The Haiti Blog |

Katie reports:Visiting PIH’s New Hospital & Working in Boule, Haiti

By Caitlin Stevens | Published: December 30, 2011

This is a portion of UT Student Kate Erpenbach’s experience on her most recent trip to Haiti. The team was comprised of a few medical workers who went to conduct clinics and others who went to photograph all of the students who attend a Haiti Outreach Program school.

The New Partner’s In Health Teaching Hospital in Mirebalais:

http://www.pihphotos.org/Public/Photo-of-the-Day/15976054_CNNWfK#1642176684_SjB2dT6-A-LB

The hospital is going to be amazing! The first phase alone is huge. They have all of these little things you wouldn’t even think about, like fans to draw air upwards where UV lights kill TB bacteria. Or how they put styrofoam blocks in the concrete ceiling to help make it lighter and more resistant to seismic activity. For power they will rely first on solar power (SO COOL), for the nights they are on the haitian power grid, and then they have two large generators as well as a back up generator for those! It was really cool to see how they put such a priority on maternal health by including consultation rooms for pregnant women, labor and delivery wards, pre and post-partum wards, as well as a NICU in the very first phase they are building. (They told us that 1 in 9 women in Haiti can expect to die in labor.)
For more infromation in the teaching hospital in Mirebalais watch this video, posted by PIH January 2011:Haiti\’s New Hospital

Working in Boule:

The next day the whole group went to Boule. As soon as we got there we set up a clinic in the chapel, using sheets and blankets as dividers. When patients got there they would get their dossier from a PIH worker and then get their blood pressure and temperature taken by a PIH Nurse. From there, they would come sit in the waiting room until Dean, Leslie (American PA) or Judson (Haitian) saw them. from there they would get a prescription that would be filled with the help of our volunteers and PIH pharmacist on a rickety table. If they had scabies, then we would take them in a mud hut and apply a cream. If they had open wounds, they were cleaned and bandaged. Those with serious problems got recommendations to go to Cange, Boucan Carre, or the new hospital in Mirbalais when it opens in the summer. We saw a lot less malnutrition then they had in the past which is very encouraging.
The building on the new clinic in Boule is coming along well! It looks really good with very thick walls to sustain the concrete roof we’ll put on it. They ran out of cement so the building was at a halt while we were there. However we saw men, women and children bringing up more rocks and dirt for the building.

We were there for the feast day of the chapel and they had a big party the night we got there to celebrate. 3 of us went down just to see what it was like. They were all singing and dancing back and forth, it was such a surreal experience, you would have to be there to understand. Jude Jean, who is running for mayor of BC, was playing the guitar and stopped to thank the three of us for everything we had done for their community, including the building of the clinic. After he said it in English he would say it in Creole and every one would cheer. It was so genuine and touching how much the community appreciated everything.
We went to Mass the next day. When they had the offering everyone gave money but then these women came up the isle carrying offerings on their heads with baskets of food, branches of banana’s, chickens, and one woman gave a goat (she didn’t carry that on her head). It is so neat to see people who don’t have a lot still making offerings to God because that’s something that’s important to them.
We slept in tent’s in Boule, which was rough. 5 women in one tent. We would go down to the river to bathe and the locals were always so fascinated by the way we bathed still wearing clothes. We really blew their minds when we shaved our armpits. At night we would sit under the stars and play cards. They have the most beautiful night sky because there are no lights to detract from anything.
After we got back to BC, a group went to do another mobile clinic and the rest of us went to finish up the student pictures. In the end we ended up seeing over 500 patients and photographing over 1600 kids! Loooong trip!

Be on the look out for trip reports from Dr. Mire who worked on the mobile clinic and from Sonya Mire who led the student photo-project! Thank you Katie for sharing your experience!

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Deacon Ben Johnston reports: Another exciting chapter of progress in Boucan Care, Haiti

By Caitlin Stevens | Published: December 21, 2011

Bob Kelly and the sisters who manage Ecole St. Michell are touring the new school being built by the Xinergy Corporation of Knoxville.

Each trip ends up having several purposes. The primary purpose of this trip was to inspect the construction for the new high school that is being built by the Xinergy Corporation in Knoxville. David Hutchins, the architect, and I did inspect the 8 room classroom building and the composting latrine. The construction is way ahead of schedule and the workmanship is excellent. We now expect to complete the construction by the 30th of December. We hope to put a rush on the construction of the desks and other furniture so we can move in early on 2012.

The temporary classrooms for the kindergarten.

Purpose 2: Six years ago Bob Kelly from Saint Anselm’s parish in St. Louis, Missouri organized that parish’s financing of the 16 classroom building for the primary school we support. Then we had 1,000 students and now it serves 1,500 and there are four temporary classrooms housing the kindergarten children. Bob is again bringing the potential resources of his parish and he joined us in Miami for this trip. With him we had several in depth discussions with the sisters who manage our school on the needs for the next building project.

Sister Rose and her new stove.

When we last visited the primary school we learned that Sister Rose wanted to add a cooking school to the vocational school. Shortly afterward, the Promises from the Heart Fund, donated sufficient funds for her to buy two stoves, a freezer, a refrigerator and a generator. We were able to see Sr. Rose’ huge smile again as she showed off her new cooking school.

Finally we were able to dream a bit with Fr. DuPortal as we reviewed concept layouts of the guest house and church renovations. These layouts will be used to try to raise the needed funds to make those dreams, those changes come true.

We learned that the European Union plans to build and pave the road into Boucan Care soon. Progress building on progress. We also have had discussions with SOIL, a non governmental organization(NGO), who want to teach our high school management and provide composting services to our new latrine. Finally, we learned we will be partnering with SELF, yet another NGO, who will be providing solar power for the high school and installing a full service computer lab, network and hardware, in the high school.

Another exciting chapter of progress in Boucan Care.

See the Facebook album to see construction progress of our projects: http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.308442285867212.78046.162627560448686&type=1

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Meeting Dr. Paul Farmer

By Caitlin Stevens | Published: December 18, 2011

On December 3rd, Jarett Beaudoin and I attended a discussion with Dr. Paul Farmer at his alma mater- Duke University. He spoke about his new book: “Haiti: After the Eartquake,” showed plans and pictures of Partners In Health’s beautiful new teaching hospital in Haiti, and candidly answered questions from the audience. We talked to him afterward at the book signing table and he immediately lit up and thanked us for our work in Haiti when he heard we were from Knoxville. It was so great to meet him (in my home town too!) and I was proud to represent the HOP. The event was recorded and can be found here.

If you don’t know who Dr. Farmer is, I suggest picking up a copy of Tracy Kidder’s “Mountains Beyond Mountains” biographical account of Dr. Farmer’s work in Haiti and the development of Partners In Health (PIH), an international organization that fights to bring medical care to the world’s poorest for free. Watch this 60 Minutes report for more: http://www.pih.org/pages/what-we-do/

The Haiti Outreach Program has been partnering with PIH for the past 10 years to provide adequate healthcare in Haiti. Our budget includes monthly support for PIH and each year the Medical Benefit raises funds for medical equipment such as X-ray machines and surgical tools to equip our clinics and finance Haitian medical workers salaries.

A lot of the Haitians that the HOP works with are also employed by PIH. In October, PIH employees attended the secondary school ground-breaking and Deacon Ben Johnston met with PIH’s Amanda Schwartz to exchange ideas on future project collaborations. It was then that he was invited to attend the PIH Symposium in Boston, which he did in September, where the Haiti Outreach Program(HOP) was mentioned by keynote speakers Joia Mukerjhee (Cheif Medical PIH Officer) and Ophelia Dahl (PIH Executive Director) as a valuable partner. The symposium can be viewed freely here: http://www.pih.org/symposium

When asked how this partnership came about, Deacon Ben told me that when the program first began he asked the Haitian government to partner with HOP and in return received a letter from the Ministry of Heath which listed Dr. Paul Farmer as the Medical Director. Deacon Ben then researched this non-Haitian name and found out about PIH and the hospital Dr. Farmer had in Cange, called Zamni Lasante. This clinic was much closer to Boucan Care than the hospital to which they had previously been referring patients. Emails were sent to Dr. Farmer with no reply until patients started arriving at Zamni Lasante with slips of paper referring them to Dr. Farmer. When asked who they were sent by, patients spoke of the “blond from Knoxville,” or as we know him, Dr. Mire. Dr. Farmer then found Deacon Ben’s emails and the partnership began.

Dr. Mire and a team just went down for a week to work in Boucan Carre and Bouli. The board has been working on plans for the construction of a new clinic there as well which is now under construction and should be finished by February. That group returned on Thursday and Deacon Ben returned from a separate trip yesterday. Check back soon for news, reports, and photos from their trips!

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Students Breaking Ground at South Bound

By Caitlin Stevens | Published: November 29, 2011

November 10th, Give Haiti Hope at UT had their Breaking Ground at South Bound benefit concert in the Old City of downtown Knoxville. Club members worked hard to put on a great show. Students chose the opening local band: The Mountain Kings, whose loud and upbeat music was followed by the softer tones of The Sweetest Sleep.

The Sweetest Sleep

This one-man-band, Jared Henderson, (who is also a GHH club member’s brother) graciously came from Nashville to played for free. Students scored Graham Colton as a headliner by advertising their concert via Twitter. Colton charismatically played for the small crowd, taking requests and inviting everyone in for some great entertainment. After the last song, students introduced a beautiful video of the Haiti Outreach Program’s work in Haiti and talked about how all proceeds from the concert would be donated for the needs of the primary school in Boucan Carre.

Headliner Graham Colton

The GHH club originally intended on partnering with other campus groups but in the end, planned the event totally themselves. The club members, who ran around in blue t-shirts bearing details of the event, worked in every aspect of the concert: manning the merchandise table, collecting tickets, introducing the artists, and helping to break down everything afterwards. It was good to see so many blue shirts and know that these college students had taken time to put together this concert for the benefit of children in Haiti.

Students put in a lot of work before the show as well. The week of the show, students sold tickets by manning a table on Pedestrian Walkway. They also created an online option for ticket purchasing. (The Price: $7-$10 was an unbelievable considering the impressive line-up!) They made a grabbing press release to advertise the event and the students’ efforts even caught UTK DailyBeacon’s attention, landing an article featuring the concert.

The founding officers of Give Haiti Hope enjoying the show!

In the end the concert raised around $600, enough to fund six student’s educational fees for a year. The group plans on making the concert an annual event, so make sure to be on the lookout next fall! If you weren’t able to attend this time then go check out the GHH facebook page for some great pictures!

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Progress Report: Construction of College St. Michel Continues!

By admin | Published: November 8, 2011

Here is an update from Parish Relations Coordinator John Stone regarding the construction of our new secondary school!

Due to the inability of concrete trucks getting up the mountain to our village, so laying concrete is a manual effort. Deacon Ben Johnston, Chairman of HOP, indicated that it took about 100 local Haitians to mix and hand carry buckets of concrete up ladders. They were paid about $9.00 U.S. per 12 hour day, which is more than the prevailing and fair wage in Haiti. Ben, upon returning, indicated how wonderful it was to be able to employ so many locals. He was thanked by most of them for not only providing them with jobs but the first opportunity for their children to go to a college. Ben estimates that this phase of the school will eventually enroll 4-500 students.

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The Story of a Young Professor at the College St. Michel

By Caitlin Stevens | Published: November 1, 2011

Deacon Ben Johnston and our architect David Hutchins visited the construction of the secondary school in October and saw the second floor being poured(see the newsletter for more). A lot of my recent updates have concentrated on the building and its construction but this update focuses on the students and the teachers that the HOP works for. Deacon Ben returned with this story:

There are many improvements in Boucan Carre(BC) that can’t be recorded in a photo and yet they seem to be the most profound. One of these came to light after a meeting with the Director of the College St. Michel on my last visit. There was a young man quietly working at a desk in the same room during the meeting. Afterward, he approached me speaking fairly good English, which was refreshing because the translated discussions that I require are very stressful. However, it was more so what he said that was profound. He began by thanking me for our continued and growing support of education in BC. He identified himself as having been a 5th grade student at Ecole St. Michel when we first began our support at that Primary school. He continued to describe his educational journey: graduating from our primary school, completing the very difficult challenge of high school, then attending university in Port au Prince. He told me he was very excited to be a new professor at the College St. Michel. He went on to explain that his excitement was in being able to teach high school in his home town and how important it was for BC to have this school and how important education is for Haiti. He said it is the answer for a truly independent Haiti. He explained that it will be his children’s children that will change Haiti, but it is now possible because of continued support of good schools in places like BC.

If you would like contribute to sponsor a child, $100 will pay for a full year of schooling for a primary school student and $200 for a secondary or vocational student. Help us bring free education, independence, and priceless opportunity to Haitian boys and girls in Boucan Carre. And just in case you needed a little inspiration: