The Haiti Report

As promised, this is the report from Jenna’s trip to Haiti. She preferred that I interview her rather than her write up this edition on her own so here goes.

TRIP ITINERARY. The team left Nashville on Friday, May 30 and flew to Miami where they spent the night. They got up early the next morning and flew to Port au Prince where they transferred to two, small engine planes for the final leg of the trip to Jeremie, which is located near the western tip of the southern peninsula. They stayed in Jeremie the entire week and made the return trip home on Friday, June 6.

The purpose of the trip was to provide medical care to the community and to immunize the children at the Emmanuel Orphanage, the orphanage our church is sponsoring. The team went to two church services on Sunday. They hosted community clinics on Tuesday and Thursday of that week. They immunized the children at Emmanuel on Monday.

We were very fortunate to receive some large donations to immunize the children at Emmanuel. Jenna remembers that each child got three shots, one for Hepatitis.

EMMANUEL ORPHANAGE. The orphanage we sponsor is home to about 55 children. It was due to be closed down when some of our church members discovered it on mission trips last summer. In that time the orphanage has gotten a new facility and families have agreed to sponsor individual children.

Jenna says they are all really sweet children. Like any group of kids some were shy and others were outgoing even though we do not speak a common language. They didn’t enjoy getting their shots.

They are clean and well cared for though the kids don’t have much in the way of individual possessions. For example, all their clothing is in a community closet. Jenna’s impression was that it was like a big family because the older ones look out for and help the younger ones. They now get three meals a day along with juice. Before we found them they were lucky to get one meal a day and water. All the kids of school age go to school, which is more that can be said for other children in their area due to the expense.

The kids greeted our team with singing and dancing each time they arrived at the orphanage. After that they would come up to play or simply be near.

Emmanuel wan’t the only orphanage Jenna visited. There is also Lundy Orphanage nearby which is larger (some 180 kids) and sponsored by another church in our area. Jenna said this facility was overwhelming.

HEALTH CLINICS. These gave our team a chance to see people of the community. Jenna said this was her favorite part of all. Her assignment was to help the three nurses who were on the team (she was their gofer). She basically helped people get where they needed to go. She said they treated  about 115 people on Tuesday and an additional 30 people on Thursday. Turn out for Thursday’s clinic was low due to miscommunication. They were all very appreciative of the services our team provided.

IMPRESSIONS OF HAITI. I asked Jenna what things stuck out to her about Haiti and Haitians. The first thing she mentioned was their clean clothes. She said everyone in the group noticed this.

Jenna rode on a bus quite a bit to get from place to place (Jeremie is larger than Springfield) and said that people would return waves and smile as the bus passed. I think what really impressed her here is that the Haitians seem to have a general sense of happiness even though we might say they don’t have much to be happy about.

Jenna enjoyed the food, especially the fresh bananas and pineapple. Rice was such a main staple she’s said she’ll take a break from rice for a while. The breakfasts were very American with pancakes, french toast, etc. They had brought the fixings for peanut butter and jelly sandwiches as wells as bacon for their lunches, and their suppers were a mix of American and Haitian fare.

HOPING TO REUTRN. As I said before, Jenna is hoping to return. She would like to go in December but that won’t fit the school schedule too well, maybe next summer. If you have any questions for Jenna feel free to send us an email.

Joe