An article about the re-feeding program at the children's hospital in Cap Haitien. This is the program that our sweet baby we've been seeing at MamaBaby Haiti is participating in.



http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2010-07-01/news/peanut-butter-miracles-amid-haiti-s-chaos-an-american-pediatrician-has-made-ending-child-malnutrition-her-life-s-work/

Hygiene Kits

Michelet giving instructions on how to use the hygiene kit in a village clinic.

This is the hygiene kit that Taryn made!

The kids at my church made hygiene kits for me to take to Haiti. They did a great job! Some of them asked me to take pictures if I could. I did have the opportunity to pass one out myself and made sure to get a picture. When I handed it to the young man I saw that it had Taryn's name on it. It made me smile.

I know some of the hygiene kits were given out, and there are still some at the clinic to be given at a later time.

Many of the children have skin rashes because they bathe with laundry detergent. It is much cheaper and easier to get than facial soap. Many of the kits were given to people who needed better soap to bathe with.

Thank you kids for helping to serve the children in Haiti. I love you for helping!

Finally, a few of my favorites.

Home sweet home for the last two weeks, under my mosquito net. I'm still covered in mosquito bites, though!


I had been wondering what this message on the peanut butter meant. Then after being at MamaBaby for a few days we heard the story. A volunteer that had been there earlier had gotten under the skin of some of the staff. One of the things he would do is eat HUGE amounts of peanut butter from the jar, without even asking if it was ok. (It was a community jar on the table...but still).



This isn't that great of a picture, but it does have a story to go with it. We were walking down the street, it is my first full day in Haiti and I am overwhelmed with the sights and sounds. There are people everywhere, traffic zooming by just inches from where we are walking, garbage and animals everywhere! Someone tells me to to turn around to take a picture of this truck full of people and just as I turn around the driver lays on his horn. I just about jumped out of my skin. Every car and motorcycle honks in Haiti, but this guy was trying to mess with me.



The school children dress in uniforms and many of them look incredibly crisp, clean and adorable!



If I could have taken this girl home with me I would! She lives at the orphanage and had such a sweet smile. She was wearing a white dress that was torn and dirty and I wanted to scoop her up and protect her. This is also one of my favorite pictures because of the contrast of the dirty white door, curtains and dress, and the lovely brown of her skin and love in her eyes. I heard that she had just arrived at the orphanage because her mom had died. I could never confirm that this was true, but I wondered. Her eyes did not seem to have that haunted look of a child that had been neglected for some time.



This little boy lives at the orphanage. I took this in the late afternoon and didn't think there was enough light, but I love it. He was coloring and looked up at me. The people don't usually smile when you take their picture. But if you show the children the picture you took they will usually smile or laugh.


These children I met at one of our village clinics. This was the one we did this week in Balan. These children were the exception, smiling and laughing FOR the picture. I held the camera high and their eyes followed. I love their bright eyes and smiling faces. I took many pictures of them, showing them the picture each time I did. It was fun.


I think this may be one of my favorite shots. This was also taken at the Balan village. I spotted these girls walking, I think they had their arms linked, and they were reading out load to each other. It would have made the best shot. By the time I got my camera out they had turned behind this fence, but I love it!

In the Middle: Between Haiti and Home

I cried when the car left MamaBaby Haiti this morning and I cried until I got to the bus station. I kept it under control and good thing I had my sunglasses on. I don't know what I was crying about. Saying goodbye to friends, old and new. Knowing their work was going on without me. The sights and sounds. Especially the people. The people of Haiti, for good or bad, mean something in this world.

I was so immersed in the work that I didn't take time to think about what I was feeling. I figured as I left Haiti it would take time to process. I would step back and think about the experience over time. Giving myself to Haiti wasn't just about waking up each morning and working. But what was it about?

On my last day of clinic one of our last patients turned to the interpreter and asked him to thank us for our patience and for helping her. And our last patient remembered me from the week before and smiled a warm smile at me, telling the interpreter that she remembered me. I didn't come to Haiti to be thanked, but having these woman respond to me in that way just warmed my heart.

I can say at this time, in the middle of Haiti and Home, is that I am thinking about the people. Each patient I saw, each baby I held and the impact their life had on mine. Each one suffering in some way, each one a dignified and deserving human being.

I hope I shared my love and compassion with them in spite of cultural and language barriers. Barriers that were and continue to be difficult to overcome. I can not understand all things about Haiti and it's people, but I am filled knowing that I tried.

Had a fun night last night. The young men put on their music and they were dancing and drinking. Some of us girls sat outside in the cooler air and had some good conversations. I celebrated with a Tampico. This is a sugary fruit punch drink that has some juice in it. Many, many Haitians drink it (along with other sugary drinks) and I spent every day in Haiti telling patients NOT to drink it. So it seemed fitting that I would at least give it a try. It is sweet and very good!

I had some very connecting moments with Susan and Nancy. We will forever be tied by our experiences in Haiti and I feel appreciative to have had this experience with them and built a friendship with them in this way. They are both strong, forward women and I sometimes feel that I have nothing to bring to the table when I am with them, but I know this is not true. We each have our gifts.

Haiti's goodbye gift to me has been a cooler night, a sunny morning and power on for over 24 hours straight. But Haiti has given me so much more! I haven't been able to begin to process. I have been here working and living and having fun, but struggling with what each day and each moment feels like. I am sure it will come with time.

I will miss so much about this place! I am surprised by how quickly I feel at home and how adapted I have become to the sights and sounds and smells.

Orevwa for now!!

Last day in Haiti

The baby that is severely malnourished did make it into the clinic this morning. Her sister brought her in and Marie and one of the students accompanied them to the hospital. The hospital put her on a re-feeding program. They will be doing blood work on Monday, and the clinic staff will be following up closely and providing transportation to the hospital. This little girl is so precious and her life is in jeopardy. She is unwanted by her father and I'm sure she is a burden to her sister, who is trying to go to school and is a young woman. I think the sister cares but is overwhelmed. As I was holding this precious child yesterday and trying to feed her it was difficult to not want to protect her and provide for her and take her away from here. But this is not the answer in Haiti. There are so many who suffer and those of us who come here to give can only do so much.

I feel emotional today and wonder about the bigger picture of Haiti. I have seen things I could not have imagined before. I wonder about the impact of my visit to Haiti and all the other volunteers who care so much about the work they are doing here. The problem is large and I am small. I don't know the answer.

There is a Haitian proverb that says "Deye mon gen mon", Behind mountains there are more mountains. The meaning of this is Haiti is much more complex than meets the eyes.

But another Haitian proverb says " Men anpil, chay pa lou", With many hands, the load is not heavy."

People will continue to come to Haiti to try to help. These many hands will make a difference. But the real changes need to come from within. That is a much bigger and longer story to be told.

Our Day Off

We had a good day, but it was exhausting! Susan, Nancy and I (along with our interpreter, Guy) went to The Citadel which is a tourist place (though I did not see another white person where we were) so everywhere you go people want to do things for you or sell things to you. It was insane. When we first arrived two guys were walking with us and we realized one was trying to be our guide (which means we would have to pay him). We finally had to be rude and say we were not paying for a guide. He said ok and stayed with us for awhile. Of course we all gave him a few bucks because we felt bad. When the first guy left the second guy tried to smooth his way in. We said absolutely not, we were not paying for a guide. Then you have to go through this locked fence and we wondered if we should have given that guy a tip, especially when we came back down the hill and had to wait a very long time for someone to come back to unlock the gate.

We were told it was a 7 mile walk to the top of the Citadel, we didn't want to ride a horse up (or pay for it) and we didn't want to pay for a motorcycle, so we just walked for about a mile. It was killer. We were followed by the horses and motorcycles for almost a half mile. I'm sure they thought we were some crazy blanco chicks. We kept trying to tell them no, go away (in creole) and that we didn't plan to walk the whole way to the top. They just kept following us, I’m sure they thought we were going to give in and ask them for a ride. But guess who won? I felt so claustrophobic surrounded by all those men and stinky horses walking up that hill in the heat, I was so happy they finally went away.

On the way down some random guy was walking with us and talking to us and then out of nowhere he's carrying these paintings and trying to sell them. He was driving me crazy! I made him my final offer and he wouldn't back off. Then he tried to threaten me that he was going to go back home...haha. I must look like a sucker, because no one would leave me alone.

After coming down the hill we walked a little through the town. It was a quaint little town, the buildings were nice and colorful and the streets were cleaner with sidewalks. We were looking for a place to eat or buy souvenirs, but when I saw a pan of chicken feet I wanted to go into Cap Haitien and find something a little more reliable. Our driver and interpreter didn't know of anyplace in the town so that was not reassuring either. We ended up going to the same restaurant we ate at last week.

After lunch we went to a supermarket downtown. Nearly no fresh fruit or vegetables. Very limited supply of food in general. We wanted to buy some fruit so we were going to go to the outdoor market across the corner but decided not to. It was very intimidating to be in the middle of town surrounded by all those people. And the smell is retched! On our drive home we stopped on the side of the road but all we could find were grapefruit and lime. Nancy bought three coconuts for a dollar.

We dropped off our interpreter to run some errands so I sat in the front seat on the way home. I got a chance to videotape the drive because you really can not believe the way people drive here. The other day we were driving somewhere and we almost had a head on with a huge tanker! Susan said it seemed like I was getting used to the driving. I think I'm getting used to a lot of things around here. I am still in awe of so much, but am aware that my reactions are much less than the first few days I was here.

When we arrived home the students were still doing pediatric clinics. I found out that the little baby I saw last week with severe nutrition deficiency was in the clinic, so I sat in on the rest of her appointment. We saw her last Monday and asked her sister to take her to the hospital and come back on Thursday and we did not see her back until today. I'm glad to see her bring her back, but things are not improving. She is 7 months old and now weighs 10 pounds, having lost 6 more ounces in the last week and a half. The plan for now is to have her return early tomorrow morning and Marie will accompany them to the hospital. We need to have blood work done to find out exactly what is going on.

Tomorrow is my last full day in Haiti. Hard to believe my time is coming to an end. It has been amazing.