Birmingham First UMC in Jeremie, Haiti

Some pictures from our trek to David. . .

We travelled to the village of David today.  It is deep in the mountains of Haiti, and. . .we’re told. . .not visited by folks like us since 1990.  Even Pastor Claudel asked why David, to which Nancy replied simply “because no one else will”. It was a hike!  About an hour and a quarter on very challenging roads (hint: think kidneys) to a point where you walk the rest of the way. . .about 50 minutes’ worth. . .and NOT flat!  This is a beautiful part of Haiti, and folks make their living farming. . .goats, pigs, some cattle, and corn planted places (each seed by hand) on steep, rocky terrain. That a team would make that trip seemed nearly enough for the villagers, who welcomed us warmly. . .some meeting us on the trail.  We surveyed the current “church” and discussed our plan to build a proper replacement (think cinderblock on concrete foundation) starting now.  We’ve done this before in Chiraque and have a solid team, including a Haitian engineer who sup...

We had a great day in Testas, this our third year in delivering a mobile medical/dental clinic to this poor, seaside village (leftover hint: “mobile dental” means extractions only. . .not for the faint of heart, although Maria has all the aesthetics required to make for a relatively painless procedure!). This is a village of about 800 people, most make their living either gathering stone or sand (for mortar) from the beach, or fishing.  There are very few masonry or stone structures, such is the average income.  The village leaders were ready for us and had the insides of the church we use nearly exactly as we need it. . .to host Doctors in one place, patient triage in another, the “pharmacy” in another, ear wash in another, reading glasses. . .and, on demand, wound care.  More on that shortly. We started at 9:15 am and wrapped up around 4:30 pm.  320 Haitians were seen medically, there were 42 tooth extractions (the fingers hesitate to even type this. . .), 90 p...

We’ll post three pictures but one is for dear Sarah, who was unable to accompany husband Mick on this rescheduled trip. . .but she’ll recognize the setting (hint:  Roseaux orphanage), and see the most essential item to a good day painting (hint:  water at the ready. . .it was over 90 degrees today and we were painting the insides of the renovated boy’s dormitory building. . .two coats (our Haitian paint foreman drives ‘em hard!). Nancy and Anne hung back at base camp (hint: Hotel Charmant) with a half-dozen of our ground crew to prepare for tomorrow’s mobile medical/dental clinic at the village of Testas. . .we had such a big crowd yesterday at Chiraque we weren’t sure we had enough medicines, and what we did have bagged and ready to distribute. We were asked to do a mobile medical in the seaside village of Testas for the first time 2 years ago as it seems the village is poor (most are) and a bit off the beaten path.  We obliged and were mobbed, and we went back again...

First things first. . .about last night’s blog title, I meant to share an observation about the church service (all 3 hours. . .).  There were probably 800 people in church, and not enough hymnals to go around. . .but every 3rd person seemed to following scriptures or singing along using their cell phones.  On their hip, or in their purse, every day there is ready access to uplifting text and lyrics.  While I’m sure there must be apps for that that I haven’t seen (or looked for), our Haitian friends might seem to be ahead of us.   But I digress. . .the team was in Chiraque today, departing at 8:00 am and returning around 6:30 pm.  We’re up in the mountains but can see the sea. . .while there is a breeze, it is still a hot Haitian day, and we’re working under a sheet-metal roof. . .and the large room beneath if filled with expectant Haitians.  It is 95-100 degrees. With our crew of 3 Haitian Docs, a Haitian Dentist, 6 Haitian nurses, and a dozen othe...

We attended church this morning, although that fact was very much in doubt at noon yesterday as it didn’t seem possible we could get all the pill bags prepared for the mobile medical clinic tomorrow in Chiraque and Wednesday in Testas.  By some miracle, by 5 pm we were done and church was back on the calendar for this morning. . .all 3 hours of it. . .in 80 degree/70% humidity conditions. . .and the ceiling fans in our part of the church weren’t working. Dad, who was a pretty steady Methodist, often said it was important to take the bitter and the sweet. . .and the “sweet” parts were Nancy addressing the congregation, letting them know our plan for the week and how much we appreciated joining their service, and the many, warm “peace-be-with-you”. greetings we received at the end. We used the afternoon to visit the Good Sam(aritan) Elder Care facility where we have taken responsibility for the food budget, along with some other churches who are part of the Jeremie Haiti Project....

Greetings from Jeremie.  We have had a busy day. . .departed Port au Prince at 8:00 am and arrived Jeremie around 8:45 am.  Our 6 pax manifest was outweighed by all the duffels filled with meds and other leave-behinds. . .and, still, the hearty puddle-jumping Caravan shrugged the lot of us off. We have a large, growing and loyal ground crew in Jeremie, which help us tackle ever-bigger work lists.  We pay them, of course, but try not to foul up the local wage scale. . .best to think Henry Ford’s rates when in Haiti.  We also prepare and share lunch every working day.  We’d be lost without them. Before this week’s blog is finished, I promised to share a picture of THE team. We spent the entire day creating thousands of pill bags across 50 different medicines and vitamins the Haitian Docs will prescribe in the mobile medical clinics we have planned for Chiraque and Testas this week.  Tomorrow, we’re at church in the morning and then off to the Good Samarit...

Birmingham First United Methodist’s Haiti Mission Team will be returning to Jeremie in early May.  We will be a smaller team but will be able to accomplish a lot in the week that we are there thanks to a terrific “ground team” that works alongside us.  We had a bigger team visit planned for March but delayed the trip due to a lengthy period of demonstrations country-wide related to apparent government corruption and rapidly escalating prices for food and fuel. . .in a country where the average wage is $2/day! We will strive to keep everyone abreast of the team’s work at the end of each day, and hope to post it successfully. . .a sometimes challenging task as power is sporadic as is internet availability!!

It has been another busy, sometimes chaotic, hot, noisy week in Jeremie. . .but well compensated by the work we’ve done, not necessarily according to plan. . .but a John Lennon lyric observed “life is what happens to you when you’re busy making plans”. Today was an important day. . .the day before we depart, lots of clean up and dis-organizing to do, not an early start, and not 9 hours on your feet doing this or that.  We did deliver 10 laptops to the the John Wesley K-12 school, along with a new and dedicated power system (thank you Ken Stoddard for your long-distance consult!). . .and were treated to a spur-of-the-moment dedication ceremony led by the Circuit Superintendent Pastor Badette and the Circuit School Inspector.  It was an upbeat hand-off of the laptops donated by Beaumont Health System (thanks Jeff Hockman!) and we can only hope that it feeds the curiosity of a young Haitian girl or boy looking to do better, for themselves, their family, their community and thei...

We suffered a casualty yesterday. . .which is my (lame) excuse for not blogging!  I apologize to those who stayed up late. . . . . .anyway, the usually thoughtful Team Leaders (who, along with the “casualty” shall remain unnamed), thought that back-to-back mobile medical/dental clinics are exhausting. . .long, hot, noisy days they are.  So, we inserted a day of painting, removal of dirt and rock from a construction project, and general yard clean-up at an orphanage in the seaside village of Roseaux. . . . . .which turned out to be long, hot and (surprise) noisy!  It was 400 degrees with 1200 percent humidity. . .and we painted the whole enchilada. . .six rooms inside, the hallway, the exterior (32 colors), all at the mercy of our Haitian paint foreman, Nisage.  He was tough, but Lovely Samedy, the orphanage director had her foot up his backside as well.   Paul and Mick did their best Les Miserables imitation on the rock pile, and Sarah and Nancy made a few b...

Where to start? We resolved to start early today in our mobile medical/dental clinic in Chiraque.  Along the way, we encounter a village up in arms over the death of a Haitian mother and child during childbirth.  The village believes the hospital is at fault, and blocked our path. . .which happens to be the ONLY road to take, and the ONLY route between Jeremie and Port au Prince, with debris fires, tree trunks and large stones.  After an hour delay, the local authorities have cleared the road and we begin our trip to Chiraque only to encounter the villagers having set up another roadblock, this time with burning tires. Through it all, we never really felt threatened as our ground crew sort of shrink-wrapped themselves around us (think figuratively, please), and they engaged the village organizers. . .they probably knew some of them, but probably also explained what out two truck/six motorbike motorcade was intending to do today. . .and also greased a palm or two! We...

This is the fourth trip that Nancy or I, or just Nancy alone, have made to Jeremie since Hurricane Matthew in October 2016.  It is ever greener, and there is a lot of construction taking place.  A word of caution. . .set aside whatever images occur to you associated with the word “construction”! It is basic, or less. . .piles of sand, gravel, cinder block, etc. . .although I have seen more backhoes in a day than I have seen since we started coming in 2011.  But it is all in earnest, 7 days a week. . .all life in Haiti is 7 days a week as most do all they can to eke out a living for themselves and their families. . .including putting a roof of their heads, bit by bit, over many years.  And they seem both earnest and grateful for the few gifts that put them a little ahead of what would be otherwise possible.  They live at that intersection of Faith and Hope and seem undeterred by the poor quality of life in Haiti, at least as we might judge it. Today’s baptism...

We were in Chiraque today, helping paint the school that was leveled by Hurricane Matthew.  We have a great and loyal Haitian ground crew. . .but the two trucks were being tested, each ferrying 10-11 persons each. .and some freight as well.  Today was nothing compared to Monday’s return trip, when we conduct a mobile medical/dental clinic.  We transport folding tables, chairs, meds, Haitian nurses, our ground crew, us. . .plus food and water for all. . .up a rutted, rocky, steep dirt “road” that is beyond anything I remember at any GM test track! School painting went pretty well. . .we had a spot of showers and it honestly felt great against the everpresent heat and humidity.  We had the village cooks prepare a meal for our crew and the village, to celebrate the renbuilding of the original school building.  Rice and beans, chicken legs, pop. . .a true feast in their eyes.  Any Pastor Felix prepared a table for the seven of us, this after we had woofed dow...

We arrived safely in Jeremie mid morning, and started beavering away!  We dumped our gear at Place Charmant and made our way to the Gebeau Depot to retrieve mobile medical supplies and Croc-like footwear donated by a neighbor back home in Metamora. . . . . .of, and before I forget, it’s around 80 degrees and sunny here. . .way better than the blizzard on Wednesday back home! While at Gebeau, we visited the start-up bakery that the Jeremie Haiti Project is supporting (Birmingham First is one of about 20 Methodist churches that make up JHP).  Pastor Claudel’s wife is supervising operations, which at the moment is bread baking two days a week.  The aromas were terrific, and as luck would have it we got there about the time the first batch came out of the overnight.  A dozen rolls for $1. . .or 8 cents a piece. . .it was delicious and would fetch a couple of bucks at Starbucks! Our two trucks were loaded to the gills with mobile meds stuff, folding tables and chair...

We are off to Haiti tomorrow.  “We” are 7 people. . .the Kellers, the McClellands, the Smiths and Anne Spence from South Carolina (an experienced Haiti traveler also!). A dozen duffels are packed to the gills.  Our plans include painting the newly rebuilt school in Chiraque, which was destroyed by Hurricane Matthew, and tiling/painting work at an orphanage in Roseaux.  We’ll also be conducting mobile medical/dental clinics in the villages of Chiraque and Testas, visiting other hurricane-related construction projects we’ve been supporting, re-outfitting the computer lab at John Wesley K-12 in Jeremie, and spending time with our (truly) old friends at the Good Samaritan elder care facility! We’ll try to share the days events with daily posts, including hopefully some pictures.  Thanks for following us in prior years, and for all forms of support that you and others provide that make the work on the ground possible. John and Nancy Smith

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...