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"