a voodoo priest of some sort.
Jack and Mark are writing letters for a children’s support organization (CFCA)that may help support some of the orphan boys.
Its lunch time…goat? with pasta and cheese, we all drink, drink, drink, gotta keep from getting dehydrated.
1 PM – To the Beach! What a trip on the truck!! You’ve heard of sardines in a can? We look just like the local “tap-taps” that are testing the limits on their springs. The kids are great, the kitchen women are with us, the house mothers and all. It’s a big outing for everyone!
One-half of the kids unload before we cross a metal plated bridge—there are a few plates missing, open 2’x2’ holes down to the river. We make it over with no problem, everyone climbs back on and within a few minutes we are at the ocean.
Au Natural? Everyone else is. Water’s great, kids are naked, Jeff and I run out in the water with great enthusiasm, the kids follow somewhat reluctantly until we begin flipping a few off our shoulders. The kids can’t get enough, Jeff and I have to swim away to get a break. Ever have naked Haitian kids climbing on and jumping off your shoulders?? Quite an experience! We swim, play Frisbee, I swallowed a little water—then pray its not too polluted. A guy in a dugout canoe with a sail is coming in with a sea turtle catch, I tried to help him pull the canoe in but a bunch of the kids think it’s a game or a joke and start to jump on the canoe and almost sink it. The fisherman is not too amused.

When we got back to the beach I bartered with a local to buy shells he was selling, he spoke fairly good English, but I had to borrow money from Jay (no money in my bathing suit). 5 big polished shells for $7.00!
Its time to go back to the truck and back to Kay Espwa, we drop off kids and Father Marc, the go to shower at the infirmary—oh yeah, when we crossed the bridge this time, no one got off—we just went a little faster!! (as we drove back to infirmary I considered how much sermon material I have gotten in 2 days!)
3PM Back to the Infirmary to rest and shower, we talk, share some Rum and Vodka, spend some more time theologizing, we pray together, Jack, Jeff, Jay and Me. We feel like good friends already.
4:35 – We head back to the orphanage for Mass at 5PM. We kind of split up and sit with the different kids, I sit with some of the younger kids, we sing, listen to Marc’s reading of the prodigal son and his message in Creole. Marc says it’s the best sermon he’s ever preached, who are we to argue? We have some wonderful singing all led by bongo drums, and then finish with some free dancing and singing.
I do a few more tricks, the kids seem like they can’t believe there is actually a bunch of white folks there with them, they keep touching us and holding hands. We have supper—lobster meat Creole style. Not bad, good bread, the kids have soup, they say its good.
After supper I visit Franckie again and begin him on Cefzil- 2x per day for 10 days, I pray it helps, hopefully we can get him taken care of at a regular hospital soon.
We gather outside for a little celebration and presentation of the Bibles from our church. We are given some other gifts and then we all take turns looking at the stars with my binoculars. Its time to go “home” to the infirmary.

Sun. 3/25 – 5:30 AM - I’m already awake—the heat and the roosters take care of that! I shower and pack by candlelight, I broke the oil lamp globe that was next to my bed, so I left 150 gourde to pay for it. I ate a snack and a 1.5 liter of water! The water goes down so easily I realize that we all need to watch out for dehydration!
6:45 AM- Bertineee and Clemont arrive with the truck, we bring our extra water to Mark and Kate. The kids are all up and about already, some are showering, I do more tricks, give out addresses, talk with the barber, nice guy. The kids have rice and ?? for breakfast, what do they drink? They always eat with their hands, Kate says their immune system must always be in high gear all the time.
We go to Father Marc’s place which is a few blocks away, he has a room in a house that belongs to his “order”, I replace the ceiling fan in the other Mark’s room, he is another visitor who has decided he will spend several months here to help get some of the paperwork in order. Fr. Marc asks us to check out an old dump truck, that sits in the garage and hasn’t run for quite a few years. We decide Marc should sell this one and buy something he could use. The only trouble is it belong’s to his “order” and they don’t want to sell it. Things in Haiti don’t always seem to make sense—but we are just Americans, what do we know?
Jay, Jeff and I go back to Hope House. We are supposed to leave at 11AM (Haitian time!) Jay and I look at the generator and switch it to 110 volt output. We talk with the kids, share some more addresses, there is lots of hugs, shaking hands, tricks, etc.. Fr. Marc says one kid tells him, “I like your friends because they like Jesus.
I wonder how Frankie is going to be. I talk at length with Edmund Gaspar –he wants to go to seminary, he’s Baptist and from the neighborhood near the orphanage, he’s hoping to get a scholarship to come to the U.S..
I go upstairs with one boy, he has made a speaker cabinet with 2 speakers and then wanted help with stapling cloth over it, only problem is, he has no radio to connect to it. He has an old answering machine, an aerator,a clock and a few other things.
I showed the boys a photo with Erica, Joshua, Zachary and Linnea and I and had to repeat their names over and over again to each I showed. It seems like they want to know each personally in case they ever visit!
I gave away all my cards—did the broken finger trick a hundred times. I started “freezing” hands, another little trick that just makes your hand stiff for a moment.

All the work on the building is incredible, in 30 months, Marc has taken a run down storage place, added a second floor, built a facility for 117+, another young girl came in last night—he has 2 girls staying here now. I notice some older boys dispensing supplies that we brought. Father Marc is truly a father—He asked us if we would be God Parents for the boys—He explains its something they want. Marc says we should only agree to be God parents for all the boys.
I check out a keyboard, electronic with drumsticks etc. that doesn’t seem to work. Michele has become my official Pac-man—he carries my backpack everywhere—he also gathers my binoculars and leatherman tool that the kids keep borrowing. Its finally time for a special lunch around 12:00—chicken. They get meat one time per week, today its fried and delicious with rice, fresh squeezed/extracted by hand carrot juice! Excellent! This juice has got to be worth at least $3.00 a glass at home!
We finally leave for Port Au Prince at 12:30, I love these kids, Kate’s crying again, she’s staying until Thursday. We wish “Go with God” all around and “Ovwa”. We begin the 5 hour trip of standing in the truck going 70 – 80 MPH? We saw many beautiful, clean, dressed, colorful, rich, poor people. Naked people in every river. No roadblocks—although much evidence of recent demonstrations.
It all quite unbelievable, I miss home and the kids—there’s no way they could come now, but maybe someday.
10:30 PM—I’m tired, I think I’ll finish manana.
(5 AM 3/26 can’t sleep, I thought of more to write. Last night we said—Haiti is the poorest country in Western Hemisphere, 3rd poorest in the world. Somalia and Indonesia are #1 and #2—we are not going there—hopefully this is the poorest we will ever see.)
We continue to the hotel, Bertineee’s driving skills amaze us—he takes a short cut thru the dirtiest part of town, the road and the river run together at one spot, but we get through with no problems.

1. We arrive at the hotel at 5:45 PM, we all look like hell—burnt and dirty. The shower feels great. We all meet at Jack’s room for drinks and discussion, sort of a debriefing, we watch the TV recap of violence and a demonstration that occurred on Tuesday before we came, one dead and 2 wounded.
2. At supper we talk again of the need for a second in command for Marc, what happens if he dies? In the gifts we receved from the kids, Jay received a small urn—we decide we can use it for Marc’s ashes—“ It becomes part of the plan”.
3. We learn from Marc that Aristeed is popular with 90% of the people, but 10% of those with power and money want their “installed” Gook, to be the provisional govenor. Consequently, nothing that might lastingly help the country ever gets accomplished and the two sides are repeatedly fighting.
4. Jack prays and Marc finishes before we eat. We talked more of Marc’s master plan, short and long range goals, 3rd story to dorm, etc. The Hotel owner tells us he is giving us a break–$80 for dinner, $28 less a night for the rooms. The girl at the desk tells us in conversation, she wants to meet a Christian man and have 3-4 kids like us.
5. Father Marc talks with the hotel guard, we ask the guard who is armed with a pump action shotgun if we can take his picture with us, he says its OK but he wants us to know that, “for us this is theatre but for them it is real life”.
6. We all know there is God’s hand working with us, no two ways about it. Father Marc told the kids that none of us are Catholic, the kids find it hard to believe, so Marc explained to them that it is Christ in the heart that is important, not which church we go to. (Amen!)
7. 7:30 pm we finally get supper, the guys finish the rum, and at 9 pm we start doing some more planning for the future, including deciding that Mami’s land is probably not worth the large distance between there and Les Cayes where Marc wants to keep a base.
8. 3/26 - 6 AM I went for a walk near the hotel, I had one picture left in the camera, I saw a car wrapped around a pole and left there, then I saw 3 goats hanging on the edge of some cliffs grazing on some sparse weeds, and a large pile of garbage with 2 dogs, some more goats, and chickens picking through it,—I took the picture of the goats hanging on the cliff—very much like the Haitian people, hanging on for life using whatever skills they possess.
9. The hotel must really appreciate our business, the provide breakfast for free! Clemont and Bertinee eat with us. We talked more of all our thoughts and experiences—we did more in 3 days than any of us imagined possible.
10. 8:30 AM, we left the Hotel Prince to go to Food for the Poor, to meet Mrs. Pun. It’s a Huge operation yet they did not have hospital mattresses and rice for Father Marc because of Manifestations and road blocks. The Director there said this week looks no better. More protests are supposed to start Tuesday.
11. 9:30 We meet with Mrs. Pun. She says she might be interested in obtaining a motorcycle or providing vocational &/or farm equipment together with Rotary.
12. 11 AM we arrive at the Petitionville hospital. This is a hospital that Englewood Rotary and a few other other clubs helped to get off the ground and supplied with equipment, twenty years or so ago. We meet with Raymond Baker, the chairman of the hospital board, he is 82 years old and is remarkable! He introduces us to a pediatrician, and the medical administrator- Marie Bellande who is the hospital coordinator. We talked about Gift of Life and potential kids for our program, then we worked out something of a deal. They just happen to need a new Oxygen pulse meter, they cannot do surgery without it and they only have one. I agree to get parts to repair theirs and possibly an extra new one in exchange for a medical exam for Franckie. Not bad work for 30 minutes!
13. 11:30 AM, we are on our way to the airport. We sighted a large developed area, nice homes, walled neighborhood, concrete poles with transformers etc, It gives some hope for the future. I am impressed with Fr. Marc’s long range goals, vocational training for kids and trying to teach them a new way of self sufficient way of life, etc.
14. He is quite a visionary and practical person. It’s a good thing he has such good friends and a great brother-in-law!
15. I need to call Henry Ebert when we get home for the pulse oximeter ASAP.
16. I hope all at home and the kids are OK. How blessed we are!

Now its October 21, 2001. It has taken a lot longer than I expected to type up my diary notes, they are finally finished, I hope someone enjoys them. I guess I believe it, but a lot has happened since we have been home, we leave 10/25 for our second trip! It should be quite an experience all over again!

Yours in Christ, Andy

Jay with Franckie
Diary of Ridgewood AM mission trip to Haiti – Trip 2 October 25-30, 2001

Well here we go again. I cannot believe it is time to return to Haiti already. I wasn’t sure I was going to go until about a month ago. But there is nothing too pressing going on at work that I cannot work around, finances aren’t too bad at the moment, so I think I can afford to take the time off. Church people all seem to be supportive of me going. The September 11 attacks certainly have had an impact on all that we think and feel about any international travel, but I don’t believe we should ever allow our fears dictate how we live our lives—that’s not what I call living. Some are, of course, anxious about our going again. As always, if this is something God wants me to do, I trust all will work out well. If for some reason things fall through, then I will know I or we were not meant to go. I proceed to finish up getting all my shots. I am now immunized against Polio (booster), typhoid, Hepataitis A and B, tetanus, and malaria.
I wonder if others would be interested in what we are doing in Haiti and would even support me financially. Since this is my second trip, and it seems there may be more in the future, it would be great if it was not a financial burden each time I go. It is hard enough taking the time off and trying to get everything covered at home, work, church, Gift of Life, and Cub Scouts, so I send an “asking letter” to 16 of my closer customers, friends, and relatives. Its an idea I read about in a book called “By Faith, Not Sight”, written by a paramedic from Hawthorne Gospel church who recently went to Africa for two three week mission trips. It will be interesting to see how the response goes.
October 25, 2001 (writing at 12 mid-night NY time)
The day begins at 4 AM. I arose easily. I didn’t sleep very well, kept waking up to check the clock! I prayed a lot during the night, mostly for Father Marc and all at the orphanage, Clemont (Fr. Marc’s closest friend and co-worker in Haiti), was killed yesterday on his way to Port Au Prince to pick us up. Clemont, the old Haitian priest we met on the last trip, a nun, and his future mother-in-law, were on their way to Port Au Prince when a large Tap-Tap bus (the kind with the large steel “cow catcher” grill on front) flying around a curve hit the Isuzu head on.
I called my friend Lou (does mason work for me) at 4:45 AM to make sure he was up—picked me up right on time. We drove to Jack’s to pick up Father Mark, Jack is driving in the van with all the luggage and the driver that Gary Parazzo donated for our use. Over the past few days Jack and Marc packed 40 duffel bags. I added a computer printer/scanner/fax for the Petionville hospital. The computer and moniter went with Champone who arrives next Tuesday in his small plane.
We all meet at Jay’s office. Woody had T-shirts made up for everyone that have the Rotary International logo on the front and say “Kay Espwa – Les Cayes, Haiti” on the back. Everyone dons the shirts, and now we really look like a group! There are 15 of us here, we are to pick up Ellen Sinclair at the Raddison by JFK on the way. (She flew in from Texas to go with us)
We are traveling in three limos and a van and have decided to leave a little earlier than first planned because we are pretty sure that the van will be stopped on the GW Bridge by security. There is a lot of traffic, but we don’t get stopped so we have plenty of time at the airport. The airport folks treat us very well, get us and all 45 pieces of luggage (we have special permission for extra luggage) into the check-in area in record time. Everyone checks in and we have two hours to kill before boarding. It’s interesting to notice the nervous joking by the “new Haiti trippers”, there are many questions regarding conditions and accommodations, the “old timers” are amusingly vague.
There is a long line at the security gate so we decide to have breakfast and maybe the line will get shorter. (Fat chance of that, the line triples while we eat) We finally get in line and wait our turn. I buy a note pad for my diary while we wait, pass around two copies of my diary from the first trip. Everyone gets a kick out of some of the funny things that happened and some of my impressions. They all decide it’s a good thing they didn’t read this before the plane tickets were purchased. I’m not sure if it has allayed some of their fears or made them worse… oh well, we’re almost on our way.
We are pretty sure everyone has removed all suspicious knives, scissors, files etc from their carry on luggage so we should go through security easily—not! Jack has a nail clippers which prompts them to go through his whole bag and confiscate the clippers, I don’t know what prompted them to stop David, but he gets a complete “pat down body search” by a female security guard and sniffed by a bomb or drug dog—I’m not sure who enjoyed it more, David, the guard, or the dog! I have my own problems, completely forgot about the safety scissors and tweezers in the first aid kit in my backpack. Once they saw it, they had to go through all my stuff (I had been elected Medical officer for the trip—I had a lot of stuff in my pack). I finally get cleared, minus scissors and tweezers.
As we sit waiting in gate area, we learn the flight will be delayed at least one hour for additional security checks. Someone learns that complete background checks are being done by the FBI on about 40 passengers. Mission travel sure is a lot different since Sept. 11.
We finally board, the 16 of us are largely separated, the plane is not full so many of us team up in twos and threes. David and I sit together. While we are waiting to take off, I talk with a stewardess, Eileen, in the back for a little while. She is very nice and interested in our work with the orphanage, she does a lot of mission work with the airlines. She gives me 6 packs of cards and activity books for the kids.
The flight is otherwise uneventful, some of our neighbors on the plane notice our shirts and want to know what we are up to. Its nice to know people are interested in knowing why others will travel to a third world country to help people they don’t know.
Those who are Haitian thank-us for our efforts and wish us the best.

We arrive Port Au Prince at 1:40 Haitian time(they are 1 hour behind us, but we change clocks at home on Sat. and then we will be on the same time again).
Its not too hot – 85 degrees. We wait the usual 30 – 45 minutes for all the luggage and head out of the airport around 3PM. We have 15 carts with all our luggage and supplies. Fr. Marc picks one of the dozens of Haitians who are begging to help us with our carts to supervise the others who will help us through the crowd. We will pay this one guy and he will have to split it up with everyone. I am looking for Marie Bellande from the Foundation Hospital in Petitionville but I first meet Edmund Gaspar! He greets me with a kiss and a hug, I think we have become close over the last few months of e-mail correspondence. I think Edmund desperately wants a friend from America that can help him out of this place. He helps us get all the carts out and watches over them while everyone else gets out of the airport and gathers together at the end of the barricades where we wait for the truck to pick us up.
I finally see Marie as she spots Father Marc. Its very good to see her amidst swarms of Haitians looking for a dollar. We kiss like old friends also after all the e-mail we have shared. I really wish we had a little time to talk, but as soon as the truck pulls up we must load quickly and get out of this sea of confusion. I quickly unpack the printer and supplies and tell her about Champone and the rest of the computer. She says thank-you for everything, “ovwa”!
The truck is here and we throw and load all the bags with the help of many locals. (remember every bag weighs at least 60 – 70 pounds) Its really hectic paying off the local help, Father Marc pays the one who is supposed to be in charge and the rest all argue with him for their cut.
Armand, a Canadian who lives in Les Cayes part of the time and volunteers for Father Marc as a handyman, has volunteered after Clemonts’ death to pick up a few of us. Doug, Ellen, and Betty ride with Armand right behind the truck.
The pile of supplies and luggage fills the truck to the top about ½ way back, 13 of us, Edmund and John Paul climb on top, and around the luggage, we hold on to the rack, spare tire etc.

The new part of the team looks a little apprehensive about this ride…they are all amazed at the road conditions, traffic, dirt, garbage, and sewage. Otherwise it is a typical ride through a typical city, streets lined with rows and rows of tin and pallet shacks, there is lots of “stop and go traffic”, lots of “my truck’s bigger than your car, so I’m first” kind of driving, and lots of “pothole derby” driving.
For some reason, we take the same detour we took last time when we hit the “manifestation” road block. It’s a Very bumpy dirt road, very dusty. Everyone begins to realize the kind of trip we are in for.
After about an hour and one half, the new guys begin to ask, “How much longer?” “Are we there yet?” The only comment missing is, “I have to go to the bathroom!” Some kids never grow up!
Someone said its only a 4 ½ hour trip—after 3 hours we begin looking for what we call the ½ way point, or the “oasis”. By now its dark, the headlights on the truck don’t work very well, they’re pointed too close to the truck. Earlier when we were in traffic in Port Au Prince, Bertinee backed into Armand’s Isuzu and one of his lights now shines up at us. At one of our traffic stops, I make a little “nest” on top of the luggage with my feet hanging out over the cab—it was so comfortable that I almost fell asleep—Woody and Parker didn’t want me to miss any of the sights and wouldn’t let me sleep! I began to feel guilty, I was so comfortable while the others were jostling for more comfortable spots. I finally switched with Jay—he couldn’t believe how nice it was and soon he did fall asleep! I think Woody is trying to ease the shock of being here and he breaks out a bottle of Bacardi rum which gets passed to those that want it, I thought I brought a lot of snacks, Wood has several complete meals with him, including a full loaf of bread, double boxed in shoeboxes to keep from getting crushed!
We finally hit the ½ point around 7, the new folks are now questioning loudly the validity of that 4 ½ hours to Les Cayes (remember we left the airport at 3PM). Father Marc tells us it usually takes 1 ½ hours from the Oasis to Kay Espwa. Tonight it takes 3. We arrive at the infirmary about 10 PM, unload all the bags except the ones going to La Meridian Hotel.
We finally eat supper around 11:30 – the Hotel cooks all the chicken they have for us, the chicken is not bad, I am pretty sure it is what we would call “fresh killed “ at home! We walk back to the infirmary at 12:30 AM. Unfortunately we have no sheets on our beds, and the way we are still sweating there’s no way we are sleeping on those plastic hospital mattresses without sheets of some sort. So we dig through the bags of supplies until we find some sheets and even some nice terry mattress covers—they’re great for absorbing sweat! We Finally go to sleep around 1:30 AM—thank-God I bought that battery powered fan! It keeps me just cool enough to sleep till 6 AM.
I’m up at 6, breakfast is at 7. My shower isn’t working so I borrow Lance’s and then fix mine. We walk to the Meridian at 7, we carry power tools, plumbing parts and paint supplies with us for later. We have eggs and toast for breakfast—interesting style of service, nothing fancy but we all have enough to eat.
(writing at 8:30 PM 10/26/01)
What a day again! The new folks suggest that maybe some of our reports are a little unrealiable—the trip yesterday was not quite 4 hours nor 1 ½ hrs. from the half-way point. I pray that the paint will be at Kay Espwa (also known as “la Mondon” because of what it was used for before)
-Guess what?? No Paint! Steve and I set out to make a faucet setup for the concrete sink that some of the local help built. Its located on the outside of the kitchen in the alley way across from the showers. The sink is about 12” from front to back and about 5 feet wide. Steve and I figure we can put our five faucets evenly spaced and they will fit nicely.
Others go to buy some paint to paint the chapel and also to get concrete blocks and plywood for storage shelves. The only paint that can be found is high-gloss oil base, sort of a salmon color.
The sink is very nicely made, drain is almost ready to hook up, but we need to construct some sort of shelf to install the faucets into. First we need to find some wood, we try all sorts of scraps that are lying here and there, we finally settle on a piece of actual 2×4”. But now we have to figure out how to mount it to the concrete wall. We also need to drill some 1” holes through it for the faucets, currently, we have no electric. Edmund and I go across the street to see what kind of angle brackets they have, I draw pictures of what I want , Edmund tries to interpret but we can’t seem to get what we want. We go back to Kay Espwa and Bernato show’s me his stash of hardware and tools. He has some straight straps that I think I can make work with the concrete screws I brought.
We show some of the older guys where we have to cut the masonry wall to get to the water pipe that supplies the kitchen. They go to town hammering and chiseling.
Steve and I lay out the faucets’ parts and he goes out to get some more pipe and fittings. The guys do a great job breaking open the wall and exposing the pipe, we finally get the power turned on and begin drilling the wall and the 2”x4”. We soon mount the board and begin installing faucets and piping. By 12:30 we have water running. We still need to install automatic shut-off valves and drain parts. After lunch the kids and others use the faucets as is, using the master shut-off to turn them all on or off. They seem to enjoy washing as much as drinking from the faucets. I always wondered where they get a drink, they never seem to have drinks with their meals.

For Lunch we have spaghetti with meat sauce, its pretty hot (the weather and the spaghetti). I drink a lot, take some Excedrin and Advil for my headache. After lunch I go to find the faucet parts which one of the older guys put away for safe keeping. Unfortunately, neither he nor the parts can be found. No one is sure who put them away or where. In the process of trying to ask Armand for the where abouts of the key to Bernato’s closet, Armand gets me the key to Bernato’s semi-private out-house (Water closet!) and a roll of toilet paper! So much for communicating with a French Canadian!
I finally get the parts back, we finish the sink faucets—I have a lot of trouble adjusting the flow of each faucet, theres just not enough pressure to make these work automatically very well. Finally get them as good as can be—“fin-e”!
The sun has been unbearable—I keep taking breaks and drinks in the shade, (except for the last hour or so) I really don’t feel very well. I’m definitely overheated and dehydrated, I drink a half gallon of water, and still feel like I might faint any second. Steve is looking at what it will take to repair or replace the shower faucets which are mostly not working.
The majority of the group decides to start a “chain gang” to clean up the main courtyard where the kids play most of the time. They pass everything through the courtyard, through the offices, out to the truck on the street. The kids have a blast passing all sorts of junk, you need to catch and throw quickly or risk getting hit on the head by the next piece! Only one kid gets hurt (slightly).
For some reason, Bertinee is not around to drive the truck, so Steve hops behind the wheel, Edmund goes along to show where the dump is, (I didn’t go) its about a ½ hour drive, they get there, everyone along helps to unload then its time to go back—one problem, no keys! Bertinee had left the ignition in unlocked position and it could be started without a key, now its locked. Edmund finally convinces someone with a moped to let them borrow it, he rides back and gets a key and finally gets the truck back several hours later. Life in Haiti seems to always work “one step forward, two steps back!”
Meanwhile, I am resting and talking, I meet with Dennis around 4 PM, he’s selling jewelry. I buy 3 items for $7.00!
I then meet Linus, an older guy who speaks English fairly well. We talk all about Haiti, political and economic situations, he is very perceptive and seems very on board with what action is necessary to turn things around in Haiti. He’s involved in a volunteer group to improve Haiti, they clean up beach areas and he tells me there are some beautiful caves that would be very interesting to tourists—if they ever had any.
-The “Land survey team” Jeff, Parker, Doug, and Betty, return from their search for new land for a new Hope House. They see several good possibilities. There is still no paint, Jeff finally gets a few phone calls through and is promised delivery “tomorrow”.
By this time the painting crew seems to have gotten a little bit out of control. The kids get so excited every time they get involved in a project, they have now painted a few things and a few places that weren’t supposed to get painted. The group finally finishes painting the first coat of paint on the chapel. That oil base paint really smells, it is especially bad for those up on the scaffold painting the ceiling.

I begin doing some magic tricks for the kids—torn and restored napkins or toilet paper, cut and restored rope, rope through the neck trick (only a few get choked). They still love the torn napkin trick best—always gets cheers and laughs!
At 5:30, its time to head to La Meridian, then to the infirmary for a shower, Woody and Dave pick up cold Heinekens’ on the way back, I have to admit, two Heinekens go down like nothing!

1. the dump crew is still not back yet. They finally arrive around 6:30, its dark already.
2. Dinner is finally ready around 7:15! Goat and chicken, avocado, pomme frittes, tomatoes, water, “Grey Goose”. Everything is very good especially when we are very hungry! We are all very tired and so head back to our rooms about 8:30PM, I sit and write, talk with Steve and Lance Sr. until 9:30.
3. Now its bedtime, I think of and pray for Erica, Joshua, Zachary, and Linnea, I love and miss them all very much I also hope we all realize how lucky we are. Fr. Marc is being treated to a few nights in the hotel with A.C., Jay and I theologize a bit, Ashok adds a different perspective and it will be interesting to hear his reactions. . I am falling asleep while I write this…..night!

6:40 AM 10/27/01 Showered, dressed, took my vitamins, had a snack from the backpack supply, and drank a full liter of water. It seems so weird to be able to drink that much water like nothing here, and at home I can barely finish one glass of water without feeling like I have a bloated belly!
It was a bit warmer last night, battery fan worked great, I think we will have to make it standard issue for all future visitors. Marc wants me to leave it with him when I leave. I put a few more magic tricks in my pockets for today, I like to be prepared!
Last night before supper I bought gifts from a peddler at the hotel. I bought a Caribbean painting, a leather mask, and a turtle box for $30.00. Others bought more also, the salesman was very persistent.
If there is no paint again today, we have plans for a few other projects. The “land survey team” looked at two pieces of property yesterday, they will probably look at one or two more today. They all seem to have great potential in this area, all good farm land, with either a stream or river running through or next to the property.

6:50 AM 10/28/01
Didn’t write last night—too tired and hot. Still no paint, we let the first coat of paint in the chapel dry all day Saturday so that we could use the chapel for Mass at 5 PM.
But lets go back to the beginning of the day, we started out with breakfast at La Meridian—scrambled eggs, toast etc. not bad. Everyone is hoping that the paint will arrive today so that we can start the major project of painting the whole inside and outside of Kay Espwa. It is supposed to be in Haiti somewhere and on the way (probably for sale in one of the local markets). Jeff wants to send the Dryvit Company a photo of the chapel painted with local oil base paint!
Instead of painting we take on a few other projects. We decide to cut a new door into the dining room so that the kids can go through the dining room without going through the kitchen all the time. Lance Jr. supervises and helps with this project.
Steve is going to replace the 7 or 8 shower faucets with the simpler PVC valves that just turn 1/4 turn for on or off. Woody and David are going to get more cement blocks to finish the shelves in the storage closet, they cut plenty of plywood yesterday. Betty and Ellen are still working with a few of the boys sorting all the supplies that we brought. Doug, Jeff and Parker are going to look at another piece of land or two. I decide I might as well take a good look at the generator, it currently will not keep running for any length of time.
I begin working with Johnny, it seems that he is in charge of keeping the generator running but is even less familiar with this piece of machinery than I am. Johnny is sure that one of solenoids that controls the throttle, is bad. He is sure of it because one of the three Haitian mechanics that were here (and paid) recently to repair the generator told him so; another said that it had a broken gasket and needs a new belt. As I get into the engine and begin testing things, I discover that they are all wrong. Everything they say is wrong with it, tests fine. I follow the control wires from the solenoids to the control panel, I find two burnt fuses. Johnny goes to get new fuses. He finally comes back one hour later – no fuses, it seems Johnny can’t find any 10 AMP fuses like we needed, they do have 25 AMP fuses, so I send him back to get those, when he returns, “magic!” The 25 AMP works great.
Now to fix a few other things on the generator, radiator has only water in it, no coolant, also there is no radiator cap, one of the “mechanics” said you shouldn’t use it. We put new coolant in, replace cap, clean air filter, needs new fuel filter, Johnny says he will get one next time they go to Port Au Prince, we will bypass it for now with a standard fuel filter. Its running fine now. Edmund Gaspar tells me these guys, (there were always several hanging around while we worked), respect me because I do magic. (it seems very strange that they think the “magic tricks” I do are more impressive than fixing the generator—unless they think that is magic too!)
The door is cut out by noon, Maxima patches the edges, some of the guys go for a few more blocks to finish the shelves. The boys that are helping Maxima work well together, they are sifting sand, mixing concrete, cleaning up etc.
Lunch time! We have soup, “lobster” (more like large crayfish), and some interesting and very good vegetables. After lunch some of us take the truck to the infirmary to pickup all the supplies we brought to stock the newly completed shelves in the storage closet. The girls begin sorting everything, Jack is doing paperwork, Woody and David and a few others, find the local bar a few blocks from the orphanage and make friends with the owner.
Its really too hot to do much of anything right now, going to church I hope will be kind of like a break from the heat. The kids sing great, the two guys on the bongo drum are amazing! There is no other music, but you wouldn’t know it. Everyone has a good time. The kids are often looking at the different members of our group, it seems they just cannot believe that we are really there. Fr. Marc tells us that it is very impressive to them that some of us are here for our second time, and especially impressive to the older ones that we are here at our own expense.
Fr. Marc does a good sermon about the masks we wear—especially with the loss of Clemont, some of the masks we wear are good in a time of pain but sometimes our masks are not good, Marc shows a leather mask that he had bought from the same vendor I bought mine from and talks about the different ways we use masks.
We had supper after Mass, then we have a celebration service with all, there is an excellent good dance exposition by a very nice looking couple (in their 20’s?). A latino dance that really moves, and everyone enjoys watching. They end with a free-for-all type of celebration with lots of singing, clapping, and dancing. I spend some time afterward showing a few of the older guys how to do some simple magic tricks. They are very determined to learn a few secrets, I think they just want to stay one step ahead of the younger kids that have learned some.
9PM- we finally head back to the Hotel. We have a few drinks, cokes, beer, water, and a bunch of pizzas before walking to the infirmary. I pray for Fr. Marc and his kids, try to sleep some, its quite hot, I keep thinking of Tom’s description of “lying in bed with nothing on and sweat just pouring off your body”.

7:30 AM 10/28 We start the day with breakfast at the hotel, we have been starting every meal with prayer which has been very nice, considering the somewhat diverse backgrounds we all have. Different ones have been taking turns saying grace, so we get an interesting diversity of prayer styles. There is the “short and sweet so we can eat style”, there is the “long and complete so that we don’t leave anything out” style, and then there is a nice assortment of in between styles!
Whatever the style of prayer, we all seem to appreciate one another being there.
With Breakfast over, its time to go to chapel for a different kind of prayer, that is with a paint brush and roller! While the painting crew tries to keep better control over their “helpers”, I spend some time working on Armand’s car. It seems that it keeps stalling unless you keep your foot on the gas, that’s hard to do when you need the left foot for the clutch and the right foot for the brake. The orphanage really needs this car since Clemont’s death and the crash. We replace the fuel filter, air filter, clean the carburetor and adjust the idle. “Local mechanic” Johnny helps me and when we could not find the right wrench for the idle adjustment, he says he has one at his house. I tell him to get behind the wheel so we can take the car for test drive and get his wrench, which he promptly does, but he hesitates when I say O.K., let’s go. He finally gets across to me that he doesn’t have a license and better not drive. So we trade places, a few other guys hop in, (it seems you always travel with a comfortably filled car around here—after all, what else is there to do?) and I drive to his house about 12 blocks away. Even though no one else stops at stop signs and intersections, I figure it would be a good idea if I did.
While we adjusted the idle at his house with his tools, I spoke (more like gestured with a few words thrown in) with his family and did a few magic tricks. It was pretty hot so I gave one of the other guys that came with us, some money to buy sodas for everyone. A bottle of soda only cost about 20 cents, so its not a big investment. Johnny’s brother comes home and we are introduced. He seems very friendly, he is especially interested to know if I have a “Haitian girlfriend”! I tell him no, so then he asks me, “do you want a Haitian girl?” Father Marc tells us that this is just their way of trying to be friendly, and that it is no big deal for them to offer you that! I respectfully decline his offer!
Well the car seems to be fixed, I take it for a test drive, no more stalling , so back to the orphanage. I talk with Johnny the generator repair guy, (a different Johnny than repaired the car), about maintenance on the generator and what repairs need to be done still. He really wants me to help him install a temporary fuel filter, if he can find one, I will, but I reassure him that it is a simple job and he should be able to handle it.
The local Rotary President and her International committee chairman arrive to meet with us and see what they can do to help. They agree to work with our district to buy a new truck for Marc with a Rotary grant we are applying for. They also agree to work with us in trying to get a 3-H grant for building the new orphanage.
Now its time to go to the beach! This is always the kids favorite activity of the the week, and this week it seems like a much more necessary break to ease the pain of Clemont’s loss. Funny thing is, whenever we get ready to go somewhere and are hoping into the truck, that’s when Bertinee decides something just has to be fixed on the truck! Today it’s the rear axle fluid that needs to be changed! We all jump out and wait a little while before jumping back in and making a bunch of “human oreo sandwich cookies”! Guess who gets to be the cream filling, squished inside? The ride in the truck with 50 – 60 boys is truly an experience in faith and building close international relations. (sometimes a little too close?) It takes two trips to get all the kids to the beach, I ride with the first group—we take a cool detour through the river; down one bank, up the river a little way, and then up the other bank! I didn’t know this old truck was amphibious! I’m not sure, but I think we took this detour so that Bertinee’s dog Tyson doesn’t have to risk running over the bridge. The amazing thing is, this little mutt dog runs alongside the truck all the way to the beach, even when we are going 25-30 miles per hour. He’s pooped when we get to the beach! The other group goes over the bridge—this is the bridge with the metal plates that may or may not be in place over the frame work.
The beach experience is similar to the last time—the kids remember all the fun we had doing flips off our shoulders and such and they really want me to hurry into the water. This time Jeff and I have reinforcements and I think we tire the kids out almost as much as ourselves. The new guys have been forewarned that clothes are optional here and quickly get into the fun without much reservation. The water is quite murky and warm—I guess 80 degrees plus a little. The air temp has been about 90 – 95 every day so the warm water still feels great!

Good thing I brought the water proof camera, Lance and I take a lot of shots with it until the film is gone. I really should remember not to swallow the water! (cough, gag, gag)
Everyone has a great time, Parker and Lance get into a soccer game—the goalies wear a glove to signify who’s goalie—these kids are super soccer players. In bare feet and all, (some are bare all over) on gravel and dirt. Lance Sr. thinks we should begin a soccer clinic here for our highschool teams, these guys are far better than our best. The only trouble is, these guys would have to learn new “bathroom habits” before they could play with Americans—one kid decides to take a quick leak on the side line, of course the ball comes right to him—so he pees on it too! It was about then that Parker decides he’s had enough soccer for today!
I’m dripping dry—having a blast watching the kids and others, there are a couple of very well built teenage guys doing amazing double and triple flips and handsprings on the beach just for fun. Ashok gets some video of them and just about everything else. The local kids are getting a lot of laughs out of David’s large belly—David not only takes it in stride but eggs them on quite a bit!
Its finally time for the first truckload to go back. Tom and I hop into the middle of a bunch of half dressed, (that is, half are dressed, half are not) group of kids. Tyson the dog tries to follow us, but he’s too tired—he’ll catch the next truck back. At the metal bridge, one lane of it is blocked off with big piles of dirt at each end. We stop for a moment to let some kids get off (not enough?), and then race over the bridge with only a few of the 2’x2’ panels missing. We stop again to pick up the kids that walked over, and soon we are back to Kay Espwa.
I’m really beat—sun, salt, etc., the second group returns a while later, remember Tyson? Well he decided to accept the offer of a ride in the back of the truck, only trouble is, he apparently gets car sick, very car sick. Seems he threw up several meals worth, all over the back of the truck, Lance says he had all he could do not to do the same! The whole rear of the truck had to be rinsed before we can return to the infirmary and hotel. We finally get back and shower up, I never knew such a small amount of cold water could feel so good!
We go to the hotel around 6PM for drinks and discussion, we try something new and order separate entrees from the menu. We are told dinner will take about one hour. The only trouble is, it takes us until 7:15 for us to get our order straight. Dinner finally is ready and on the table about 8:35. It’s not too bad. I spend some time talking with Jack about Kay Espwa hiring Edmund Gaspar. Edmund’s not sure about working for the orphanage at least partly because he’s heard that Clemont’s death was caused by a voodoo curse.
A few of the guys are playing catch with some glow sticks. Father Marc is staying at the hotel with us for these few days, some of the older boys are hanging out with us for awhile tonight and are playing “glow catch” with our guys. I ordered goat for dinner, it was very good! Not everyone’s dinner was that good, we realize that the orphanage food as cooked by Deni’ from Canada, is much better. During dinner we had a very good discussion with Fr. Marc, Lance and Lance, Steve and myself. We talked about the kids at the orphanage, their impressions of us and our impressions of them. Fr. Marc says that one of the most important things we have done on this trip, is just being here. The boys gain a great deal of self esteem just knowing that they matter enough for us to make the trip to be with them.
9:30 PM off to bed—I’m too tired and hot to write or anything, I begin to pack my things anyway to save time tomorrow. Finally around 11—zzzzz.

10/29/01 5:20AM – My Rotary International travel alarm goes off (a district staff gift from Gov. Bernie’s year), we at the infirmary all agreed to get up early, Bertinee is coming at 6 so we can work before it gets too hot—we forego the hotel breakfast for snack food and vitamins.

6AM- there is a prayer meeting going on in the chapel, I talk with Fr. Marc about Gaspar, we decide to have a meeting later with Jack, Gaspar, Marc, and me to propose his new job to him. I get out the material and tools to frame out the new doorway to the dining room, the one Lance and some of the boys cut in the other day. I cut the boards with the circular saw Wood donated and then screw the boards in place with the concrete screws from Tanis Hardware. They work great. Maxima, (an excellent mason) gets his concrete mixing crew together to sift sand and prepare mortar. He and Lance Jr. mix and apply plaster to door jamb and wall opening to finish it off. The carpenter working for Kay Espwa will make a door for the opening—probably one with hand carved raised panels.
Marc agrees with Woody to make one part of the orphanage an “administrative wing” which will be off limits to the normal constant flow of kids. David, Woody, and a few other guys proceed to move desks and shelves into the back office by the courtyard. Betty and Ellen with 3 or 4 others are just about finished unloading and sorting the supplies from the duffel bags.
We watch the kids lined up receiving new clothes and shoes from a couple of the older guys, its neat to see how the older ones take care of the younger ones, helping them try on different shoes until they find something that fits. The younger ones all wait in line patiently for their turn. It will be nice to see the kids in different outfits for a change, it seems they wear the same clothes all week, by the end of the week their t-shirts are extremely dirty and often “holey”.
We finally get into the church around 8:45, s couple guys finish the painting on the ceiling—some white diamonds for accent. This oil base paint already needs some touch-ups, I hope it wears well. We decide to hang the steel cross in the front center of the chapel, a little bit off the wall to give it some definition. It used to be mounted off to one side, not as high as we have it now. I have to make a wire support to level it and keep it from swinging.
Jack calls the meeting with Gaspar Marc and me. We discuss his possible employment at the orphanage, we try to make it clear to him that we would really like to have him work at Hope House, and that he will be paid a reasonable salary. Gaspar is concerned not to be taking Clemont’s place. He is afraid he will not fit in with the existing boys that are working there. Marc says it should not be a problem, he has different skills than Clemont and will have different responsibilities. He still seems hesitant, Jack asks him, “do you have any reservations?” Gaspar says no, so OK, he’s hired! We congratulate him—he still does not seem very excited. Marc reassure Gaspar that he will meet with the other boys and smooth the way for him. Hopefully they will accept him and include him in their leadership.
Marc says we can do the magic show around 10 AM in the courtyard. By then the chapel is back together and someone decides we should do it there—I’m glad because it is a better setup for all. I wonder if Marc is nervous about doing what some of the boys think might be “voodoo magic” in the chapel. The kids and adults and my assistant “Parkier” all have a good time. My last trick is the “bra” trick which I do with one of the teachers. She’s a bit stunned at first and then runs out laughing as the kids go wild. I am a little concerned that I offended her in some way so I check on her later to be sure she’s not mad at me—she’s still smiling. The kids all go back to class, we begin to prepare to leave. We are told its time to go, so we climb into the truck, half of us are in the truck and half are out saying goodbyes to all who are around. There are two guys working on the shocks and brakes of Armand’s car, next thing we know, they are working on our truck! Here we go again! We unload for 20 minutes until they’re finished, now its time to go.

We stop at the infirmary and the Hotel to finish packing and clean up our linens and such. Marc and Jack stop by—they are not going with us now, they are coming on Wed. to Port au Prince to pick up Monigue on Thursday. Jack and Marc will be staying until next Tuesday. We wish each other well, God Bless, etc. Father Marc has learned some disturbing things about some of his help since Clemont’s death, including the fact that Clemont had a fiancée that he didn’t know about. He thought they were close, He really hopes that he can develop some trustworthy relationships with some of the Haitian guys working with him.

12 noon Ovwa, Ovwa! We are on our way back to Port Au Prince. Berttinee drives with Johneese, one of the older guys and Edmund rides in the back with us. I am standing up in the front of the rack area with Parkier. We decide it would be safer for him to stand than to sit on the spare tire which is on top of the cab roof. We are often going somewhere between 60-75 miles per hour. Bertinee has a habit of quick stops for on coming traffic, cows, people, goats, potholes. Bertinee seems to know when there is a good stretch of road and we really fly then. Parker lends me a pair of desert sunglasses with the side leather shields, they do a good job keeping the sand and bug shrapnel out of the eyes. After one hour I have a new hair style—straight back and sticking out like the fins on an old Cadillac! Everyone laughs and takes a few embarrassing photos. A few of us stand the whole trip back and we all wonder how long it will take us this time, 8 hours again? or 41/2 hours like it is supposed to take. I wonder where the oasis is?
Driving down the road we hear many kids hollering out, “Blanc, Hey Blanc!” Just like old times! Some also holler “Espwa” because that’t what it says across the front of the truck. Edmund Gaspar and Ellen are talking about the gambling/lottery booths that are everywhere. Gaspar says that he has never gambled, he is a Christian and Christians don’t do that sort of thing. He asks me if I will ask Fr. Marc if he will allow him to go to his church about 3 times per week. I reassure him that it will not only be OK, but that Mark may even encourage a few of the non-Catholic boys to go with him.
For some reason we don’t get food at the oasis, its already 2:30 and a few of us are getting hungry. It’s a good thing we stocked up on drinks and snacks on the way our of Les Cayes. The local bartender from LesCayes that a few of the guys had made friends with supplied us with lots of cokes, water, Heineken, and two ice chests full of ice! Boy, were they welcome! By the time we arrived in Port Au Prince, all the Heineken and Cokes were gone. At one point on the highway we were seemingly racing with another smaller truck with 2 mason workers in the back, they wave and laugh at us as we go by, it seems they find it very comical that we have so many “Blancs” in one place! Later on, when we stop for a roadside pee and mango break, they pass us. Soon we catch up to them again, it seems on the mountain roads they slow down a little more than we do, their truck sounds like its going as fast as possible and yet we pull alongside and are about to pass them again, we decide it would be very funny if we could hand off an open bottle of Heineken to them at 70 MPH! PERFECT PASS! They are very happy. I hope someone got a photo! Perhaps the most amazing thing is, that neither driver knew what we were trying to do, and yet we passed that close!
Once again David’s large belly (he’s not wearing a shirt), gets many stares and comments as we drive along. It is quite a sight! At slow times on the road we talk of all of our experiences, of the work we accomplished, even though the paint never arrived. We are concerned about the oil base paint peeling from the masonry walls in the chapels from the moisture that is sometimes there.
Surprisingly the trip to outer Port Au Prince only takes about 4 hours. Of course it takes us another 1 ½ hours to get to our hotel with all the usual traffic. At one point, we unavoidably run over a dog, a bus behind us flattens it, Parker sees it all and is rather upset by it.
Almost everyone we pass gawks at us, one English language school teacher sees us and hollers out to us, “Hey Americans, so many in one truck, we are teaching English here so that we will be prepared when you take over our country, you should come and help us!” Jay responds, “we are already there”. There does seem to be less surprised happy looks as we get deeper into the city. I ask Gaspar if the girls smile and wave when he waves to them as much as when Americans wave to them. He does not know why they do not.

On the way to the hotel we are just about to pass the capitol building, it’s a huge beautiful white building, large iron gates around the property, in stark contrast to the rest of the island, when all of a sudden all traffic stops. It gets very quite all around, we hear patriotic music coming from somewhere, and many people get out of their cars and stand at attention. Edmund tells us they are lowering the flag for the day and all in the vicinity must stop for it, it is all very strange and interesting to see how all seem to readily respect this tradition in a country where so few other rules are followed.

The Haitian people are a beautiful people, especially when they smile. The girls smile a lot more than the guys, especially when we wave to them. Parkier has a good time hollering “Bonswa” to as many people as possible.
We finally climb the mountains to our Hotel Montana. It is quite a place! Several say it’s the best they have ever stayed in. The property is very terraced, there are flowers everywhere, they have 3 parrots in a cage in the front yard. We are all filthy dirty, I finally look in a mirror—I have to scream slightly! This is a scary mask I am wearing!
Jeff decides that Bertinee should not go back to Les Cayes tonight but should take us to the airport tomorrow (Tuesday) morning. Jay, Doug, and Jeff are meeting with Francois Benoit, he is the land owner of the prime piece of property that we are hoping to buy. He used to be the ambassador from Haiti to the White House, it seems he was not always supported by the people in power and was even arrested several times. He finally dropped out of politics and into modern agriculture, because in his words, he’d “rather have a green thumb than a brown nose”. We are told he picks about 2500 heads of lettuce from his rooftop every two weeks. When the guys meet with him, they have more of a social meeting, get a tour of his house and hydroponics garden. He explains that if we can work out the property deal, he’d like to first hire a few of Fr. Marc’s boys to work and train with him, and then they can help Marc set up his new operation. Its decided that Jack and Marc will make the final deal.
Bertinee and Johneese go to friends/relatives’ houses for the night. Edmund stays with us, and ends up rooming with me. He’s never stayed in a hotel before, we get to the room, shower, he’s very interested in watching TV and the news, CNN. He asks a lot of questions about the terrorists and attacks on America. Its finally time for dinner, as we leave the room, Edmund asks me, “Pastor Andy, what was that room we went into and out of before we came to our room here?” I wasn’t sure what he meant and I asked him to clarify, as he showed me the doors to the “room” he was talking about, The Elevator! He was never on one before and didn’t know that we were on the 5th floor! We walked to the balcony to show him.

We went to dinner, which took forever, most of the group had steak, I had shrimp Creole, eventually! Gaspar had wine, he had never had that before either! He said it was OK, he drank two glasses. Gaspar commented that he doesn’t usually drink any alcohol, Christians don’t do that either. He thought it was funny when the waiter told him in Creole, “tonight you are an American, you are eating and sleeping with them, enjoy!” Edmund can’t believe that we are paying $100.00 per night per room, he asks me about it several times and then lets out a “whew”.
During dinner conversation at the big hotel, Lance and Lance and I are discussing how incredible it is that there are 120 boys living in the total space of the orphanage property. And yet the supervision seems to be well managed because we witnessed no out of control behavior or anything too difficult to handle easily. Sunday morning the barber was trimming 4 year old Papou’s hair when Albert, who is “mentally impaired”, decided he wanted to tease Papou. The barber warned him gently several times to stop teasing, so I finally stepped in, put my arm around Albert, and we went for a walk. He seemed very happy to go with me, like he was used to having a big brother spend time with him.

It’s 9:30, I’ve been writing a lot while waiting for food to come and others to be finished, I try to call home and get thru on the third try, Its good to hear that the kids are all OK.
Gaspar is watching TV for a while and then we begin talking about magic. I begin to explain that the tricks that I do are just simple tricks that anyone can do, I ask him if he saw the magic show. He didn’t so I tried to explain the “bra” trick that we did to the one teacher, I had to demonstrate it to him. He thought it was very funny! I asked him what he thinks about “black magic and voodoo”. He says what I do is “good magic” and what voodoo people or fortune tellers do, is evil magic. The discussion that ensues, I will try to detail, if some of it does not make sense, its because it did not all make sense to me either. We go over some of the following details many times to try and understand each other.
Edmund believes that voodoo magic is real. He asks me, “you do not believe?” He says if I was Haitian I would believe, he thinks Clemont was killed because someone didn’t like him and had a voodoo curse put on him. It was this curse that made the bus hit him, perhaps even Bertinee or others at the orphanage had him killed. No wonder Gaspar is hesitant about taking the job at the orphanage.
We have a long and serious talk about the impossibility of any voodoo person having any real power over physical events. I am sure that the only power that they have, is the psychological power that people give them if they believe in what the voodoo people say they can do. I try to remember that Edmund is a Christian, and seems to be very dedicated to being a good Christian.
We talk about voodoo’s possible powers in much more detail. Edmund says he believes that they can kill people and bring them back to life and that when someone has someone else killed, you are to go to the grave on the next night and call them out and then walk them through town past their families’ home. (I think this is to show that you have power over them)(I’m not sure what happens after that, I think we then went on to more concrete examples) I asked Edmund if he had ever seen actual voodoo controlled events, he said yes, for example, there are some people who have the power to fly at night, he has seen some of them fly around at night with red eyes. He says there is one man in Haiti who even flies to the US every night, but no one will let him stay there so he always returns home. I ask him, “what kind of alcohol were you drinking when you saw people flying?” He laughs, I tell him it is impossible, if it was true, it would be big news in the world, everyone would want to know about it and how it is done. I try to be very clear and strong that it is impossible and that wherever there are many uneducated and superstitious people, others will take advantage of them and will use many deceptive means to convince many that their superstitions are real.
We talk a bit about superstitions in the U.S. and in many churches, how these hurt the growth of the true church of believers in Jesus Christ. We talk about what it means to be a true Christian, Edmund talks about how even his Baptist church often seems to make up stories about Catholics and other denominations, just to keep people from associating with them. (I realize now how difficult it must be for Edmund to be accepting this job with Father Marc. For him, working for a Roman Catholic organization is very taboo.).
I make an analogy of people praying for help here in Haiti and us showing up to help to help the orphanage. I ask Edmund, “did their prayer magically make us appear or are we there because we want to be there and because God wants us to be there?” He agrees that Christians do not have that kind of power and that if they who believe in the all and most powerful God that we have, and do not have some sort of magical power, then certainly, other humans who believe in Satan cannot have mystical, spiritual and physical power over others either. I point out that when Jesus died, went to hell and rose again from the grave, that he proved that he had power over Satan and over the grave.
When we finally seem to be getting to some agreement, and I feel Edmund is beginning to accept and believe what I have to say, (and its almost mid-night), I say to him, that its time for 1 or 2 more magic tricks that I have out to show him, and then goodnight. I teach him a number trick and the “disappearing quarter before your eyes” trick, he is still amazed!
We both say goodnight, he lays on top of the covers with all the lights on—I encourage him to go under the sheets to get the full experience of sleeping in a hotel! I don’t think he’s ever slept under sheets before, he crawls under everything, sheets, blankets, heavy bedspread, I think he has been freezing with the A.C. on!
I set the alarm for 6, lights out finally, and then I hear Edmund signing and saying his prayers under the covers! He is definitely devoted! I sleep fairly well even though I wake up around 5 and get up at 6. I shower etc. and then sit and write for awhile. At 6:30 Edmund is signing and praying again! And then he gets up not knowing what time it is. We go down for breakfast at 7, they have a buffet set up which I add to the room bill. Johneese arrives at 8:30 with his cousin who is selling 2 wooden pieced pictures of Haiti. They are very nice looking, he wants $100.00 each. Jeff says no, $20. max. Johneese has never been in an elevator either, so we take him for a ride and hotel tour! Edmund really enjoys showing him everything. Johneese asks if he can have some food, so I buy breakfast for him and his cousin, later a couple of sodas also.
Jeff, Jay and Doug go out with Francoise like I described earlier. They will meet us at the airport. That leaves me as the only “experienced” airport person to get us checked in! I think we are in trouble. We have estimates of the time it will take us to get to the airport of 20 minutes to 4 hours! It all depends on traffic and “roadblocks”. We decide to leave at 10:30 for our 2:30 flight. There are beautiful flowers everywhere. Ashok loves a beautiful carving which stands outside the gift shop, he buys it for $1,800.00 and is having it shipped to his house! Johneese’s cousin stops us as we are boarding the truck, he says that Jeff wants this one wooden picture and that he promised him $20. for it. Tom pays him the money, since he came down to 20, I decide to buy the other one!
We finally load up, the Haitians with us seem intrigued with the walkie-talkies we have with us and ask if we can get them a pair. Tom offers his to Edmund to give to Fr. Marc. Bertinee is afraid to take money for new truck shocks because Marc might suspect him of taking too much. Apparently the shocks will cost about 4x more here than at home.
We make it to the airport in about 30 minutes! I give Edmund what Haitian money I have left for gas–$260. gourde. I hope it is enough. He says it is. The guys at the curb are “official” airport baggage guys, still they beg for money, even though we don’t want help and insist we have no money.
We all get scanned, I set off the beeper again and get frisked. They clear me, but my backpack has a problem again. This time I forgot to remove the leatherman tool—will I ever get it right? At least they allow me to put it into my luggage. We all get checked in, Tom and Parker are waiting for Jeff, Jay, and Doug, Jeff has Parker’s ticket.
We change a few of our seats so that we are sitting somewhat closer together, we pay our tax to get out of the country just as the others arrive. There are three women checking to make sure everyone has paid their departure tax and they cannot believe the size of David belly, they ask in French if he is pregnant? And then laugh and laugh, we take a picture of them with David and they get a big kick out of it all.
We are finally in the “departure lounge”, on Jack’s advice we order Monte Christo sandwiches for everyone, I think it the one and only entrée here, but it is known to be pretty good. There are more stores open here now than the last time we were here and some of us buy a few last minute souvenirs to bring home. The strange thing is that there are no planes in sight on the runway. We thought this was an airport! Ours finally arrives at 1:35, we board about 2, we all say goodbyes to Ellen who is taking a later flight to Miami and then Houston. She says she may be up by us in a week or so to go over pictures.
We all board, Parker carries our 2 wooden pictures that we got such good deal on, and his new wooden machete! He wants me to show him more magic, but we are sitting far apart, maybe later. Flight takes off without incident and we are soon being served dinner. We are almost home and this diary is almost finished, yet there is much work to be done. I’m sitting by Steve and we talk of the potential future. We point out how special and unique it is that on a Rotary trip with a bunch of “Christians, Heathens and Catholics” we spend a great deal of time sharing our faith and talking about our love of Jesus, we suppose God gives us no choice! We all hope that we may be able to make special differences in the near future….I think that means this story is to be continued…..

Please keep us in your prayers! Thanks! Yours in Christ, Pastor Andy

Post Script- Almost everyone I had written a letter to before leaving on this second trip has responded beautifully! Not only were my expenses paid for, (although I did pay for the last night in the hotel myself), but Theos Work raised a little extra besides. They will continually need support. Since we have been home, we have been working on finding a good used school bus to send to Father Marc, we have concluded the deal on the new land and are in the process of raising the final funds for the land, and will soon be starting a major fund raising effort for “Hope Village”! My church and Erica’s Interact club has gathered and purchased enough Christmas gifts for all the 120 boys at the orphanage as well as for another 50 boys that go to school there. And it looks like I may be flying down with Champone to deliver all those gifts in early January!
Brothers?? I think so.

Gift of Life Honduras – November 2007

Wow, Its already Monday Nov. 11, here in Honduras, all of us have been here since Friday, a few a few days before to set up and to start doing echocardiograms on some the first surgical cases. We have all been very busy since arrival so this is the first I have had a chance to sit and write, still at the hospital (its 5:45) and we have a few cases to go yet in the cath lab and at least one more open heart surgery. Its been an incredible several days, the doc.s have seen some things they don’t usually (if ever) see at home, many of them have been let go way too long, that’s why we’re here. Its amazing to see the caring of the teams, doctors and nurses alike—wanting to help each and every kid if at all possible. We have seen some very difficult cases, some not even operable. Dr. Ngyuen has been doing his usual incredible job, started surgery yesterday, Sunday. They had some trouble with the first girl so it took much longer than it should have, but everyone stuck it out and by 8PM 3 surgeries were complete, 3 more lives saved! It’s a great feeling!

Saturday I spent a lot of time with Kevin Feely, the PA tech guy from St. Joe’s, working out suction and oxygen for a PICU meant for 3 patients and we want to set it up for at least 6 patients. Ran around to a medical supply house, an auto parts store and ACE Hardware to get tubing, connectors and such! Kevin seemed very happy with what we came up with. Dr. Bob Sommer and Dr. Fuad Kablawi, started doing catherization procedures, a few were diagnostic to give us more info for surgery but Sunday began repairs thru catherization, either inserting devices or doing balloon procedures to open up constricted arteries and heart valves. I am in the cath lab now, sitting on the back side of the protective glass for when they turn the xray tube on to locate the probe and such. Everyone in the room has to wear heavy lead lined aprons to work, I watched several procedures the other day and its just amazing to see how many people are working together to save one child’s life. When you think about it, besides the 6-10 people that are in the room at almost any one time, there are probably another 6-10 people at home that helped to pack all the equipment and supplies that we are using as well! One little girl we had in here yesterday, Melissa, is an extremely cute good natured kid in spite of her obvious poverty filled life, she had a large ASD and Pulmonary Stenosis, was very blue, turns out also has scabies and lice. Bob decides the best we can do for her is to open her restricted pulmonary artery, improve her O2 level, and then in December, when another team is coming to do heart surgery, she can have her ASD closed. It was very difficult to get the catheter into her left femoral vein so Bob finally decides to go thru the artery in her neck. It took a very long time to complete, but today she is much pinker, 02 saturations in the 90’s and is happy, smiling, and sent home by noon time!

At this point in the mission, the cardiac catherization team has already examined and/or treated 15 kids! One especially disappointing case was Belsy. Her echo showed a coarctation of the aorta with a restriction. Upon catherization exam, Dr. Sommer realizes that she has no operating corrated arteries to her brain! There are some smaller capillaries that have grown and the increased pressure in her aorta, because of the restriction, is necessary in order to keep some blood flowing to her head! This all explains why this beautiful 14 year old girl has been complaining of dizziness and seizures for some time now. There is most likely little if anything that can be done for her, and we all feel the mother’s pain and tears when she is told. It is also moving to see how one of the other mom’s comes over to pray with her and hug her.

Then there is Iris, yesterday was a long day, started out rough because we had what was thought to be an easy case to try out a new closure device for an ASD that a rep. from “Cardia” brought a bunch of here for us to tryout. They are not licensed to be used in the US yet but have been used in Europe for ten years, about 10,000 to date. Bob could not get that device to sit properly in a large ASD no matter what, her atrium was too small to allow for proper maneuvering. He then tried two other devices that wouldn’t work either and finally had to give in and put her on the waiting list for surgery. The good news is that we had another child, Angela-with long beautiful hair, canceled from surgery because of illness, so she was put in that slot today and is now doing great! I took a picture a little while ago of one of our nurses, Valerie, brushing her hair! Beautiful! So when they started the last case of the day- 15 year old Iris, they fully expected to just be confirming the echocardio report that she had tetrology of Fallot with several other severe complications and there was little or no hope that she would survive any surgery. After an extensive catherization study, it was determined that she most likely would survive surgery, there is a lot of work to be done on her, but there is a good chance for survival and a greatly improved life! Khan squeezed her into Wednesday’s schedule! We cant wait to see how she does, this morning when she was told she would have surgery, she cried with happiness that she has a now has a chance!

Everyone here is working together so beautifully, even when Ingrid or Alex blow up with their German way of responding to tension, the rest just take it in stride, knowing that its just part of how much we all care about what we are doing here!

There is so much to tell that has happened already, I realize I am jumping around the timeline here a bit, but that’s how it goes in the brain. Things like Fuad not being able to get on the plane on Thursday because he is from Jordan and needs a visa for Honduras, Alex and Ingrid from Germany, and we spend most of Friday sending them to the Honduran consulate in NYC, and calling everyone we know to convince them to give them a visa with no problems—obviously they all got their visas in just a few hours! Or the mountains of “luggage” that we brought with us, 28 passengers with 75 pieces-boxes, duffles, & two 6”PVC tubes I made for catheters so they wont be bent, the agent that first insisted,$100.00 per extra item, the supervisor that said “no” I saw an email about this and it is all fine! Or Ray and Reubens’ flight that tried three times to go from San Pedro Sula to Tegucigalpa before being able to land to pick up a car and all the supplies we shipped ahead of time! And yet we are here and everyone is working furiously, (or sometimes waiting furiously when things get held up for one reason or another!) Khan is working on the 6th surgical case and will hopefully be finished soon! 11 or 12 more to go before the end of Thursday. Beverly, Ruben, Ray, John and Joe are all keeping busy coordinating food, gift packs, toys, stuffed animals, payments of bills, etc, etc., all those things that round out what we are doing here so that we are sending everyone home feeling good in their heart, even if we were unable to provide heart surgery for those few. Well, I guess that’s it for now, this PDA has been successfully closed, 4 yr. old Keiglin is doing well and on her way to PICU in a few moments, this part of the team is on their way to the hotel for some much needed rest until tomorrow’s early hour to start all over again! Buenos Noches, hasta manana! Andy

This is most of us on the bus on the way to hotel

Emely before a catherization—turns out she is inoperable.

waiting echocardiogram.

Emely - a very good patient!

waiting room full of patients and families – Ruben giving out a stuffed animal

Debbie with Edwin, a very happy kid

You know this guy doing a little magic for Angela.

Wow Again! Its Wednesday already! I am sitting in the Cath. Lab, behind the xray proof glass, a good place to watch and not have to wear those heavy lead aprons! They kinda feel like a suit of armor, but after a while, according to Dr. Chan, they get really heavy! Right now we have 9 year old Anderson on the table asleep, I told him “No Snoring!” He laughed, he seems like a great kid with a very good attitude, We love helping all these kids and kids like Anderson make it easy! He has an ASD so maybe Dr. Sommer can use another one of the Cardia devices that saleman Peter brought! Peter was very helpful in the cath lab while he was here for a few days and a lot of fun! (but definitely a salesman!)

Ingrid just sent word down that she will be beginning sedation on Iris in about 5 minutes, Kar-Mei Chan wanted to see the new IV insertion device that Ingrid is using so she will run over to OR soon to watch and learn, I will go to take photos!

Yesterday, amongst the cases that went smoothly, we had one unique case that was pretty scary for a while. 8 month old, Jafet Abisai Martinez Barahona (they always have long names!) had severe Pulmonary Stenosis—a pulmonary valve that doesn’t open all the way so that the pressure in the right ventricle is very high. The standard fix is to go in with a balloon catheter and expand it until it quite literally, tears the restricted valve open! Dr. Fuad Kiblawi and Dr. Bob Sommer did an excellent job doing just that, the valve opened, the pressure released, and then apparently the heart developed something called “suicide RV”! When I first heard the term I thought maybe someone had seen how I drive a motorhome! But of course it is potentially much worse than that. The way Bob explained it to me, the right ventricle develops as a much stronger muscle than normal because of the restricted valve. When the valve is opened, now there is no pressure build up and the muscle squeezes just as hard as it used to and all the blood is pushed out and the chamber basically collapses, now there is no opening left to receive new blood and the other side of the heart keeps all the blood. Jafet quickly became purple with a severe lack of oxygenated blood to the rest of his body. Dr. Chan worked feverishly to stablize the child and after injection of some “miracle drugs” to relax the overconstricting heart muscle, Jafet’s color came back. He was sent to PICU on a ventilator, paralytic drugs, pain killers, and muscle relaxants/beta blockers to give his heart a chance to get used to a new way of operating. Kar-Mei Mai worked especially hard and it was amazing to watch her wolf down two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and two more slices of bread covered with chocolate crème! For such a petite woman, she sure ate a lot! Well deserved!

Just ran up to take some photos of Ingrid showing Kar-Mei how to put in central lines on Iris using a small echo locator to assist in making sure they are cannulating the internal jugular vein. Its amazing how quickly Ingrid works, most of the people involved in surgery seem to work very quickly. I think I will go back to surgery soon to watch Iris’s progress, she has become something of a star for us, she thought she had no hope for a normal life and has been so elated that she now has a chance. We all pray that she will do well and cant wait to take photos after surgery so that we can compare her color with all the before surgery photos we have. Now, more sad news for the cath. Team and for Anderson, his ASD was so huge the closure device Bob and Henry Issenberg tried on him, at first looked good, but with a little tug, it popped loose. Not a good thing to happen when he coughed or something, so they pulled it out and decided he would have to wait until December or February when another team is coming to do more surgery—they will have to put a patch over the hole. Ok, up to OR to see how Iris is doing, Kar-Mei asked if I can get a close up of the heart during repair, she is a bigger girl, so I may be able to get a good shot. Hasta luego! Andreas

Thursday AM— WHAT AN INCREDIBLE AFTERNOON! Iris did beautifully! A very long surgery to say the least! She went under sedation about 11:30PM, Khan actually began surgery about 12:30 and she wasn’t closed up again until 6:45PM! She was on the heart-lung bybass machine for a good 4 hours out of which the stopped all circulation for a total of 60 minutes!! (10-20 minutes at a time!) According to all indications she was deceased—yet her body temperature had been lowered a great deal, her head was packed in ice, and now, after what is definitely a miracle of modern medicine and a lot of concentrated work by our team and especially Dr. Nguyen, Iris is awake, alert, and this morning greeted me with a weak but determined “Buenas Dias!” It certainly is a good day for Iris! Iris’s color is so much different already, one of the night nurses, Sylvia I think, brought a large wall mirror in for her to look at herself! When asked how she feels, she said “Good”! Its hard to imagine how she can feel good after all she has been thru. She came out of surgery on a ventilator and was on it until sometime during the night when Dr. Srivastava, (Shooby we call her), extubated her.
I was able to get some incredible photos of Iris’s heart, including the inside of it! The construction that Khan did in order to create proper pathways for Iris’s blood was amazing to watch. Using some of her own tissue, Dacron patches, and some specialized hardware Iris is now getting the proper blood flow to her lungs and her body! When they reintroduced the blood flow to her heart and warmed her up, with just a little persuasion from a pair of defibrillator paddles, her heart began beating again and her new life began! Khan is sitting next to me now on the couch in the break/supply room along with Henry Issenberg. We are wondering what kind of euphoria someone like Iris, must feel, someone who has never had full blood flow to her whole body until now?! Maybe she really does feel good in spite of everything!

Things are actually happening faster than I can find time to write about them! Yesterday, during Iris’s surgery, in between my running back and forth to the hospital blood bank to get plasma and platelets for Iris several times, we learned that today’s first surgery case had a high fever and would have to be postponed until February when another team will be here. At first, Lori, who has been coordinating all these cases, (she works for the Ruth Paz Foundation) thought a 5 month old boy who has been in heart failure (0xygen levels of 45%) would be a good candidate. Unfortunately, he has already left the hospital and cannot get back in time, so guess what? Anderson, the ASD cath. Case that needs surgical correction, he got his chance! He has already had his surgery,(that’s why Khan was in the break room) and he is on his way to recovery!

As for Jafet, the one with the “suicide RV” (Henry clarified—“attempted suicide RV” thankfully not successful!) is doing well and going home today! The Cath. Team thought they were going home early yesterday after three cases, but of course another one came up at the last moment which they took care of and for the first time they got back to the hotel in daylight! I heard they were going shopping! When the rest of us finally got back after Iris’s surgery, most of us went to a local Italian restaurant that we were invited to free of charge, by Leon Greene from Action International Ministries. Some of the kids that we have been treating are ones that he and his wife are trying to help. They live and work about five hours from here.
At the moment, I believe the Cath. Team has looked at and/or treated 25 cases, with 5 more to go for today, and surgery has completed 15 with 2 more to go! The progress that has been made has been incredible. We are so glad we brought as many supplies as we did, we are leaving a lot behind but there have been a lot of things that we thought we had plenty of and then ran short. We even had a FED-Ex shipment arrive yesterday at the hotel I ran over for at 3:30, some temperature probes to measure inner body temp and monitor it constantly, by 3:45 we had on Iris!
Time for me to insert some photos and then get this out to all! It has been incredible so far and we are now getting anxious for the reunion party tomorrow night with all the kids that we have had come to the US for surgery! Until next time—Va con Dios! Yours in service, Andreas

Iris before surgery Iris after surgery!

Anderson with Steve Walker before his Catherization

This is Vallery, quite a drama queen! Going home today!

Dr. Khan Nguyen, his assistant Dr. Henry Tannous and Adam as OR tech

The Catheterization team at work!

Vallery’s mom reading scripture to her daughter.

Debbie and Kar-Mai preparing another patient

Sighhhh…Its Monday, November 19, 2007! On our way home!! What an incredible last few days! We finished up with the following numbers: 29 children received cardiac catherization procedures and 17 had open heart surgery! An incredible of 46 children treated and/or diagnosed for future treatment of life threatening congenital heart defects! On Saturday, When we left for a few days of much deserved relaxation, all the children except for 5 had either gone home or had gone to “Barnabas House”, a low cost rehabilitation/medical mission facility about an hour away. Before I left with Dr. Issenberg and Steve Walker for the Copan ruins, I stopped in to see our last kids one more time. Iris and her mother wanted to see a photo of her “new” heart! I had told them (with Ruben’s help) the night before that I had photos of it and they said they would like to see it. So at 6:30AM, Ruben and I stopped in and showed them, they were so amazed! They said that now that she had a new life she would go back to school (has not been able to walk that far since 6th grade)! I told Iris that we wanted to receive a phone call or a note in the mail inviting us to her wedding some day (John Hartman used to tell the kids that!) both Iris and her mom blushed and laughed and but then got kind of serious as the mom explained to Ruben, that they had been told after her heart surgery Iris would not be able to “have relations” with a man!! I told her perhaps before her surgery that was true, but now the only thing she would not be able to do was play American football! She can now do anything she wants to do and be anything she wants to be! Iris and her mom seemed much relieved and happy! Mom said she is a very smart girl and will be glad to go back to school and live the rest of her life! Hugs and kisses were shared all around both her in the PICU and then with the moms and kids still on the step down floor! What a wonderful experience! To top it all off, Iris is our 500th Gift of Life child!! With the help of so many people we have now provided life saving heart surgeries for over 500 children! Congratulations to all!!
Friday night we also had the distinct pleasure to have 25 or so of the 30 Honduran children that have come to the USA for treatment gather with us for a celebration dinner. It was wonderful to see how those children have grown and matured! We ate great Honduran food, danced, and had a great time together! Dr. Nguyen and others got to see and hear how their work and dedication is making a huge diffenence in these children’s lives! They are growing strong, do everything they want to do and feel great doing it!

Saturday morning, our group slowly dispersed, a few had to head straight home for work or to help care for ailing older relatives, much of our group went to the beach about an hour away, Henry Issenberg, Steve Walker and myself headed south to Copan to visit and explore the ancient Copan Mayan ruins! We had a terrific time! Went horse back riding into the hills to see some ancient artifacts there as well as to visit a small village, La Pintada where they make cute cornhusk dolls to help sustain them selves. Children mobbed all around us as we entered their village on horseback, chanting, Vente, vente, vente…! (they wanted 20 lemperas for each doll! About one dollar!) A few of the children could be seen almost everyday downtown also selling their dolls for the same price—and there was no bargaining with them! Oh well, Steve and I both bought dolls! After a beautiful Saturday we rode back into town by moonlight for some much needed rest. Sunday we visited the main Mayan ruins nearby, a fascinating visit! And later we went to the Macaw Mountain, a rescue and preserve for injured and donated parrots of several types—they have over 450 or so now. They were beautiful to see and hold! They also grow and sell (of course!) excellent coffee there! The coffee bean plants seem to thrive in the mountain air, shaded by all of the large rain forest trees. Of course we brought some home!

Monday morning, All of us that were left met up at the airport, split up the boxes of equipment we were bringing home, shared photos, hugs, reminisced, and soon boarded the plane. An incredible job well done by all! We cant believe its over already, the kids are all doing great and so we all look forward to getting back to our family and friends! Dr. Nguyen is eager for us to return to Vietnam and follow up on the work we did there almost two years ago now. With everyone’s continued support, we hope to be able to put together another mission like this one, in about a years time! There is no doubt that the lives of many children were saved on this trip—but there continue to be so many more. Everyone should be very proud of what ever part they played to help make medical mission trips like this one a reality! Lets keep up the incredible work! Yours in Rotary International Gift of Life service, Andy Topp- Program Coordinator

Ray and Debbie trying to cheer up Iris before her surgery…

Beverly with a very happy family!

Any explanation necessary?? Cute thru and thru!

Most of our crew at the celebration party!

supporting the Copan economy…

Our last two in PICU — Our last three in PICU!

Three of our previous success stories—enjoying the Gift Of Life! Thank-you!

Dr. Issenberg riding off into the sunset… (you always have to finish with a “riding into the sunset shot!)

Every once in a while, one of our Gift of Life Children has a story that stands out from the rest. The story I would like to share with you today, is that of Arife Zejna, who is pictured with her father on the cover of this year’s journal.

In October of 2001, we heard of Arife’s desperate need for help from the German Field Hospital stationed in Kosovo,  part of the International Peace keeping forces. After receiving her medical records, and having her approved for surgery by Dr. Henry Issenberg at Montefiore Children’s Hospital, there was a change of command at the German Field Hospital. When we notified the new staff of Arife’s approval for surgery, they had no knowledge of Arife’s case or her whereabouts. It seemed as if this child had vanished. There was no record of her address, her parents names, or any way to contact them. For 4 months we and our internet partner, Boes.org, pleaded with the field hospital to follow through and help find this little girl.

We finally found a sympathetic ear in Lt. Andreas Papke, of the German Army. After hearing Arife’s needs, Andreas took it upon himself to locate Arife so that she could receive the lifesaving surgery she needed. Andreas went driving out to the mountain region where it was believed that Arife lived. He went door to door asking for any knowledge of this sick little girl.   Finally, one lead led to another and he located the bare shack that Arife and her family called home.

At hearing the news of Arife’s impending surgery, her family wondered how it would ever work out.  Life in Kosovo is not as simple as it is here.  Mrs. Zejna is suffering from post war syndrome. Leaving her incapable of caring for her husband and her children. What atrocities she has endured to leave her in such a state, we can only imagine.   To make matters worse, her father is nearly blind, is physically frail, and has noone to leave Arife’s brother and sister with, were he to accompany Arife to the United States. Now we have to devise an appropriate letter of consent for treatment and we have to find a suitable escort for this little girl.

To help you understand how difficult this all is, you need to know, there is no one government in Kosovo. The country is under the guidance and care of the United Nations peace keeping forces.  This means that the country gets divided up like a game board, the U.S. has one sector, the British has one sector the Germans have another, and so on.  Obtaining a visa and passport under these circumstances can be almost impossible.  Once again, 7 year old Arife’s fate is dependant on total strangers.  Those strangers do not always cooperate with one another, especially when there is no money or special favors involved.

On our end, we prepare the necessary visa request letters, send them via Fed-Ex and E-mail to the German field hospital, and then we wait.  Over the next few months there are many emails between us and several officers at the field hospital.

In an effort to make this life saving mission a multi-national mission of mercy, an American soldier, Captain Cleary, agrees to escort Arife to New York.  Several fundraisers are held amongst the military posts to pay for two airfares to the United States and back.  Meanwhile Arife is getting weaker by the day.  She has a special place in her father’s heart, but he is afraid that this “potential miracle” may just not come in time.  Finally the day for departure  arrives.  The American Captain arrives at the airport with frail and sickly Arife, the airline authorities decide she must have a qualified doctor with her before they will allow her to travel with them.  Where will we find, in two hours, a doctor with passport, visa and willing to spend several days escorting Arife to the US?   It seems impossible– Lt. Papke remembers a woman at Samaritans Purse Hospital who has a brother who is an emergency room doctor at another hospital who also speaks English.  After several phone calls, its all set, Dr. Jeton quickly meets Arife and her family and then they are on their way to the US.

Here at home, Mario Picinich of the Rutherford Rotary club has made arrangements with his cousin’s family to host Arife, before and after surgery while she is in this country.  Francesca and Ivan speak a little of Arife’s language and they are looking forward, a little nervously, to helping to save this girls life.  My Father, Andy, meets with Mario, RoseMarie, Ivan and Francesca at the airport,  anxiously awaiting the arrival of Arife and Dr. Jeton Vorfi, who we learned just before leaving home, would be the one escorting her.

When they finally come through the US customs door, we are surprised at how frail and small this little girl is.  Dr. Jeton Vorfi explains that she would not eat or drink a thing on the entire 20 hour trip.  She slept most of the way.

They return to Ivan and Francesca’s home around 11PM.  We are able to get her to give us a weak smile when she is given a new doll, and a box of chocolates.

Things do not look good right now for Arife.    The next morning, an old friend of Jeton’s stops by to visit, he is also a past student of Dr. Issenberg, the  two doctors, in consultation with Dr. Issenberg decide Arife needs to be examined right away.

At Montefiore hospital, it is determined that she is suffering from mal-nutrition, not just because her family is too poor to provide an adequate diet, but also because her poor circulation does not allow her body to process what little nutrition she does get.

Her blood oxygen level is less than 50%.  If you or I were in this state, we would already be deceased.

We decide there must be another greater force at work in this girl’s life, and she is meant to live.  For the next two weeks, she is fed with a feeding tube, she receives Oxygen treatment and has several infected teeth removed.

She finally begins to smile

Arife is beginning to get used to these new friends.  She realizes that she is now part of a much larger family.  She is treated for lice, checked from head to toe for other ailments common to the poorest of the poor.  It is determined that without our help, she probably would not have lived another 10 days to 2 weeks.  She should have had this surgery several years ago, but it may not be too late for her yet.  Many people are praying for her recovery.  We keep in contact with her family via e-mail through Lt. Papke.  He sends word to her father every few days.  Her surgery is postponed for two weeks until she is strong enough to survive it.

The big day is here.  Dr. Gregory Crooke does a remarkable job.  Her heart is badly malformed but he is able to creatively use what tissue she has to make it pump efficiently without too many leaks.  Now only time will tell if it will work.

Arife recovers slowly.  Ivan, Francesca, Mario, Rose and others, take turns staying with her around the clock.  She begins to become like one of their own children.  Each day she is a little better. And a little stronger.

It looks like she is going to make it.  The questions abound.  Why did it take so long to get her here?  How many more children are in need like her?  How can we send her home to such poverty again?  Arife becomes a favorite among the nurses.  Dr. Arabella Stock, an Intensive care doctor, is especially interested in Arife’s case.  She is being sent by the hospital to Kosovo, to determine how many more children there might be that need our help and what we can do about it.

Arife doesn’t care much about the problems back home.  She has energy and strength to walk around and not get tired for the first time in her life.  Its has to be an unbelievable feeling.

Never before has she experienced such generosity.  Ivan and a few friends determine that she cannot go home to a life of poverty, not after all that has been invested in her so far.

Ivan and Mario decide to be the ones to escort her home.  They will open a bank account where her father will be able withdraw an amount equivalent to a reasonable salary, each month.

The joy of the  reunion is unspeakable.  The impossible has happened.  The miracle has come true.

Mr. Zejna cannot believe his eyes.  In 6 weeks, his frail little girl has changed so much.  She is no longer gasping for breath.  She is no longer quite and sullen.  She has joy and hope in her heart.  He cannot believe the energy she now has.  The scars on her chest are testimony to what she has been through.

The reunion at home is no less profound.  Perhaps now, their life will begin to turn around.  Who would have expected, that their weakest child, the one noone expected to live past 5, is now the one to save their whole family from a life of pain and suffering.

Arife doesn’t seem to fully understand all that has happened to her.  She simply knows, that she was sick and now she is healed.  She was poor, and now she is rich.  She will soon be able to keep up easily with what ever her brother and sister want to do.  Such joy, she never knew existed

Mario and Ivan spend several days, they borrow a truck and buy a kitchen table and chairs for the Zejna family, they buy a refrigerator, a couch and a truck load of food.  Arife is now a celebrity in her own right.  The generosity of her benefactors overflows from her to her family and friends.

Even her mother, sullen and withdrawn, who had barely spoken a word to anyone for several years, is beginning to smile and converse again.  Its like a rebirth, an awakening of a new spirit.

All because of a program called, “The Gift of Life”.  Your Gift of Life.  Its not just a gift you are giving to one child at a time.  It is a gift that goes beyond, way beyond what any of us can imagine.  It is a gift that bridges international barriers, it is a gift that brings people together, it is a gift that gives hope and new meaning to families, communities, even whole countries.

From the bottom of our hearts, thank you from all of our children, for all that you do to save their lives!