Final post

Wednesday, June 10

I wanted to post some fun pictures. After our teaching at Clinic St. Jean, we had a beach and tour of Cap-Haitien day to celebrate the closing of all of the wonderful and hard work that had been done the last three weeks. Haiti is such a wonderful country, a piece of my heart will always be there, and I am counting down the days until I will be able to return.

 

These are some pictures of the mountain side from our drive to the beach

 The beach! White sand, palm trees and blue water, I felt like I was in the Caribbean...Wait a second, I was! There are a few resorts on the water for tourists and locals to enjoy

 Zanmi mwen! Lelene (left) and Pamela (right) are two friends from Robillard who joined us for our beach excursion. These two have hearts of gold! 

 A view on our way down of the Cathedral and the city of Cap-Haitian. 

 Houses on houses! These houses are stacked on top of one another all the way up the mountain. It's hard to imagine having to walk all the way to the top with groceries or clothes piled high on your head, but Haitians do it all the time.

 We made a pit stop to enjoy one last view of the beach and take a selfie! 

 Before we left on Thursday, the school children were gathering around to bid us farewell. I cried the whole way out of Robillard....and maybe a time or two on the way to the airport!

And we're off! 

The Lord bless you and keep you!

The Lord let his face shine upon you and be gracious to you!

The Lord look upon you kindly and give you peace!

-Numbers 6, 24-26

Clinic of St. Jean

Tuesday and Wednesday, June 9-10

Our last clinic and teaching are back in Limbe! Clinic St. Jean is a large hospital that sees about 250-300 patients a day. The directors wanted the majority of their staff to receive education, so we did training over two days and taught over 50 providers and nursing students. The medical director and one of the physicians offered very good insight on how their patients would receive this method, and we concluded that it would be a great addition to their program. Since they have very limited funding, the cost of obtaining the beads was a concern of theirs. I discussed options with them and encouraged them to reach out to the Ministry of Health and Catholic Church for assistance in obtaining these beads. It encourages me to continue work in trying to find resources for these non-privately, lower funded clinics who see a large number of women who would benefit greatly from this education.

This being my last clinic and teaching session is bittersweet. I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to follow my passion and teach such a large number of providers about the Standard Days Method, but I am so sad that I will be leaving on Thursday. This is the start of something wonderful and the foundation of where my life will take me. And I cannot fathom doing anything else with my life. This is my calling and where I am supposed to be, and I cannot thank Hope Through Healing Hands enough for the opportunity to live my dream.

Second Mile and the Sisters of Quatier- Morin

Monday, June 8

Today was a busy but productive and gratifying day! We started the day at Second Mile Haiti ministries. This is a wonderful organization started by two young Americans, one a nurse and the other with a business/engineering background who saw the need for family education with malnourished children. The ministry has several rooms that they house malnourished and underdeveloped children, siblings and their mom (sometimes dad!). The ministry teaches the whole family the importance of proper nutrition, and educates them for several weeks as the child or children are regaining health. They teach the parents a trade such as sewing or jewelry making, and how to plant and raise their own food so that when they leave the organization they have resources to gain jobs, raise and grow their own food, and obtain healthy habits so that children do not fall back into being malnourished once they leave. They asked us to come to their organization to teach them a method of natural family planning because, while they may not have a clinic on hand to provide prescriptions, they want to provide education to women who come to the organization so that they may have the opportunity to prevent pregnancies and have only the amount of children the family can afford. The director stated that this method can help the women to prevent the malnourishment in continuing children of families who simply cannot afford to feed the number of blessings they have and who try to make a little bit of food last a long time. The organization had several nurses and non-licensed clinical workers who provide education to these women who they wanted to receive the training. We trained 6 workers at this clinic who were very eager to learn and help the women they serve.

In the afternoon, we went and taught the health care providers at the hospital of the Sisters of Quatier Morin. This institution had a school, a hospital, a convent for vowed and novice Sisters, and an orphanage. The Sisters have their hands full! The class went very well, teaching 5 MDs, nurses, and social workers SDM so that they can offer a method of family planning to their patients.

Only one more clinic left at which to teach! This fellowship experience has gone by way to fast, with so many blessings flowing from it!

At Second Mile Haiti, listening to the workers teach us what they learned in training

This is what they make chocolate from!! Once you pick the Cacao from the tree and break it open, you pull out the beans from inside and crack them open of find the more chocolate colored beans one would expect to find. This can be a large source of income for Haitians

 A child who is in residence at Second Mile Haiti, enjoying our company and the company of Belle, the organizations puppy. 

Open Door Clinic

Friday and Saturday, June 5-6

Open Door Haiti is a clinic in Limbe that is connected to Open Door Church of God in Cap Haitian.

We provided training to the providers in both places to help accommodate them and their weekend schedule. The first session in the clinic was off to a rocky start because it was late and the providers had 10 hours of work in for the day. About an hour in our training, the generator cut off, so we were sitting in a very warm, very dark room. Needless to say, most of the providers started to fall asleep! We agreed to end and start fresh on Saturday, and all said they could stay as long as necessary that day to complete the training. Saturday was much better! The group was mostly men, which offered an interesting take on women's fertility and the "white bead days" or days of abstinence. All agreed that this method would appeal to the majority of their patients and were eager to start teaching the method. This group was one of the best I have had yet, despite our rocky start! Much interesting discussion happened and the whole group demonstrated eagerness to learn.

Thanks be to God for such a wonderful and successful mission!

 At Open Door Haiti Clinic on the first day. The providers are holding their CycleBeads to participate in learning activities

On our way this beautiful Saturday to Cap Haitian to teach at Open Door Church

 Outside, patiently waiting for church to let out so that we can use the room to resume our lesson in SDM. 

 Gloria patiently waiting as well! The building behind her had been torn down so the church can expand, but is awaiting funds to finish building. And yes, that is a house on the top right!

On our way home, a woman is coming from the market with many groceries to feed her family. It amazes me how much women can carry on their heads!

Haiti Hospital Appeal

Thursday, June 4th

This morning was wonderful! We witnessed the first Communion of 101 10-11 year olds in the Catholic Church on the feast day of Corpus Christi. After witnessing this wonderful occasion, we went to Haiti Hospital Appeal in Cap-Haitian and had the opportunity to teach a total of 10 providers, mostly nurses and physicians. This was a group that had called me for a refresher on SDM, as they had previous training from the Ministry of Health several years ago. They were very knowledgeable in the method, which created a great opportunity for discussion. While the providers had the training in the past, they were unclear of where to acquire sets of beads to provide the patients, so the method had not been taught in the clinic. Therefore, I provided information to the director where she could order CycleBeads, as she had money in her budget to do so and was eager to provide this method to her patients. She was very grateful for the information and for our refresher training. 

What a wonderful day!

Our Lady of Perpetual Help, continue to pray for this mission!

The people gathered outside to process in the church for the feast of Corpus Christi

The 10 providers and director at Haiti Hospital Appeal sitting in the breezeway of the hospital to refresh their training on SDM. 

On our way home, we passed a woman carries shelves on the back of a motorcycle down the bumpy roads of Haiti. 

Continued Training at Marinates of St. Crouix and Populorum Progressio

Tuesday June 2nd - Wednesday June 3, 2015

These two days were spent training 8 medical doctors, nurses, and community health workers at the Marinates of St. Croiux Clinic in Cap Haitian and 34 medical doctors, nurses, and community health workers at Populorum Progressio Clinic in Plaisance, Haiti. Plaisance was the furthest away from Robillard that we traveled, taking almost two hours to drive our little Geo-Tracker down dirt, pot-holed roads. Upon mapping it out, I realized it was only 31 miles from our place of stay. That speaks to the road conditions! Both of these clinics were added after I arrived in Haiti. The directors had found out from my priest that I was there teaching NFP and asked to be added to the list, so that their providers could have training to offer this method. Since Catholic teaching prohibits the use of artificial contraception and that is all that is currently endorsed by the MSPP, these clinics previously had very limited to no options for helping their patients plan families to limit the number of children, so that each could be cared for properly and provided with an education. They were excited to be educated in a modern, effective, and easy to use natural method of family planning. It was very rewarding to teach these health care workers, knowing that each wanted to be there so that he or she can impact patients' and families lives in a positive way. One struggle I found with many of the clinics, especially the Catholic clinics is that money is very limited and many to most of the resources are donated. The directors raised concerns about having the funds to buy the beads to provide patients, and if I could send them any. I assured them that while I did not have enough money to send that many beads, I would make it a goal of mine to find donors or sources to get CycleBeads available, so they can use the new skills and knowledge obtained to offer SDM to the patients. After I got back that night, I called and made an appointment for a meeting with the Archbishop of Cap-Haitian,  Most Rev. Max Leroy Mésidor, to acquire about resources available in the Catholic Church. More on this meeting later...

God is really taking ahold of this trip and blessing every step of the way. I am seeing a real difference in the work I am doing here. I am eager to continue sharing my mission, fellowship, and study with more of these wonderful people here in this beautiful country of Haiti. Bondye Bon Tout Tan!

At the Marinates of St. Croiux teaching about SDM and CycleBeads to 8 MDs, nurses, and community health workers.

 We separated this large group at Populorum Progressio into small groups of 6-8, where each group took turns telling us key points of SDM during a teach back session. 

Children of the Promise

Monday June 1 and Wednesday June 3, 2015

The beginning four hours of these two days were spent teaching 10 physicians, nurses, midwives, and program directors of Children of the Promise (COTP) and Bon Samaritan, which are organizations that have been around each of their communities for a long time and take care of the needs of many women and children. COTP is located in Lagossette, Haiti and is a leader in adoptions, both in country and out of country, specifically for special needs children. They are a non-governemental organization (NGO) that takes in orphans and children who are malnourished or mistreated to nurse them back to health. After the children are better and healthier, they are either reunited with their families, or if their families cannot take them back, they are adopted out of the organization. On "open door" days, COTP runs a clinic and education sessions to meet the needs of those in the community. Bon Samaritan is a hospital and clinic that has been serving the community of Limbe, Haiti, for over 50 years and is still operated by the same family. Since the director only wanted to send one physician for training, he joined us at COTP. This was a fun group of people. We laughed, learned, shared stories. and really had a great time. This was definitely a lively group! The program director stated this was the third time he had participated in training on SDM, and the first time he actually grasped the concept and the idea of the method. Another provider called her husband to come and participate in training so that they can use the method in their marriage to space children. As with the providers in Robillard, many stated eager intent to use and share with others in their community. After the training, the head nurse informed the facility director that SDM should be included in the policy as first line method of family planning, and that they would go ahead and purchase Cyclebeads for distribution. This is a big step for the community and will reach many women to help plan families. I am excited to see how this program develops.

 My friend and driver Ulrich has heard the lessons many times, so he was taking a turn teaching what he knew.

This is a funny story that has us laughing for a while! The doctor told us of one time when he had an experience with a patient who was "using" Cyclebeads to prevent pregnancy. She came in to his office pregnant and was furious at the method, she stated she used it every time she had sex to prevent pregnancy and apparently it doesn't work! When he asked her to show him how she used it, she put it over her head like a necklace (as shown) and said "just like this and it did not work!" This demonstrates the importance of ensuring our patients understand the method and how to use it correctly. 

As I said, this was a lively group! Each took turns explaining Cyclebeads to ensure proper understanding of the method. 

 The men in the training often could not get passed the white beads without stating "there are so many of them!" It made for fun conversation of how to help couples handle the days of white beads, or the days that unprotected sex is most likely to lead to a baby.

 The providers liked the hands on part of the training, many stated it helped them better understand how to teach it to their patients.

This man had to draw it out to understand better. It helped everyone to hear the others' explanations and demonstration of the method 

These two paintings were on the wall in COTP and I just loved the depictions of Haitian life.

Gloria found a new friend to play with and "hide her nose" 

Days of recruiting participants, visiting clinics, and teaching at MamaBaby Maternal Center

Wednesday March 27 -Sunday March 31, 2015

These few days have been spent driving all over the North side of the country and visiting/recruiting participants from clinics and setting up times to teach. We have all but about three filled positions in the study, and many other clinics who were not on our original list have contacted us for teaching as well. I will stick to the list for the study; however, I do not want to turn people away when I have open time available, so after the study is over, I will still provide the lessons, but without the formal pretest and post-test, in order to provide education to as many people as possible. Our new translator, Sandra, is with us and I have the feeling she is going to do a wonderful job. She was born in Haiti, but when she was 9 moved to Miami where she was raised in the States. She only recently came back to Haiti to run her family's business and translate for several non-profit organizations just a few years ago. Her medical language understanding and English-Haitian translation is incredible. We are really lucky to have found her! 

Friday morning before we headed out to teach our class at MamaBaby Maternal Center in Vandreuil, Haiti, the nurse at the Rose-Merci clinic in Robillard came and got Gloria and I to help her deliver a baby. With limited supplies, only a table with stirrups, a trashcan to catch the fluid, and some basic medical supplies, me and one other trained nurse delivered a very healthy 6 lb baby at 1052 am. Momma did great with no complications and got up right after the delivery to wash up and change clothes. 

Assessing and dressing baby while mom rests from labor. 

Gloria, Magdala, and me posing with baby for a picture while she sleeps. I am looking forward to meeting her again and watching her grow up each time I return to Robillard through the years. 

After getting baby and mom all taken care of and settled in the room where they will stay the night, Gloria and I headed to Vandreuil to teach the midwives at MamaBaby Maternity Center. 

A nice breezy patio was lovely to teach the two nurse midwives of the clinic. Both have been practicing midwifery for over 15 years and have delivered many babies, and provide education to many women in their community.

Sandra and I having a laid back and productive teaching session with these ladies. 

Our dining hut at Notre Dame de la Merci. This palm thatched roof hut is where we ate amazing food for breakfast, supper, and  sometimes lunch if we were not on the road. Looks like dinner is ready!

Sunday was laundry day! Pardonnèy was the only male I have  seen do laundry in the village. After he finished, Bonette taught me how to hand wash my clothes with homemade lye soap.

Tuesday May 26, 2015

Tuesday May, 26, 2015

Second day in Robillard, Haiti

Today we finished the second day of the training for the providers. It went more smoothly than the first day now that the providers knew the drill better, though the language barrier was still tough with the post-tests. After the providers, the pregnant mothers came for their monthly prenatal education class. I witnessed as one of the nurses who just participated in the class accurately and eagerly taught these pregnant women ways they can space their next pregnancy to promote better health for them and their babies. If there is one thing I learned today from the Haitian people is that they crave knowledge and education to help the people in their community. Each health care provider stated interest in teaching this method to the women and couples to whom it can apply. I did find out today that the Ministère de la Santé Publique et de la Population (MSPP), which is the Ministry of Health had several years ago started training providers on the SDM in the more Urban parts of Haiti, and they had purchased thousands of Cyclebeads, but never followed through with the programs due to more donated money and focused pursuit toward artificial methods of contraception. The providers in Robillard expressed concern that this neglects family planning measures to a large portion of the population who are Catholic or those who for other reasons desire to choose a modern, effective, natural method to plan families. I was asked if I could help find these beads for them so that they can be continually offered in the clinics. I understand their desire to help the people and want to help in anyway that I can. I am planning, once I complete my study and fellowship, to follow up on this lead and help the people of Haiti have more access to Cyclebeads technology to be able to offer this method to more people. These last two days have been very enlightening and I am very excited to continue on to other providers in the next three weeks.

A nurse doing prenatal teaching to the pregnant women of Robillard,
including how to space their next pregnancy 

Many of them laughing at the nurse's funny way of describing the "blanc-danje-bebe" days
 or the white bead days on which they should avoid sex in order to not become pregnant. 

One husband decided he was going to join in on the fun!

The group at Robillard and surrounding clinics, but first...Let me take a selfie!

Singing songs about Method Kolye, or Cyclebeads, helps the women
remember the steps much easier

Having fun after the lessons were through!