Finally I am able to get a few photos to you from the last several weeks. Sadly I missed some opportunities due to the fact I kept forgetting new batteries for my camera.

Jim: checking out the weights at the School clinics. The reception and screening area was held in the "little green house" at the entranceway.

Barb and her interpretor Elvid, getting the intake info from the mother

"Pharmacists" Nancy and Lois setting up their shop at Little Children of Jesus for the staff clinic.

More patient screeing with Diane, Barb and Hilda at LCJ

The "SLICK" team

Back Row L-R: Barb, Betty, Barry, Diane, Dr Randy (team leader) , Sandy, Nancy, Lin (co-team leader) , Hilda

Front Row L-R: Jim, Richard, Susan, Lois

The " Hometown Flirts" team

Back Row: Barb, Hilda, Jim, Donna (team leader)

Front Row: Sarah, Chrisitna, Annette, Jordyn

In case you recognize three of the faces, Barb, Hilda and Jim all stayed on a second week in order to be with the Hometown crew. Hilda, Barb and I worked together at a Burlington Hospital ICU, many moons ago. Donna and the four girls are all students studying social work and for Jordyn, psychology.

Good Evening all: The team is all tucked away in their rooms, reading and relaxing so I am taking this opportunity to send out a quick note.

Cholera is on everyone's minds and the topic of conversation for all. The "blame" for the infection is being pointed at a troop of Nepalese UN troops who supposedly were emptying their latrines into the Artibonite River in the area of Mirebelais. This is totally unsubstantiated at this point, but it is the story go around. Wilner tells me that new cases continue to show up at the hospital but that the rate of their arrival is decreasing a bit. The newcomers equal the amount being discharged. He continues to be out and about delivering health and prevention messages to various communities the hospital serves. So far he is staying well...I keep telling him to make sure he is following the advice he is giving everyone else. As for our area there are a few reported cases, but I don't have very accurate information about the real situation in PAP area. The health meeting on Monday focused on prevention messages to be spread about and setting up observation and treatment centers. The various NGO's in our area are organizing oral rehydration salts, clean water and other treatment modalities, in the case we get a lot of cases like the Artibonite. We continue to hope that it will be contained as much as possible. I was at Food for the Poor today and one of the staff told me that all of their hand sanitizer has been handed out left, right and center as so many folks have requested it.

I posted the health messages at the school and we have distributed a quantity of soap for each of the classrooms. On Friday we will give goodie bags to all of the students and one of the items in the bag is a bar of soap.

The Hamilton team, now nicknamed the "Hometown Flirts" have been hard at it as we moved a lot of boxes from the depot to the school and then from the little apt to the new depot at Hope House. I had to get it cleared out for the team coming to finish renovations in the apt.

We have delivered medicines to a private clinic nearby and to Food for the Poor Clinic today. The team thoroughly enjoyed the time to serve up food to the families arriving at the FFTP kitchen for their daily rations. All of the them were remarking, as many others do, how tiring it was to scoop out the portions of rice. They were all wishing for a bit of Ben-Gay this evening.

From there we went to Little Children of Jesus, arriving in time to help the staff feed lunch to the children. It was quite a meaningful visit for all of the gals (and one guy). Hilda's husband Jim is lapping in the luxury of being on a team with 7 women.

The rain came pouring down just as the desks that had been painted were starting to dry out a bit. Hopefully we got the tarps over them to prevent any ill effect.

I finally remembered to change the batteries in my camera, but now the satellite does not wish to upload my pictures so they will come at another time.

Thats it for this evening......all the best, Debbie

Hi folks: I am sure everyone is anxious about the situation in Haiti as news of the Cholera outbreak spreads. Of course it is of great concern for all of us, and we are all praying that the major thrust of it can be contained in the Artibonite. I read on one of the sites today that there are two suspected cases in Croix des Bouquets that are being investigated. We are taking precautions as necessary and I have given some health lessons to the staff as well as a some chlorox for them to have at home and I also told them how to make the homemade oral rehydrations salts.

Wilner has been a very busy fellow as Hopital Albert Schweitzer is right in the middle of the Valley and it as well as all of the other hospitals in the area have been inundated with patients arriving for care. Wilner has been out and about in the small communities delivering health messages and treatment care etc. He and his colleague were even on the local radio station to help spread the word. I just got off the phone with him and he says although folks are still coming to the hospital the numbers of folks coming seems to be declining somewhat.

The Health Dept in our area is having an information and planning meeting on Monday. I will be othewise occupied but I am sending someone to represent me at the meeting and to take notes.

So please keep your prayers coming Haiti's way......oh so many are saying "what next can happen"?!

Today I saw the "Slick" team off (Dr Randy's medical team from Statesboro Georgia and Hamilton, Ontario). They were so named for the well oiled fashion in which they conducted the medical clinis. We did three days at the School for students and community members and then we worked in one of the smaller tent site areas. The last day we saw staff at Little Children of Jesus and several of the girls at Marie's. ...all added up we saw about 675 people. Several of the highlights were seeing the overnight improvement of a little girl who came in with a fever of 104+. She was given a shot of antibiotics and then other treatment to take at home. The next day she returned for follow up and to Maria's delight, she was a different little girl. Dr Randy saw a young student from the school who has yet to return to school due to a huge abscess he had under his jaw. After a 24 hour period of antibiotic treatment with little change, Dr Randy, ended up draining the abscess and he went home with a variety of medications. I will be seeing him on Tuesday to see how he is coming along.

We were fortunate to have great Haitian staff working with us to help the clinics go so well. They included a health agent, interpretors and 2 different Haitian physicians. The community at the camp site had a health committee and they did a great job of keeping the folks in order and they waited very patiently to be seen.

One day coming home we had quite the experience as we were traveling through Croix des Bouquets just as the political rally for the inauguration of Jude Celestin's campaign for president was coming to an end. The traffic was HORRENDOUS. It was so bad that many folks gave up on the tap taps and just started walking to their destination. Odney and I had the pleasure of going through it twice as the bus carrying half the team broke down and after dropping the one set of folks off at Hope House we turned right around to go and get the others who were still at the Metal workers area. By time we got there a young very talented kid had the vehicle fixed and then we headed back together. If anything the traffic had gotten worse, so we ended up taking a very convoluted route throught the back streets of CdB to get ahead of the traffic. One of the fellows from the metal workers neighbourhood acted as our guide. It was a bumpy road but it was much better than sitting in the traffic for over an hour.

I will continue this story at another time..it is time to go and get dinner together for the team that arrived this afternoon....yes the beds hardly got cooled down before they were being filled up again. I am pretty proud of this team as they are all from my hometown of Hamilton...the first full team of Canadians to be at Village of Hope.

Have a good evening and I'll be back in the not too distant future.

Debbie

Good Morning all:
I have a few minutes to spare before heading out to the school to join the kids for the church service, so thought I would spend it adding a few lines to this blog. There is not really a whole lot to tell as we have been just carrying out the daily chores of running the school. This week my big accomplishment was getting the housekeeping staff equiped and an inventory prepared of the materials each of them have. Next week, it will be the gardeners and following that the kitchen staff. Each of the groups has a list a mile long of what they "need". Finding out why the item is "needed" has been an interesting process.

Yesterday I visited a new store like Eko Depot. It is called MSC trading. I wanted to check it out and I also had a list of items that Christophe needed for some repairs at the school. Who ever thought I would be excited about being in a hardware store. It was a bit like Home Depot and the prices were a bit better than at Eko Depot. I don't know if it will be one stop shopping but they do have a big selection on hand.

From there I went to pick up the mail and then to the grocery store....the traffic was bumper to bumper going both ways, so it was not a speedy trip. On the way home I stopped at a Haitian Arts Festival. I wish you could have had the opportunity to attend to see some of the fine crafts produced here. Naturally there were a number of the metal workers there. As well there were folks selling jewellry, purses, embroidery, paintings, shoes, home made jellies, stone carvings and on and on. It may not be surprising to some to know that I managed to leave a few gourdes behind.

This afternoon I will be picking up the medical team coming from Statesboro Georgia. They are being joined by 3 folks from Canada....the first time we have had Canadians on a Mission trip. It is pretty exciting for me to be introducing them to the Lazarus Projects in Haiti. It will be a busy week, I know that for sure, but a very satisfying one too.

Time has marched on, so I must leave you now to head out to church. Sunday blessings to one and all.

Debbie

Good afternoon:
It's been awhile I know since I have posted any news. It has been busy for sure but most of it has been the routine day to day work. After the Prince of Peace team left we had one more push to get the rest of the school furniture moved. I kept a crew of 5 guys going most of the day. I know I was pooped at the end of it so I am sure they were exhausted. The classrooms looked great though and I know some will be happy with the results....even if no else is, I sure am and that made it all worthwhile no matter what! Speaking of results we learned that all of the grade 13 (Philo) students passed, 36 out of 38 grade 6 passed, 8 grade 12 passed and 7 had the chance to rewrite and we await their results. Twenty nine passed the grade 9 exam. Three had marks high enough to rewrite but due to lack of time the Mof Ed did not give them that option this year, thus they are considered as having failed. We are pretty pleased with the results, although Clovis does aim for perfection.

School started off well on Monday. As usual the full complement of students have yet to appear and they will slowly trickle in this week. Some of the parents are most likely still trying to get uniforms and other paraphenalia ready for them to return to class. I really give credit to the K1 teachers.....at one point I was thinking I should be giving each of them a bottle of tylenol. They had the music blaring away to keep a light mood for the new children but amongst all of that music, I heard a lot of crying. I think it is the usual routine for them and they seem to take it all in their stride.

Election campaigning has begun and there are banners, flyers, posters everywhere with various candidates pictures, slogans etc printed on them. Thus far it seems to be staying pretty calm....we hope it will continue as such.

Pictures will not be forth coming for awhile..I am having computer challenges since I lost part of the power cord to my own computer. Luckily I have a caring brother who is working to try and help me resolve that problem.

until next time....here is a little Shaker saying for you to ponder: Begin today! No matter how feeble the light, let it shine as best it may. The world may need just that quality of light which you have.

Debbie