Birmingham First UMC in Jeremie, Haiti

Our week in Haiti came to an end on Friday morning as the team boarded our puddle-jump flight from Jeremie to Port au Prince.  Later in the afternoon, we left for Atlanta and our various connecting flights to Cedar Rapids (our "new-dad" Project Manager Axary), Detroit, Flint and Sarasota.  It is rare to make it back in a single day, and risky too since weather can make things dicey at the un-instrumented gravel airstrip that is Jeremie International Airport! Departing Jeremie is always bittersweet.  On the one hand, "there's no place like home" washes over you after our typically very busy and demanding week.  On the other, we are obliged to say goodbye, again, to our loyal, hard-working Haitian friends.  They are wonderful personalities all, with dreams of their own (some we help with), but a truly great team when on the job with us.  We accomplish ever more with them at our sides. Hurricane Matthew did a number on Haiti last October, and Jeremie was i...

There isn't a traffic light in Jeremie.  Cars are nowhere to be found ('cept for the abandoned hulk. . .now doubling as a windowless apartment. . .done by the "bus station"!).  Trucks are the 4-wheel choice given the poor roads and terrain, and motorbikes (99% Chinese origin) dominate are definitely the ride of choice. It takes a fair amount of one's income to get a license, let along afford 2- or 4-wheels. I think they should double the price of a license and get some clearly looney-tune bikers off the roads!  Today, one sideswiped our truck while attempting to pass other bikers.  Axary was none too pleased, read the doofus the riot act, took his bike key and after a few minutes gave it back. Later, after the very first (and first rate) Haitian restaurant meal we've ever attempted, we returned to find the front windshield smashed by a rock the size of a bowling ball.  OK, this looney tune didn't have a license. . .but he had trashed one or more othe...

The team made our way to Bois Neuf Malour today, a good sized village down the coast in the direction of Port au Prince.  It is good road (relatively speaking!) and offers some lovely views of rural Haiti.  This was to be our last mobile medical but, before the day was over, another village in need of some medical attention has asked for our help, and so we will try on Thursday. We brought along 3 Haitian Doctors, a Haitian Dentist, and 5 Haitian nurses. . .plus our indefatiguable "ground crew"!.  Our two mid-size pick-ups were groaning under the weight of 10 people each, PLUS tables/folding chairs/8-9 duffel bags/coolers/bottled water/back-packs, etc.  A big shout-out to GM de Mexico for their vehicle donation following Hurricane Matthew. . .without that truck, the rebuilt church in Chiraque would still be a distant dream, and a big chunk of the +1100 Haitians that have been seen and treated in our mobile medical events would have gone without. Through yester...

Surely the high point of this trip was the glorious and uplifting dedication of the rebuilt church in Chiraque.  The everyday presence of that building means must be a continuous source of reassurance and comfort to the villagers. . .   . . .but we have planned several mobile medical events this year as well and, today, we conducted the second of three in Gebeau.  Gebeau is on the outskirts of Jeremie and home to the Methodist clinic where we have worked in prior years.  The clinic was badly damaged by Hurricane Matthew's high winds and flood waters. . .which rose 3 feet against its walls. Much effort has been made to clean and repair the clinic but it hasn't reopened yet.  But our team made use of the facility today and we had a crew of 3 Haitian Doctors and 3 Haitian nurses helping our usual ground crew of "roadies", drivers and translators.  We prepare lunch for our crew, which today numbered around 25! A long day, and as long a day as our mobile m...

I don't really don't know how to put today into words. It had been raining for hours before we woke up, and raining hard during breakfast.  It seemed certain that we wouldn't make it up that tortuous, rutted, slick and steep dirt road to Chiraque.   But, it would have taken another hurricane for the village to postpone today's celebration.  Tradesmen and church elders were finishing off construction details and decorating the church until past 10 pm last night. . .and the cooks, working over charcoal, began cooking up the celebratory meal. . .beginning at 1:00 am THIS MORNING, and still cooking until the meal was served to each parishioner at 1:00 pm today!!  More about the cooks in a moment. The church was so pretty when we arrived, and we had it to ourselves for a bit. .with some gentle, recorded music in the background, and the continuing rain making its presence known on the tin roof.   It was a joyous and tearful moment for those of us repre...

I can only imagine how Bob Hope and Bing Crosby would have enjoyed making this movie! Despite early morning rains. . .this on top of several days of the same. . .the team made its way up the difficult "road" to Chiraque.  The road starts as creek bed, then turns uphill. . .with only a couple of paved sections.  Mostly, its a dirt/mud road and rain gives it a hog pen quality!   We were there to do a mobile medical at our adopted village, and pitch in on the putting the final touches on the rebuilt church, which is to be re dedicated today. . .followed by a village-wide celebration.  We basically throwing a party for 300 folks, and everything has to be brought up mountain and prepared.  Yikes! But the energy is not to be denied.  Without a church, there is no village.  Worship on Sunday, overflow school rooms Monday - Friday, shelter all the time.  It is the heart and soul of the community, and Hurricane Matthew knocked it down.  We re...

Yesterday was a travel day, with the Kellers, McClellands, Smiths and Wilkinsons all converging on Atlanta from different flights originating in Detroit, Flint and Sarasota.  Between the 8 of us, we had north of 20 pieces of luggage. . .the contents of 14 duffels (700 lbs) are all "leave behinds" (medicines, tools, baby blankets, computers, etc.), and all of our personal luggage contains more of these same items.  It is always a bit chaotic arriving in PaP and making your way through Customs and past the phalanx of eager porters between you and your ground transportation. . .but alls well that ends well, and we made it to our overnight stop next to the airport and puddle-jump onto Jeremie this morning. We have a busy week planned and will spend the balance of today cutting and bagging pills and organizing other medicines for a mobile medical tomorrow in Chiraque.  Some of our party will pitch in on the church reconstruction effort in Chiraque, where we hope to rededicat...

Welcome to our new blog!  For some reason (which any of our kids would instantly figure out), while I can see the site we've used in previous years, I can't seem to add to it. . .so, out with the old, in with the new! In a few days, the Birmingham First crew will depart for Jeremie and we have some very full days ahead.  Hurricane Mathew raked over the Jeremie area last October and we've been busy at a distance helping repair the damage.  Soon, the Kellers/McClellands/Smiths/Wilkinsons will arrive to dedicate the new new in Chiraque that we've helped build, deliver 4 mobile medical events, and tend to the Good Sam old folks' home. We'll post daily summaries and pictures.  Thanks to our fellow parishioners at BFUMC and many family friends for responding to the call since the hurricane.  We can do what we do because of you. John and Nancy Smith