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Justice Herald
“Their desire to learn inspires us to
do whatever we can to provide
them with the opportunity to feed
the hunger to learn.”
May 2016
Haiti 101
Location
Average
Income
Haiti is the western third of
the island of Hispaniola,
bordering the Dominican
Republic on the east. It is
separated by the Windward
Passage (a 50 mile wide
corridor) from Cuba which
is in t urn just 90 miles from
Florida.
most Haitians live on
$2 or less per day.
Population
10.23 million (2013
census)
Official
Languages
:
Haitian Creole French,
French
Goat Farms
written by: Mary Van Den Heuvel
Pere Leveque keeps surprising us. Somewhere off the beaten
path, in the Haiti country-side, Pere has set up a watchman and
his family to oversee a small farm where he is raising rice,
vegetables and goats for his parish table and celebrations. We
drove in toward the farm property, but when we could drive no
farther, we began a 15 minute trek up and down hills on some
barely visible paths, greeting farmers and children on the way.
The watchman's house and a shelter with the goats was at the
top of a hill, which we did not climb. Instead the watchman
and his little daughter brought the goats down for us to inspect.
The little girl went back up the steep hill and returned carrying
her younger brother on her back, to visit us and view our very
white skin. Father told us he had used one of his bucks to feed
the people on the parish feast day. Once again we admire the
resourcefulness of Pere in building sustainability into his parish.
Working Together to
Make Great Things Happen
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issue, date
written by: Gold Smithe Joseph
Moving from “I” to “we” is the
tagline of our youth group in
Mirebalais with the objective to
give value to the Haitian
culture, help youth discover
their talents and have an
economic activity later on. In
September 2015, we started
with an art class, Haitian
dance, communication and
English.
We meet in the afternoons with
some the youth of the parish
and Monseigneur Augustin
school it took us two months
to
prepare
our
first
choreography
and
by
December we have had good
bracelets, earings and necklace
to show to the parents of the
youth.
The youth enjoyed coming to
the classes. One day Pacombe,
one of the students, said Miss
Gold Smithe I made some
bracelets to sell, but the people
don’t want to pay me the
money asks for. I was happy to
hear that he started to sell.
With a smile on my face, I said
“congratulations Pacombe that
is really one the objectives of
the group, to see you guys have
an economic activity to support
yourselves. Pacombe is the
pioneer of that. I am so proud
of you. Then I told him to
explain to his customers that to
make these bracelets he had to
go to a class to learn how, he
had to buy wire and decorative,
and took his time to make it. “
the price he sets up for a
bracelet has taken into account
of all this.
Pacombe was the first student that
started to sell bracelets and
influence all the other to sell
bracelets and they can save one
day to be able to buy wire or any
other things we need for the group.
We are moving from “I” to “We”,
working together to make great
things happen.
entitled “women’s solidarity for a
better pathway”. CUMBAYA
MY LORD
written by: Kay Schumacher
In July when I started to work
with Hands and Hearts with Haiti,
I met is
with
a group
women
Lokita
a child
who of
came
to usin
for a day because her mother asked
Noyau.
Our
first
meetings
were
Pere Leveque if she could stay at the rectory for the day while she sold
based
on at
thethecommunity
life:
her
product
market across
the street in the town square.
getting to know the people, what
Lokita
with usthe
thatstrength
day and when we came back to the rectory
they dotraveled
for a living,
in
latecommunity,
afternoon as what
we sat they
on the porch she joined us. I was
ofthethe
reading
a
book
and
she
sat
next
to me, cozied up and began sounding
would like to do and how.
out
the English
words
of the
title.
Together,
we have
come
with
the She didn’t know any English but
within
a few
minutes
she sounded
solution
to have
a women’s
group out the words: The Boys in the Boat!
Her
smile
volumes.
thatdelighted
is working
to spoke
improve
their She wanted more challenges.
lives and better their community.
We
In had
our brought
meetingsa few
we English
started books
to – children’s books – for Gold
Smyth
to
use
with
the
youth
learning
work on life skills training such English. One was a beautifully
illustrated
book of the
as: management
andsong/hymn
budgeting, Cumbaya. We introduced Lokita to
itworking
– singing
the song
having
her sound out the words of the many
together
as and
a team,
build
verses.
She
LOVED
it
and
came
for the next two days asking for the
trust, sing and eat together, and
book.
brought
bigobjective
brother with her to witness her
share She
stories.
The her
main
accomplishment.
She
was
so delighted
in it! Cumbaya was sung over
of the group was to receive
a
and
over
andtoover!
learning Lord, Cumbaya!
micro
loan
eitherSomeone’s
start a small
business
or one
improve
the assmall
Lokita
is only
child but
we visited the schools in Noyau and
businesses we
thatsaw
they
already
have.–
Mirebalais
many
Lokitas
As a community
manager,
children
eager to learn
and I told
them it inmight
be possible to
delighted
each accomplishment.
receive
a
micro
loan
from us
us to
or
Their desire to learn inspires
from
any we
other
do
whatever
can tomicro
provideloan
provider,
but
that
needs
them with the opportunity
to feeda
preparation
the
hunger tobecause
learn. it is not about
receiving the money but making
the money work to be able to
reimburse it and stay in business.
And we are going to prepare you
2
for that and with
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issue, date
Medical Transport in the Mountains of
Haiti;
Not as simple as a 911 Call
written by: Donna Zelazoski
While working at Morne
Boulage during a 2015
Medical Mission our team,
Friends of Haiti (FoH), met
the daunting challenge of
completing 3 emergency
transfers to the Mirbalais
Hospital. And we did it and
did it well!!
Morne Boulage is a small
village in the mountains with
quite limited access. There is
a road, comparable to a goat
path, that extends from
Grand Boulage to Moune
Boulage. It takes
approximately 45-50 minutes
to drive it, and approximately
60-70 minutes to hike it.
There are few drivers who
will do this drive, either for
fear of the road, or due to
concern for damage to their
vehicle. Some of our
volunteers choose to walk
both ways and many of them
prefer to hike back up to
Grand Boulage at the end of
the mission. The road ends
just past the Church of the
Brethren facility in which we
work. The driver is required
to drive his “machinea” to
the very end and to perform a
y-turn to return to the church
and up the mountain.
Each morning the driver
assigned to Morne Boulage
takes the dentists to the
Grand Boulage facility then
returns to us to transport
patients or serve as an
interpreter. Near the end of
the day he again travels to
Grand Boulage, picks the
dentists up, and returns to
Morne Boulage. So, much of
the actual work day is spent
without a driver on the
premises.
We had 3 different patients
who were critically ill and
required transfer to the
Mirbalais Hospital during the
time we were there. The first
patient was a woman who
had suffered a severe stroke
during the past 8 hours,
leaving her paralyzed on the
left side and with no speech.
Her blood pressure remained
excessively high and she was
experiencing difficulty
swallowing. This patient was
best served in a much higher
level of care than we were
able to provide. Dr. Mike was
caring for this patient and
spoke with me regarding
transfer of the patient to
Mirbalais. Here I would have
dialed 911 and had the
patient on her way within 15
minutes or less. But, not so in
Morne Boulage!!
My first step was to walk
approximately a block up the
mountain road to place a call
to Marco, our driver, then
located in Grand Boulage.
Cell phone reception is often
a problem at this facility. We
need to walk around in search
of the best service and we
need to get to a higher level
than the valley in which this
little church is located. After
giving it a try, Charles, one of
our interpreters, and I walked
up until we were able to
obtain reception. The call
was placed and Marco was
there within an hour to take
our patient to the hospital.
Upon his arrival we had the
opportunity to use one of our
new nylon patient lifters to
move this woman from the
church to his car. And did
that ever work well!! Thanks
to Sue for obtaining the
patient lifters from Brown
County Rescue!!
Because of the difficulty in
moving this patient and her
difficulty swallowing she was
accompanied by Dr. Kevin.
This would be a very
complicated situation for an
interpreter to handle
independently. Dr. Kevin was
able to get the patient into the
ED in a very timely manner.
And, he and the Interpreter
returned to Morne Boulage
safely and in time to see even
more patients!!
Next day a gentleman was
brought to us, on a door, by a
group of friends. We had
actually finished working for
the day, but, of course,
started working with him
immediately. And this took
the majority of the medical
team. This fellow was very
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Continued
weak and had a series of
“bumps & lumps” under his
arms and in his groin in
addition to generalized pain.
Upon working with him it
was determined that he had
AIDS and a decision was
made to transfer him. We had
to work fast to get this
transfer done as it was late in
the afternoon and our driver,
who had just returned with
the dentists, did not want to
be on the road in the dark.
After discussion the situation
we decided to send him
without a medical team
member as Marco would not
be able to return to Morne
Boulage until day light when
it was safer to travel. (Never a
problem around here!)
And, our last transfer came to
us on our last day. It was late
morning when Charles came
in to get me. He stated,
“remember when you told me
to get you if I thought I
needed your help?”. Of
course I remembered that. I
always encourage the
interpreters working the
admission area to get me, or
someone else if I’m not
available, when something
looks to be out of the
ordinary or urgent. I asked,
“so, what’s up?” and Charles
told me there was a baby he
would like me to look at. He
said the baby was “breathing
very fast and the mother is
crying”. We went to the
mother and after taking one
look at the babe I took them
into the building and moved
them next in line. This baby
took “a village” to care for
him!!
Dr. Mike took the baby first,
but Dr. Kevin soon joined in
the care. All 3 nurses, Linda,
Maureen, and myself worked
with this baby. Frequent vital
signs were taken and
recorded. Medical equipment
and supplies were gathered
and put into use. An IV was
inserted with the help of
someone to hold the arm
perfectly still and to secure
the needle. We used our
neonatal ambu bag on this
babe with a low oxygen
saturation level and were able
to assist him enough to slow
his respiratory rate down and
to get the oxygen saturation
into a much better range.
Our pharmacist, Muffy,
mixed the Rocephin
(antibiotic) for administration
and along with our college
students, Taylor, Margaret,
and Annie, offered support to
the mother and aunt. Dr. Ed
and Dr. Paul kept the clinic
going by continuing to see
patients, to find supplies and
meds on their own, and to do
burn care by themselves. Jodi
did whatever was asked of
her or she saw that she could
do, got water for the mother,
looked for dressings for Dr.
Ed, and helped with the
paper work for transfer. I do
believe the entire team of
volunteers and interpreters
offered prayers for this baby
and for his survival.
After getting the equipment
and supplies together and
assuring they were as stable
as they were going to be I
began working on the transfer
of this beautiful 8 day old
baby. This was definitely not
as simple as a 911 call!!
First barrier was no cell
service, but overcome with a
continued walk up the
mountain side. Next barrier, I
was unable to connect with
Marco, who had dropped the
dentists off then taken two of
our patients to Mirbalais for
x-rays. Thinking outside of
the box, how about a tap tap
(a pickup truck that serves as
a taxi)?
After three calls I was able to
find a motorcycle driver who
would come!! Now the
discussion with Dr. Mike!! I
thought his eyes would pop
right out when I told him that
was the best I could do. Well,
not a very good option, but
an alternative. Next thought,
we send a team with the baby
hiking up to Grand Boulage
and have them met by a
regular tap tap or by Marco if
he is located. Dr. Mike agrees
that will be the best
alternative and we begin to
organize for the hike.
But, with divine intervention,
Marco pulls up with one of
the patients who cannot be
seen that day!!. And so we
sent Dr. Mike and Linda with
the baby on the cover of a
storage bin to support him,
while bagging him, off to the
hospital. The mom and an
aunt accompanied them.
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We don’t know the final
outcome of this infant. But
we do know that he would
have had no chance of
survival had we not been
there. And we do know
that the Lord was working
as hard as we were in that
room and that He gave
this baby a chance at
survival with His gifts of
talented people and the
availability of equipment
and medications. We hope
to learn of this baby’s
outcome on our next
mission and we continued
to pray for this baby and
his family upon our return
to the US.
So, you see, medical
transport in the mountains
of Haiti is not as simple as
a 911 call!! There are
many barriers. One can
become rather frustrated.
But, it can be done
successfully when the
team works together.
All members of Friends of
Haiti, Inc. are volunteers
who have given countless
hours of help, both in the
US and Haiti. FoH can
always use more help. If
you would like to learn
more or get involved,
please contact us
(friendsofhaiti-gb.com).
issue, date
Vision for Mgr.
Remy Augustin
Secondary School
written by: Mary Van
Den Heuvel
On February 23, 2016, members of
HHH met with members of the
education department, of Notre Dame
University, Indiana on the Kellogg
Foundation High School Planning
Grant. Part of the process was to
review Father Leveque's vision and
Mission of the high school, named
after the 1st Haitian Bishop.
The following paragraphs are Father
Levque's articulation of the Vision
and Mission of the School.
“The school has a vision of providing
students a quality education that
accounts for their holistic
development, including three
dimensions of the human person:
body, spirit, and soul. The vision is
also to insure the accessibility of the
school to the poor in a sustainable
way that empowers families and
helps to lift them from extreme
poverty, so that they may have
dignity and serve as responsible
agents capable of providing education
of their children.
The mission of the school is to form
students who possess the capacity to
be self-sufficient, through academic
excellence, experiential learning in
the arts, and sciences, and practical
education in areas aimed at fostering
their future livelihoods and workforce readiness.”
The Next Steps
Land needs to be purchased and
architectural bids need to be secured
so the project can move forward.
Fund Raising Continues for Building
Primary School in the Noyau Chapel
Hands and Hearts with Haiti is
following up on their first
commitment made in 2012 to their
parish family in Haiti. When
members of Our Lady of
Deliverance, a chapel of St. Louis
King of France Parish in Mirebalais,
donated land to build a Catholic
grade school, it was time for HHH to
undertake a fund raising effort to
underwrite the building of school,
and combination Church, Auditorium
and Community Center. The
estimated cost is $150,000.00. During
this Lenten Season, the children and
families at St. Matthew Parish in
Green Bay are donating money to
purchase the cement blocks that will
be needed for the structures. Five
dollars per block will help with
purchase of the block, cement, and
labor for the buildings. Individuals
from HHH have come forward to
solicit friends to help. The Building
Blocks for Education will help to
build a better future for the children
in the rural farming community.
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Women’s Solidarity for
a Better Pathway
issue, date
written by: Gold Smithe Joseph
Community development is not easy, even in developed
countries. Development requires hard work, patience, and
determination. Coming with the idea is one, implementing
the idea is another one. Everywhere in Haiti is easy to find
an NGO working in different projects such as agricultural,
sanitation, hunger, or in personal development,
entrepreneurship and leadership. But have these projects
always succeeded? Are these projects helping the
communities to find their economic autonomy? It sure is these projects have
brought results, but these results have not always been solving the problems. Set up a community
development project requires deep thoughts and a contingency approach. In Haiti we have a saying:
“It is better to take longer on the road but bring good results”.
Since 4 years Hands and Hearts with Haiti is working with the Saint Louis, King of France Church
in Mirebalais and its chapels to help find self sustainable opportunities, build friendships and
spiritual growth. During the last 10 months, we have had a women’s group in Noyau entitled
“Women’s Solidarity for a Better Pathway”.
In July when I started to work with Hands and Hearts with Haiti, I met with a group of women in
Noyau. Our first meetings were based on the community life: getting to know the people, what they
do for a living, the strength of the community, what they would like to do and how. Together, we
have come with the solution to have a women’s group that is working to improve their lives and
better their community. In our meetings we started to work on life skills training such as:
management and budgeting, working together as a team, build trust, sing and eat together, and
share stories. The main objective of the group was to receive a micro loan to either start a small
business or improve the small businesses that they already have. As a community manager, I told
them it might be possible to receive a micro loan from us or from any other micro loan provider,
but that needs a preparation because it is not about receiving the money but making the money
work to be able to reimburse it and stay in business. And we are going to prepare you for that and
with
Not all of the women liked that idea, and some of them even quit coming to the meetings. My first
meeting was with 10 women, 22 in the second, and one day I remember having 65 women in a
meeting. But, not all of them had the same vision, expectations, and level of patience. The number
of women started to decrease and according to some I talk to “they think we were taking too long,
they would not be qualified, or they only choose not to come anymore’. 6 months after, we
decided to start a micro loan. Over the 34 people that
stayed, we took a sample of 12 to start with, based their
presences, participations and feedbacks in the meetings.
We landed US$50 to 10 women and US$ 25 to 2 that were
younger. They will reimburse the money in 5 months with a
3.5% rate (flat interest). It is also an obligation for them to
save US$ 2 per week and they can get what they save in 6
months. This savings mean that during the months that
they’re reimbursing the money, they would also save the
same amount with only $2 per week.
Then they can invest that money back in the business along
6
Continued
Then they can invest that money back in the business along with the new loan again if they had
followed the rules to receive it again. We will continue with the process and in a year and half or
two years they would not have to borrow money anymore but able to use their own money to grow.
The 4 months with the micro loan has been a success and have helped the people better managed
their small businesses thanks to the trainings on management. We have another group of 10 which
make a total of 22 in the micro loan. It's true that over the first 12 people we landed the money, the
contract of 3 of them will not be renewed, one because of sickness and the other two because of
two late payments over 4. But overall, this women’s group has shown the ability to learn, work in a
group and a sense of responsibility.
Community development is not easy; it requires energy, patience and lots of courage and
determination. Then, the results will be positive.
Haiti is often called the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere with 80% of the
population living under the poverty line and 54% in abject poverty. Most Haitians live on
$2 or less per day. Over two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs. Half of
children under 5 are malnourished. 50% of primary school age children are not enrolled in
school. One-third of girls over six never go to school Approximately 30% of children
attending primary school will not make it to third grade; 60% will abandon school before
sixth grade.
Find out how you can get involved today!
Friends of Haiti
Justice and Human
Concerns Committee
Hands and Hearts with
Haiti
Contact: Jackie Thiry
Contact: Kay Schumacher
Contact: Don Jauquet
[email protected]
Get involved today!
http://www.friendsofhaitigb.com/
http://www.handsandheartswithhaiti
.org/