PDG Doug Vincent Presents His Personal Observations of Haiti

On a trip to Haiti in December 2007 District 7090 District Governor,Bob Leek, PDG Bob Bruce, Water For Life Project Leader, Roy Sheldrick were joined by PDG, Doug Vincent (District 7080) on a trip to the Hopital Albert Schweitzer. They also attended a Rotary World Water Development Conference in Port Au Prince. Doug Vincent sent his personal observations of Haiti.

Doug Vincent's Observations

Hi Rotarians and friends:

Many of you have expressed interest and thanked me for sharing some of my humanitarian aid experiences, so here is another one.

We've had an exciting time on our first day in Haiti, after arriving last night in the capital city of Port a Prince. Because we arrived in the early evening, our local coordinators determined it was not safe to drive the four hours after dark to our final destination of Deschapelles. It was a matter of poor, pot-hole filled roads as much as safety. So we stayed at the Vista Lodge, near the airport. It was a nice little hotel, with a clean pool and a good restaurant. Most people speak either French or Creole here, so it was fun ordering.

It was a crowded airport, much like in Manila where people are not allowed in the main building and must stay behind an outside barrier. We were greeted by a HAS (Hospital Albert Schweitzer) representative, who would be our driver. We had been warned in advance that fellows would try to grab your bags, in an attempt to carry them and later request a tip. It was difficult to work our way through the mob of many, trying to force their porter services on us.

On the flight from Miami I met a gal from Michigan who now lives in Haiti and coordinates projects for US Aid. She knew of Rotary_s humanitarian aid activities and seemed interested in getting involved. I introduced her to Roy Sheldrick who knows many of the Haitian Rotarians and in fact, we have a meeting with the club in her town on Tuesday evening. So I obviously invited her as a prospective member and she keenly accepted.

While waiting for the driver this morning, we noticed a bag was missing. It had the medical supplies we had brought plus a some Paul Harris Recognitions to be presented during the week. In the end, we determined that the bag must have been left at the airport and a two hour search back at the airport resulted in success.

The next four hours were a challenge, riding in the back of a pick-up truck styled van. Three of us jumped in the back with the luggage. The seats were benches mounted along the side of the vehicle, which meant you had to sit cornerways if you wanted to look out. Much of the road was either rough gravel or riddled with potholes and as the miles passed, these seats became much harder.

During the trip, we passed through many small villages which had fairly severe speed bumps. We made a pit stop in Saint Marc at a Rotarian_s hardware store. There were people everywhere and it was very crowned to enter the store. The main mode of public transportation here is in the back of pickup trucks with toppers, benches and lots of smoke billowing out. An overflow of people were usually hanging out the back or sitting on the vehicle_s roof.

Finally we arrived at the hospital which will be our home for the next few nights. HAS is the local NGO that Rotary works with in this area to coordinate many health and water projects. D7080 and D7090 Rotarians have helped drill several wells in this valley, including four a the hospital. We are housed in a house on this beautiful tropical property, which is delegated for use by volunteers. In addition to our team of four Rotarians, there are five others we've met so far, who are medical volunteers at the hospital. Three of them are from Canada.

At lunch, we were greeted by Dawn Johnson who works at HAS as the Community Development Director. HAS is much more than a hospital and brings assistance to the entire area in the form of water, sanitation, health and community betterment. In fact, the hospital project was started with water projects by the wealthy US Melon family. So the tie in with Rotary is good and Dawn coordinates many of the matching grant projects, as a local Rotarian.

During the afternoon, we review documents and reporting of the current matching grants. Then we met with the Director General of the hospital who briefed us on the work here, including current and future needs. We had an interesting tour of the hospital and saw the malnourished children's ward, the TB area, medicine and surgery wards.

I got some good pictures of young children and their mothers holding them. Parents are encouraged to come and care for their young ones, which provides the opportunity for hospital staff to train them on proper nourishment for their children. It was emotional to see some very small children in extremely poor physical condition.

This institution is financed mainly by donations and grants, but a small feel representing about 10% of the costs is charged to patients. In addition to the hospital, approximately 100 health workers go out into the countryside and up into the hills, to educate, provide minor treatment and follow up on patient recovery. We talked about how Rotarians may help them, which could include the concept of community Health Fairs, like we currently do in Mexico and Russia. They also have a grave need for medical equipment and supplies. Here, it is customary for patients to bring their own supplies, including bed linen.

Late in the afternoon we met with James, the hospital maintenance engineer. He is originally from Michigan and oversees maintenance and repair of the power generators, vehicles, medical equipment and water system. There is no electricity here, so diesel generators are the source of power at a fuel cost of $900. per day. And currently water is available only three hours per day for the residences. There are problems with completion of the fourth well which we hopefully ironed out. In addition, Canadian Rotarians will be sponsoring a dump truck to replace one that has outlived its_ usefulness.

By now it_s almost supper time and we_re tired and hot. So we took the opportunity to go for a dip in the primitive, but clean swimming pool, where we met some other friendly folks. This evening we were hosted at the home of the CAO, Debbie Berquist-Jules for a wonderful meal and warm hospitality. So ends our first day in Haiti. Now it is off to bed, to experience another first, which will be sleeping under a malaria net.

With best regards,Doug V.

Doug Vincent's Development Photo's

Doug Continues His Observations

Today, our destination was Ti Riviere, a small town about two hours drive along dirt roads, crossing various small rivers and creeks, then finally along a mule path. All the way, we saw women, some with pack mules walking to or from village markets.

Along the way we stopped at water wells which have been drilled in the area. Each time residents of the community would gather to express appreciation, in their timid way. We took the opportunity to do some training on water and sanitation with those gathered. It included asking the children to respect the water and not play with, jump on or otherwise damage the pump.

Just before noon I talked with one lady in broken English, who was returning from market with a big bundle on her head. She told me she lived up in the hills a long way. It would be dark by the time she reached her home.

Finally we reached the middle of nowhere, Ti Riviere. There to meet us was Marco, a senior elder of the community. He attended University and worked in Canada for several years, resulting in his love for Canadians. He took delight in touring us around his village, where he has returned with the desire to help the local people. In fact, we had a meeting with many of his friends who hope to charter a new Rotary Club here. This will be very helpful in helping Rotary do more projects in this primitive area.

Roy had a request from Missionaries to do a well in the nearby village of Medar and asked if we might visit there. Marco asked how much time we had, because it was an 8 hour walk over the mountain range with no roads. We quickly determined a visit was not feasible. Maybe even a well is not feasible unless they can find people to carry all the supplies in by hand or with pack mules.

After a great lunch at Marco_s home, it was an interesting trek to the next village of Markis. There are no vehicles here and much of the route was on a small, often deeply rutted, dirt track which ran beside a canal. Eventually the track turned into a mule and walking path. At the end, we came across a washout which meant we had to walk the last short distance to reach our destination.

There where three elders sitting under a tree at the community entrance, much like a security check point. They saw my camera and encouraged me to take their picture. Of course, Rotarians are very welcome here and many people gathered to greet us to show off their new well with pride. We were invited into a primitive home, where the lady showed us her bio-sand water filter, received years prior.

It was a long ride back, over very rough terrain. Along the way we saw many walking or riding on mules. Along the stream it was common to see ladies doing laundry or bathing with little modesty. At one point we observed a dead cow in the stream, which concerned us, but not an issue for the locals.

It was good to finally reach a gravel road, eventually leading to the better paved highway. We stopped at a dam on the Artibonite River, which is used to hold and divert the water flow to a series of canals and streams, used for ditch irrigation. Downstream, teenage boys where digging with 5 gallon pails to harvest sand from the river bottom. It was piled on the bank for sale.

As we returned near HAS we stopped to see a former HAS employee Roy knew, who suffers from HIV AIDS. Unfortunately his four children were not home, but we took the opportunity to leave dolls for them. Their mother was excited at these new found Christmas presents, since they will have few presents then.

During the evening we attended the RC Vermette meeting where Roy presented a Paul Harris Fellow to the President. It was an exciting experience since US$1000. is a lot of money here, where the average wage is under $200 per month. Since it was a special event for them, pot luck food was served. Normally they just have sodas, due to cost concerns.

We_ve had some discussions on growing Rotary service in this area through such things as: building latrines, Health Fairs, Population Development assistance and a project to help the blind people. The hospital is also in desperate need of equipment which we hope to help them with.

The evening ended in great celebration, since approval for a new $70,000 matching grant had been received this afternoon. That means another 14 water wells, bringing the total to 150 during the last 12 years. Much of the credit has to go to Rtn Roy Sheldrick of RC Ancaster, along with sponsoring clubs and HAS. Many D7080 Rotarians can take great pride in their help to make this part of the world a better place.

Tomorrow we start the next chapter of our journey, heading back to Port-au-Prince to participate in the Rotary Clean Water Summit. It will include the Prime Minister of Haiti, RI President Wilf Wilkinson and other senior Government, NGO and Rotary leaders.
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