Teams in transition

Today I am on my way home to get ready to leave for Guatemala on Jan 3. Lizzy will return to Haiti today to take my place.

Martha will leave for Haiti on Jan 3 with the Gordon team.

Praying that the weather and airline schedule cooperate with all these teams moving.

The St Joes team in Haiti has been great.
They are working on a house and in the clinic today. Beth continues with business
Training. All are happy and well.

A nice day off

Today the team went to Church in the morning. They loved all the music and singing. Some stayed behind to clean the clinic .

Later the team went to the national museum and out to lunch. They also went shopping near the embassy .

I came back to cook with Vania so santilia
Could have a well deserved day off.

The night ended well with Juvenil giving us an oral history of Haiti .

A very odd day at the clinic

Usually the clinic is not open on Sat but today we decided to open because we had providers and Juvenil was home visiting his family and helped translate.

The day brought in an unusual amount of growths, tumors and abscesses and kids with 6 fingers. But the saddest was a woman who was totally disoriented. We could find nothing physically wrong and it was sad because the best plan we came up with was to feed her and let her go home.

The most difficult case of the day came by
Boat. She had been in an accident and her leg was so swollen and she was in terrible pain. The accident occurred a week before. She had been to one hospital , which turned her away because
It wasn't acute. Another Doctor said it couldn't be broken or she wouldnt be able to walk on it and sent her away. She lives
On the isle de Gonaive and finally decide to a boat and a moto to PID's clinic. Her and her companion arrived seasick .

With the ultrasound we determined possibility of a blood clot. We felt terrible for this woman who could get no service.
We gave her money and a ride to the general hospital, who also rejected her, because it was the weekend. Pouchon finally found a private hospital to take her.

It was truly an odd day at the clinic.

Dru and Billy left . All the kids and staff were so sad to see them go.

A great first day

Today some of the team worked on a house. I think they were surprised at how much they had to do.

Nursing students and medical people worked in the clinic. John finally showed up at 10:30, his suitcases showed up at 2:00. It was a busy day at the clinic .

Dru and Billy held their last Christmas party for 50 kids from Cite Soliel. They were so excited to get their gift bags.

Beth did a class on the moral value
Of the jobs of the PID employees. The 4
Key values they came up with we're respect, loving and caring, responsibility.
It was really wonderful to see how committed they are to PID and what they thought about their jobs.

The team has arrived

The St Joe's team all arrived on time and in great shape. Only John ( a single traveler who joined the group) is overnight in Miami. He will join the rest of the team in the morning.

The team is ready to work in the clinic, on construction and in the education building. Beth will teach business skill classes. Tomorrow should be a great day.

Looks like a good day

I am on the plane waiting to leave for Haiti after a restful night in Miami.
The team in Boston is also on the plane .
I think we will all make it today :-)

Another day of delays

Waking up at 3:10AM to get to the airport
is never very much fun. Today was no different. But worse than that is standing in line and receiving a text that flight is
Delayed for 4 1/2 hours!! Five minutes later receiving another text that declares :
Sorry for the inconvenience but we can not reschedule your flight( from Miami to Port au Prince). Of course they did reschedule , but if I make it to PAP today and get my luggage it will be a miracle.
Fortunately, the team is leaving tomorrow,
I hope they have better luck .

In the air again

Yesterday we had a wonderful Christmas Eve as all our children , spouses and
children stuffed into our little house to
Celebrate. Today was a quiet day with my husband . I packed my carry on for Haiti . I leave tomorrow at 4:00 AM.
It will be sad to leave the US. I have been home since right before thanksgiving and feeling spoiled. I was able to spend a lot of my time with grandchildren and friends
And family.

It will be nice to see all of our friends in Haiti again.
I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.

Happy days in Haiti

Billy and Dru arrived in Haiti today for their third Chistmas season. They will run six Christmas parties for kids that have been waiting for sponsors, earthquake orphans, the handicapped orphanage and three other locations. We are thankful for
This wonderful present that they give to
Kids in Haiti every year.

When they showed up though I received a text telling me there was no money for the
parties. Sometimes the Haitian staff don't understand that I don't live near all of the people who travel to Haiti. They assumed
They would arrive with a check! Oops!
With Lizzy home, John getting married yesterday, Pouchon's phone broken
And Christmas all at the same time,
Communication was lagging. Guetchine
Came in and hopefully solved the problem and the
parties will continue as scheduled.

Thanks Billy and Dru. Have a Merry Christmas!

A fun day at school

Yesterday , I was invited to our local elementary school. It is the school I attended as a young girl and so did all my children.

I spoke to a group of fifth grade girls in a group called girls, inc. They learn about business and managing finances . Yesterday they learned how and why to start a non profit.

So much fun.

New generator arriving tomorrow

We have had our solar power and we
Have done well with it but our back up generator was not good. We hoped we would have a new one before all the teams started to arrive in Jan.
Tomorrow it arrives and will be installed.
Hurrah!

Yesterday

Yesterday a great day at the office, bringing hope in the light of the recent tragedy in Conn.

Lizzy, our field director from Haiti and Abby, our field director from Guatemala both home for Christmas , came to work at the office yesterday. It brought so much hope to see these two young women so committed to serving others in the developing world. We have always been blessed as an organization with wonderful
volunteers and staff , but yesterday was a reminder that there is still goodness in the world.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to the families in Newtown, Conn. As our President and elected officials begin to deal with the issue of security for our children in schools and other innocent people killed by guns, we pray they have wisdom to solve this serious problem.

At the office

Today we were happy because 7 kids were sponsored this week. It was nice to have Merrily and Kathy come and help with the Haiti Christmas cards. We still have about 1/3 left to put in the envelopes. We have 200 more arriving tomorrow.
Volunteers are always welcome.

Shelby has left

Yesterday we dropped Shelby off at the airport in Guatemala City. She will be spending some time at home and then returning in January for another few months. During her time here she made progress on our online database, helped organize the VBS in November, decorated the clinic with paper snowflakes, helped make the Christmas cards to be sent out to sponsors, and became part of the PID Guatemala family. I found Meli (Shelby's guatemalan mom and our pharmacist) walking in to the clinic today and I gave her a ride. When she got into my car she said "I'm sad. I used to always walk in with Shelby, but she's not here today". We'll miss you Shelby and can't wait to see you back here in January.

Christmas Party in Bon Repos

Sunday was the Christmas party for the sponsored kids in the Jou Nouvo branch of our sponsorship program. Genois and I went to Bon Repos to help Kerline and Judith, our social worker for the Jou Nouvo kids, set up and help out with the party. It was a lot of fun. The kids came and wrote letters and took pictures for their sponsors. They all recieved a gift as well as their monthly sponsorship money. They enjoyed a meal together. We met with all the parents, and they all expressed their gratitude for the help that the sponsorship brings for their children. They extend sincere thanks to all the sponsors, and say may God Bless you all.

Christmas Party

Today was our annual Christmas Party for all the sponsored kids. We loaded them onto a school bus and took them to a nearby park to play around. We played musical chairs, had dance competitions and various other games with prizes for the winners. Then all the kids got hotdogs and cake. And then came SANTA! He gave each of them a present. They were so excited to see Santa and kept asking me when he was going to arrive.

Check out the photo album on the PID Facebook page: Christmas Party 2012 Album on Facebook

Christmas Party Preparations

Today we are wrapping gifts for all 185 sponsorship children! Each child will receive new shoes and clothes. Those going to school will also get school supplies and those not yet studying will receive a coloring book and crayons.

Tuesday was distribution day and all the kids came by to take a picture and write a letter to their sponsors. It was a very busy day for our clinic staff.

Shelby is helping out with the gift-wrapping and organizing.

The mountain of groceries for the sponsorship distribution

shoes and clothes ready to be wrapped!

Great end to a great week

The team in Haiti worked hard up until the very end. They were given the option of a beach trip, but they said, "as long as there is work to be done, we are here to work." Those doing construction made a lot of progress on the foundation of the house in Blanchard. They ended with a neighborhood soccer game- Haitians vs. Americans. Those working in the clinic continued to work hard as well. Some more much-needed data entry was completed by some very patient, willing team members.

The sponsorship office was very busy as well, as some of the kids that couldn't make it to the Christmas party came by to fill out their card, take their photo, and receive their gift. Many other sponsored children came through as well, to see their sponsors and receive extra gifts they carried down for them.

Tuesday night, Mr. Genois came to our team's final meeting to thank the group and remind them just how important the work is that they are doing with PID, and that God will not miss sending his blessings down on them. He showed pictures of some of the children whose lives have been transformed by the feeding program and sponsorship program. He thanked everyone for the part that they are playing in the work that PID is doing in Haiti. The group already began brainstorming ideas for how they can help with PID's party next year. When the team left early this morning, in place of "good-byes", we all said to each other, "see you next year!"

Update from US

Today we found out that we have been accepted for a presentation on our Prenatal midwifery training at the Global Health Conference in April. So excited!!

Update from Haiti

The past 3 days have been extremely BUSY for the team in Haiti!  On Saturday we had the Christmas party for the children in our sponsorship from infants up to age 12..... that's a little over 300 kids! They started arriving around 7am and I think the last one left around 5pm.  Each child was given a number in consecutive order when they arrived and waited patiently to be called to have their picture taken and write a message on the Christmas card to be delivered to their sponsor back in the United States. The children played games while they waited and were given lunch of chicken, rice & beans. Each child received a small monetary gift (or one given by the sponsor) and a string bag filled with clothing, a Barbie, toys, soap, popcorn and a brownie, but the highlight of the day was picking out a soccer ball of their choosing. We repeated this same process for the older kids (and some adults) on Sunday, but had a much smaller group of about 70.  Thank you to all who helped Ann and Judy collect 400+ soccer balls and Barbie dolls!  You made a lot of kids very happy!   When we went to the work site on Monday, it was such a pleasure to see kids on their front porches playing with the Barbies or in the streets kicking around their soccer balls!

On Saturday the team didn't only help with the Christmas party, the carpenters in the group were busy building the last 3 bunk beds for the bunkhouse.  So now when teams come, no one will have to sleep on the short metal bunks with their feet hanging over each side.  You will also have a firm mattress that doesn't sag in the middle!  Since we had less children on  Sunday for that Christmas party, it was a shorter day and the team was able to go to the National Museum in Port au Prince and out to dinner at Epidor.

It was back to our normal routine on Monday, working in the clinic or on the construction site.  Since work on the children's Christmas party was complete, Barbara who is a retired RN worked in the clinic doing triage in the morning and helping in the pharmacy in the afternoon.   Peg sorted through the 400+ pictures we took of the children at the party to make sure we got one of each child and did some inventory data input in the afternoon.  Paul and Peter sorted eye glasses all morning and made high energy/vitamins peanut butter cakes for the emergency child feeding program.  The construction crew mixed cement and hauled boulders for the foundation of the house they are helping to build in Blanchard.

What an amazing team!