Haiti Port-Au-Prince Mission Visit- 20 May- 27 May 2012

We flew to Port Au Prince on Sunday afternoon 20 May; Mission Pres. Kerving Joseph picked us up at the airport. We stayed in the Mission Home, the Josephs made us very comfortable and welcome in the home. We were able to have many traditional meals and enjoyed seeing their children’s lives. Safety is a concern for missionaries in Haiti, Pres. Joseph has the missionaries home by 7 pm and we followed that pattern. We didn’t walk much in the streets and were careful where we parked (we always traveled with Pres. Joseph).

Pres. Joseph had arranged a busy schedule of visits in the Port Au Prince area and in the provinces. We were able to visit about half of the mission’s apartments and missionaries. We also visited some hospitals, clinics and one physician’s office. This is a summary of our activities during the week.

Monday we were at the Mission office for Devotional and planning for the week with the office Elders and APs. We helped unpack some boxes of recent materials for the mission so were able to talk with the Elders. We did some driving through Port Au Prince and reviewed the use of the computer for EMed and EMedlog with Pres. and Sr. Joseph in the afternoon.

Cindy and Elders Gambronne and Charles

In the Mission office, Google translate conversation

Tuesday we were in the Mission office in the morning as Pres. had meetings. We were able to meet several visitors as they came and went so had an educational time. One young man came who is ready to enter the CCM in June or October, his enthusiasm was infectious. I used this time to call local Doctors from the US Embassy list; I was able to get some background and ideas for referrals for specialists. In the afternoon we visited Healing Hands for Haiti (ortho and rehab center), Hopital Canape Vert (the hospital the mission would use for most problems), and Lambert Sante, a private hospital with two ORs and about 8 inpatient beds. Tuesday evening we visited the Elder’s apartment in the Freres District.



With Elders in their apartment (Freres District)

Wednesday morning we met with the incoming Mission President, Bro. Bien Aime and his wife to introduce ourselves and show them the EMedLog software. They are excited to serve. We visited Hopital Univeristaire de la Paix (free care, very basic), PluriMedic (private 14 bed hospital with 24 hr urgent care). RadioLab, unfortunately, was closed when we arrived there. In the late afternoon we visited the Missionary apartment in Petion Ville.

Thursday we were on the road west and south to Jacmel, through the mountains to the south coast. We visited Elder’s and Sister’s apartments in Jacmel and Elders in Fontamara.



Jacmel Sisters Louis and Jn Charles




Safety for the rider's is of prime concern on
the "tap-taps".

Friday we were headed north through St. Marc and Deschapelles to Gonaives along the coast. We saw four apartments and Hopital de Secours in Gonaives. In the evening, back in Port Au Prince we saw the missionary apartment in Croix de Missions.

Saturday we headed west to Leoganes and then south to Les Cayes, seeing the elder’s apartment in Leoganes and Cavaillon and Sister and Elder apartments in Les Cayes.

Port Au Prince still shows many effects from the Jan 2010 earthquake, some damaged buildings remain collapsed, or standing but too damaged for use. Building materials, like bricks, cement bags and piles of white sand are everywhere. The streets of Haiti are generally narrow, crowded with street markets, pedestrians, scooters, and cars. There are some small buses and many small pickups converted to bench seats(the camionette or “tap-tap”).

The hospitals and clinics were not immune to quake damage and many are in only part of their previous space, in temporary buildings or in new buildings. Resources are scarce in Haiti and the laboratory and radiology equipment reflects this. For example, film screen radiographs are standard; converting to digital is still in the future. None of the hospitals we were able to visit had CT or MR scanners. The largest General public hospital has CT and would be the hospital used for missionary trauma. A radiology and laboratory clinic, RadioLab, has scanners to use for the missionaries as outpatients.

Missionary apartments were a pleasant surprise. They are good–sized and clean, study desks and materials are orderly. Some are in small apartment buildings and some are in separate houses. Many have two companionships in a unit. The Elders and Sisters keep the apartments fairly well, with encouragement from Sr. Joseph. One or two apartments will be switched for improved buildings as leases expire and better apartments can be found. Public electricity is shifted through communities throughout the day, most seem to get 6-8 hours of electricity each day. This is usually enough to keep refrigerators cool. Some apartments with no public electricity use small generators, almost all apartments have an inverter system to use when power is off. These have 4 six-volt batteries; they looked like golf cart batteries.

Invertor and batteries.



Kitchen in Cavaillon Elder's apartment.




Public water enters a cistern in the ground or an above ground tank. Chlorine tablets are added to these. Pumps then put the water into tanks on the roof, and gravity feeds the water into the taps. Kitchens have the three filter systems at the sinks. This is used for cooking water by most. Unfiltered water from the roof tanks is used for showers and bottled water is used for drinking. Pres. Joseph has not had cases of parasites during his three years. Missionaries are instructed to eat only cooked food and bottled water or juices when in member’s homes.

When meeting with the missionaries we found them happy, those we knew from the CCM almost always put a hand to their vaccination shoulder when they recognized us. The Spirit of the Haitian missionaries is exceptional; they seem to grasp the significance of their work more acutely than some others. They know that they can change lives and perhaps change their country in the coming years. The Ward we attended on Sunday was very young, the leadership not much older than the missionaries. Teaching was in Creole; Pres. Joseph translated for us in Priesthood and Sunday School. Lessons were well prepared and taught basic doctrines.

We had a tremendous experience in Haiti, the richness in Spirit contrasts with the physical reality. The people are active, bustling to survive and get ahead. I would like to look back in fifteen to twenty years at both the Haitian people and the Church in Haiti.