Haiti Happenings

by Kristel Zuppan

Sleepy from the red-eye flight, and sticky from Haiti’s humidity, we sit in the airport and wait for our adventure to begin.  By the majority, we are a group of young, nearly professionals, still in school, visiting a country where the average education level is between 2nd and 3rd grade.  We come from a country where obesity has been called an epidemic and now find ourselves in an area labeled by the UN as the 3rd hungriest country in the world.  As students, many of us consider ourselves “poor” but visiting a country where the average yearly income is between $200-400 we find we are abundantly rich.  There are many differences between our group and those we find ourselves among, but for two weeks we will have at least one thing in common—the Hopitale Adventiste d’ Haiti in Port-au-Prince.

Our days begin with morning worship consisting of us in scrubs and lab coats, the nurses and other staff in their fresh pressed white uniforms, and a few patients and families from the hospital.  After this, we head back upstairs to the empty hospital wing where we sleep to eat breakfast and then head off to our individual assignments.  These range from doing public health surveys, painting, picking up trash, taking inventory, assessing the needs of each individual department of the hospital, assisting in the ophthalmology clinic, or taking vitals for the clinic doctors.

In time that isn’t specifically scheduled, we keep ourselves entertained playing with kids, throwing a Frisbee with whoever can be found down in the parking lot, visiting patients, or just hanging out trying to learn Creole with the Haitians.  Occasionally, if we are lucky, a surgery occurs and then the small operating room is crammed with eager students.

As the hot muggy days melt into somewhat cooler evenings with refreshing breezes, the last of us straggle back upstairs from ophthalmology clinic for a dinner with tropical fruit.  Soon after, we have our own worship and debriefing of the day and go to bed, praying the water and electricity will stay on all night to keep us slightly more comfortable and the mosquitoes slightly less excited about their new found prey.

On the trip we found typical mission trip hard work and comradery, warm sunshine and excellent food.  We also found dedicated doctors striving to help a hospital in need of more paying patients, a functioning autoclave, a better equipped emergency room, and a consistent, cost effective source of electricity.

It is our hope that by assisting the hospital, they will be able to offer services to those who cannot afford the medical services they desperately need.  A group of 25 of us began this huge project by discovering the needs and beginning to build relationships, but to really make a difference we need people from all walks of life with a variety of skills and interests to get involved.  We are at the beginning of the journey down a long road and we would love to have you join us.