Pictures from Team Members

Yesterday was a very busy day at the clinic! After seeing over 60 patients we piled into the PID car to go and visit the newest village of Saquiy where PID is working. Laurel and Sarah made some house visits to women who were suffering various ailments. Judy was even called in for some counseling for a woman who loses consciousness when she gets angry. It was a great little tour and even though the construction team had to wait a little longer for dinner, it was worth it!

We had our final meeting last night and everyone shared a favorite memory or two from the week. Things from smiling children, to providing excellent care to how the women smell of fresh tortillas after lunch. This was a great group and they are already planning next year's trip together =)

Today we head to Antigua to tour the city and buy some souvenirs.

Here are some pictures from team members that were emailed to me.

"Mas mix!"

Adelaida and Raymunda

Judy with her guatemalan grandchildren

Taking a walk with Paula

We thought the clinic was going to be slow yesterday because there weren't many patients lined up outside when the team arrived in the morning. But there was a steady flow throughout the day. Pat had some time to take a little walk with Paula while she was waiting to be seen by Laurel (picture above).

The construction team has almost finished the walls of the house and bathroom - I think they will finish today!

Today the clinic is almost bursting the the seams with a long line of patients and many people who brought fecal samples. Our local microbiologist friend Carmen came today to examine all of the fecal samples.

Mid-week field trip!

The clinic continues seeing patients. Tuesday and Wednesday our Guatemalan doctor Angelica was here so we had three doctors attending over 65 patients each day.

Pat and Julie working in the lab

The construction team has finished digging the foundation for the bathroom and now has moved on to bigger and better things! They are now laying the blocks for the walls on the house and the bathroom.

Three of the daughters of the family that will be living in the house are really helping the team by transporting the sand from where it gets dropped off to the worksite. They work all day long going back and forth with wheelbarrows and a huge smile on their faces.

Yolanda getting a little help from Pat going up the rocky path

children from Desierto that hang out around the worksite

 The clinic staff took a field trip over to Desierto yesterday afternoon to see where the other part of the team is working. Martha and her tennis team sponsor a little girl named Enmy and we were able to find her house and eventually her down in the river washing clothes.

Hilaria - another sponsored child - heading to the river to wash clothes

Enmy and Martha

A busy Monday

Yesterday the team spent their first day in the village.

Sarah and Laurel saw over 40 patients with the help of Julie and Pat working in triage and lab.

Miguel worked with the construction team continuing the house in Desierto that was started a few weeks ago. They dug the foundation for the bathroom and started laying some bricks for the walls of the house.

Kevin stopped by today with his mom for a quick visit and he is looking oh-so-handsome at two years old! =)

In the afternoon as the clinic was winding down and the last patients were leaving I spent a few minutes drawing with chalk in the driveway of the clinic with some girls - Fernanda, Candy and Maria. This was after we had practiced their times tables.

The horse drawn by Dr. Laurel

The rest of the week with the Greenfield group

Yesterday the Greenfield Community College group left. They had a great week, working in the clinic and out at the construction site. The students enjoyed working in the clinic and learned a lot while working with John seeing patients, and helping out at the discharge station, in wound care, triage, and in the pharmacy. Out in the hot sun and blowing dust in Canaan, the group worked very hard digging a foundation for a new house as well as helping the Haitian workers as they put blocks up on the third duplex in Canaan. They made a lot of progress!

On Saturday, the team enjoyed their last day at the beach soaking up some of Haiti's beautiful sun. The team was also able to go for a driving tour of downtown Port-au-Prince after the beach and finished off their day with dinner out at Epidor.

Child of the Week in Guatemala: Andrea Marisol Mejia Suhul

Andrea Marisol Mejia Suhul

DOB: July 2, 2006
#727, waiting since July 2012 for Sponsorship

Andrea is seven years old and goes to first grade in the north section of the village. She has two older sisters and one younger sister. Andrea lives with her sisters and her parents with her father’s parents. The house has one room and a kitchen. The walls and floors are concrete and it has a tin roof. Her father works as a day laborer and her mother is a housewife. Andrea and her family only eat two meals a day of tortillas with beans, boiled herbs or pasta because her father’s salary isn’t enough to support the family of six. Her father also drinks and sometimes hits her mother.

 

Looking forward to a great week

The team arrived this evening in Guatemala. It is always good to see some familiar faces! It is going to be a very good week. The clinic will be open for consultation with two doctors and two nurses. Martha, her husband and two other team members will be continuing the house that the St. Joe's group started two weeks ago.

Join us for PID’s Annual Celebration!

Sunday, April 6, 2014
2:00 – 4:00 pm

 Boone Hall (adjacent to Ascension Memorial Church)
31 County Road, Ipswich, MA

 This gathering will feature PID updates including the latest news on our U.S. initiative, native crafts to purchase, delicious food, & a chance to catch up with PID pals.
This is also a great way to introduce new people to our work, so bring your friends.

All are welcome, free of charge.

 Please RSVP for food planning purposes:
Email info@pidonline.org or call (978) 380-6132

Monday in Haiti

Today was the team's first day of work. First, the team got a tour of the clinic, and got to meet our clinic staff. About half of the group stayed here and worked in the clinic, while the other half headed out to the work site at Canaan. The nurses who worked here in the clinic worked in the ER doing patient assessments and run a discharge station, and the students split up and helped out in triage, emergency, lab, wound care, pharmacy, and discharge. Everyone learned a lot. Out at the construction site, the team worked hard digging in the heat and the dust, but especially enjoyed spending some time with the children who live around the work site. About halfway through the day, I picked up John, an NP, at the airport. He will be spending the week with the group and seeing patients here at the clinic.

New team arrives in Haiti

Yesterday we said good-bye to the rest of St Joe's team, and this afternoon we said hello to the new team including 14 nursing students from Greenfield Community College, with 3 faculty RNs, Rachael who interned in Guatemala and her sister Madeline who will be helping in the lab, and Hannah and Sara, two team members from Maryland who will be working construction. 

The team had dinner and an introductory meeting before getting settled for bed after a long day of travel. Tomorrow morning we will start work.

The rest of the week with St Joe's

Today we said good-bye to Martha, Ken, Heroina, and 11 members of the St Joe's team.The rest of the team will be leaving tomorrow.

It's been a busy past couple days. The team made a lot of progress in both Canaan and Blanchard, and the rest of the nursing students had the opportunity to help out in the clinic. I took the team for a walk around Blanchard to see all the PID houses in the area. Two team members were able to meet their sponsored children.

Mr. Genois and Mme Pavelus each came to one of our nightly meetings. Mme Pavelus gave the group a history lesson, about the history of Haiti as experienced by herself, and Mr. Genois thanked the group for all their hard work. He also explained PID's programs, with a special focus on the sponsorship program. If the team did not fully understand the importance of their work here in Haiti, they certainly did after Mr. Genois spoke. He also sends a special thank you to all the families of all the students for allowing their kids to come spend a week in Haiti.

Stephen's Glass cutting class has been a huge success! There are currently 3 finished stones and they all look beautiful! The students are so excited about what they now can make out of something that was once trash. They are really starting to get the hang of the machine, and they each had the opportunity to do it on their own today.

I know you are all waiting for pictures. Here they are!

The end of two busy weeks

Today the team had their last day in the village.

The children's program celebrated their last day with a party complete with clown show and hotdogs for 170 kids!

The construction team finished the foundation for the house. They also set a record for how fast they moved materials today. The moved 200 cement blocks in about 15 minutes! And according to Mike they had to move them about 175 steps!

There was also a soccer game at a field in the village in the afternoon. Boys vs. Girls. Girls won!

The clinic saw over 250 patients this week! Everyone from young babies to old ladies! Parasites, respiratory problems, open ulcers, infected fingers and babies that are just too small.

Miguel is on his way to Guatemala City with 4 team members who have an early flight tomorrow. They will stay overnight in a hostal. Most of the rest of the team will go into the airport with Sergio tomorrow.
Miguel and I will be taking the last three girls who arrived to Antigua for the day.

Hi Mom!

The last three students from St. Joe's arrived on Monday night. After a lot of rescheduling flights the whole team was finally together.

They have been working hard in the clinic seeing patients and doing health classes for the mothers outside teaching about lice, scabies, communicable diseases and general hygiene.

The children's program is going very well and the kids really enjoy the daily skit. Here are some pictures from the school:

And here are some pictures from the construction site with some special messages:

Second work day with St Joe's

Today was the St Joe's team's second day of work. They continued work in Canaan, Blanchard, and the clinic. The corner holes are all dug in Blanchard, and in Canaan they finished digging the trenches for the foundation and began setting up for the building of the foundation by passing rocks from the pile to each side of the house where the foundation will be built. The students who worked in Blanchard yesterday had the opportunity to try out the work site at Canaan and vice versa. Liz, Megan, and Heroina worked in the clinic today, in triage, wound care, and with Dr. Paul.

Stephen held his first training class for the 7 chosen people interested in learning the art of glass cutting. It was a great first day and everyone had the opportunity to work the machine. By the end of the class, they had completed their first finished product! They used green glass so it looks like emerald. Pictures coming soon!

Everyone is finally here!

Today, the rest of the St Joe's team arrived and so did Heroina, who will spend the week with us here at PID. We are so happy for everyone to finally be here all together!

It was the team's first day of work. Some team members went to Canaan, where they worked on digging the foundation for the next house. Other team members went to the site in Blanchard, where they are working on the foundation for the last house on our Blanchard land. They dug holes in all the corners of the house, where we will put rebar and pour cement. Kelly, Margaret, and Heroina stayed at PID to work in the clinic. They helped out in triage and wound care.

Stephen met with the directors about a glass cutting business that would be a great small business for a few people, where they could learn how to make shards of broken glass turn into beautiful gemstones that could be made into jewelry that can be sold. Stephen brought down all the equipment needed for this process and Ken built a workshop in the old medical depot. Stephen showed us how it works and the directors got to try their hands at it. We are very impressed! During this week, Stephen will be giving classes to a few people we have chosen who would like to try this business. Here is a photo of the glass cutting workshop:

Here is a couple pictures of the new medical depot! On Saturday the St Joe's students helped Martha move all the meds over and set them up on the shelves by category according to Jimmy's instructions. Jimmy was impressed when he saw how great it looks today!

Almost all here!

Saturday we had another 9 people arrive from the St. Joe's team. This evening three more students will arrive.

Sunday they went to church in downtown San Antonio and then spent the day at Lake Atitlan.

Visiting the "hammock bridge" (photo courtesy of Nick Verrochi)

Kayaking on the lake (photo courtesy of Nick Verrochi)

Today they are working at the children's program, at the construction site in Desierto and here in the clinic. We are also distributing food to all the sponsored children today. It is quite busy here in the clinic!

Some of the team arrives in Haiti

Despite a lot of difficulties from cancelled flights due to the snowstorm, 11 members of the St Joe's team were able to arrive safely here in Haiti on 4 different flights. Monday, God willing, the remaining 8 team members will arrive. 

The team helped Martha and Ken who are working hard to move the small med and supplies depot from the little room on the side of the guesthouse into the two new beautiful finished depot rooms in our new office building. Ken and Bill worked hard last week building beautiful shelves in both depots, and today, the team helped move over all the medicine into the meds depot, organizing it by category as in the pharmacy. They also worked on giving the shelves in the medical supplies depot a coat of paint before we move all the supplies over. They look great!

Once all the team members who had flights today arrived, we ate dinner together and had an introductory meeting. We look forward to a great week!

The goings and comings of Guatemala

After a yummy New Years Eve dinner of turkey and mashed potatoes, followed by a fireworks show in the hotel parking lot, the team went to bed and woke up in the New Year! On the first we visited Lake Atitlan. They got to ride a boat from Santiago to San Pedro and spend time walking around before and after a delicious lunch.

Thursday was the Fiesta at the children's program - complete with clowns, balloon animals, face painting and hotdogs! We had an early dinner and the team left with Sergio for Guatemala City around 7 pm.

Due to the winter storm that hit the Northeast over the past few days there have been many delays and flight cancellations.

Kelly arrived on Thursday and got to San Antonio late at night. Friday was spent doing all sorts of errands to prepare for the St. Joe's group. 

Part of the St. Joe's team arrived last night with Nick as their leader. Another group arrives this afternoon with a few more arriving Sunday or Monday. 

Today the team is starting at the construction site and in the clinic. Shelby worked with some of the students and the leaders from the village to get the crafts ready for next week's children's program.

After lunch cooked by Marcelina the team and I will go to the Mayan Ruins Tak'Alik Ab'aj to learn about the indigenous culture. Tomorrow they will spend the day at the lake.

Happy New Year from Haiti

This morning the team woke up on new Years Day and enjoyed soup Joumou cooked by Saintilia, the traditional pumpkin soup enjoyed in Haitian households everywhere on New Years Day to celebrate Haitian Independence. After, the team packed up and said their last goodbyes before heading to the airport.

The team had a great week, helping out Billy and Dru with the Christmas parties, working in the clinic, out at the construction site on the house in Blanchard, and building shelves for our two new medical depots.

On the 31st, we held our first annual Staff Appreciation New Years Party, complete with decorations, music, a delicious meal cooked and served by the team, and a visit from Gale via skype. It was a great way to end 2013 and say thank you to all our awesome staff for their dedication to PID and all the hard work they do every day serving the poorest of the poor.

As we enter into 2014 we give thanks to God for getting us through some very difficult times in 2013 and continuing to strengthen us and help us grow as we serve those in need. As we thank our dedicated staff here in Haiti, we also want to send our biggest thanks to all of PID's supporters back home for continuing to make PID's work here in Haiti, as well as in Guatemala and now the US possible.