Elections in Haiti

The elections are today. There are two candidates for President. Michael Martelly, a musician, who has the vote of the young people and many of the poorer population, and Madame Manigat, a teacher and professor of political science who was the First Lady some years ago. Her husband was president and was ousted by a military coup. Pere Sadoni tells me he is voting for Manigat because she is educated, she is professional and he thinks she will represent Haiti well in dealing with other nations; also she values education highly. He thinks Martelly is uneducated (no college degree) and is a rough character who thinks he can say whatever he wants to whomever he wants, even if he uses foul language as he does in his music. He tells the people he will give them money and food and housing, and they believe him, but Pere Sadoni does not. His campaign posters say "Tet Kale #8" The candidates are chosen according to their position on the ballot, so Manigat is #68. The literal translation of Tet Kale #8 is "Bald Head #8" which I think is hilarious.

Most of the other Haitians I have spoken with support Martelly. They say he is more for the people than Manigat, whom they suspect is connected to the French elite and will not help the poor as much.

Today we saw several polling places; all were full of people in line to vote. The UN has peacekeepers everywhere lining the streets, and there are international observers as well. We asked to go inside one of the polling places, but two Haitian policemen (with guns) told us we could only go in if we had a certificate for voting. "That's okay" we said, and did not argue!

Please pray that the elections are certified as fair and the result is the best for the Haitian people. They need a leader to coordinate the relief effort and get Haiti's people out of the tent cities and into safe housing. Haiti has no garbage pickup (it piles in the streets and is basically an extension of the sidewalk). It has no postal service. People have to buy clean water. There are few schools for the children. Only 3% of the population is over 65; actually 38% of the population is under 14. Haiti's greatest strength could be her young population if they can get an education. This is why St Vincent's school is such a treasure. Nowhere else in Haiti could a deaf or blind person get educated. Next time I want to complain about politics in the U S, I will remember Haiti and be thankful that we have a functioning government at all.

Lunch in Haiti

Our guesthouse provides sack lunches for us, but on the first day we realized it consisted of PBJ sandwiches, chips, an apple and a bottle of water. So we decided to skip the sack lunch and eat from our stash of granola bars instead. When you work in 90 deg temperatures all day, you dont have much appetite anyway. Not to mention the fact that after I see several kids with stomachache because they have not eaten all day, I dont feel the need to eat myself. But some of us have gone to a restaurant close to the school, where the piclise is tasty and they have cold drinks. Piclise is a Haitian dish, somewhat like cole slaw, but very spicy with vinegar and peppers. It is delicious, and apparently takes hours to prepare because our Guesthouse hosts told us they dont serve it since it takes the staff too much time. We meet lots of friendly folks at the restaurant and can practice our Kreyol. Also I occasionally meet someone who speaks Spanish, which is a treat since I can speak that fairly well. I never think my spanish is very good until I am in Haiti struggling to say basic sentences in Kreyol. My words come out like "open--door---key?" Then I meet someone from the Dominican Republic and we can have a fabulous conversation! Sienna of course is learning to speak Kreyol VERY QUICKLY, amazing all of us. We now frequently use her as a translator. Must be the advantage of an 18 year old brain compared to a 50 year old brain.

Bheki Khumalo, our podiatrist, is vegetarian AND allergic to peanut butter. Unfortunately the guest house hosts have not been very accomodating in this respect, serving meat dishes every night for supper. When the only alternative is PBJ sandwiches, that does not leave Bheki many options. One day this week we managed to find a restaurant that served grilled fish, and all of us were glad to see Bheki eat something besides rice and hot sauce.

Today (Sunday) a few of us went to a Catholic Church (more on that later) and got back to the guesthouse in time for lunch. All the restaurants and markets are closed today because of the elections. So we had stale breadsticks and peanut butter, plus Sherye provided us crushed oreos for dessert. The oreos get rather damaged in transit from the US to Haiti. Nonetheless, they taste pretty good when you are hungry.

Eating in Haiti, I am always mindful of the people who dont have the luxury of a suitcase full of granola bars and oreos for emergencies.

He is deaf

There are now many more deaf students at St. Vincent's, about 80 I think. On Thursday, our second day of clinic, we asked the teachers to bring the children to the clinic, one classroom at a time. Unfortunately they sent all the deaf kids at once. This is a problem because we have 2 physician assistants, one MD and one podiatrist seeing patients, and only one Sign Language interpreter (Sherye). She shuttled back and forth from room to room and to the pharmacy to try to help. At one point I believe we had 50 deaf people either in the hallway waiting to be seen, in one of the exam rooms or crowded in front of the pharmacy waiting for prescriptions. At this point Amy came out of her exam room and said "I cant do this!" She speaks fluent Kreyol but that doesnt help with the deaf kids! It's the closest I have ever seen Amy to a meltdown. We asked the staff to bring us some hearing kids to balance out the logjam, but anytime you ask to have something done in Haiti it takes 3 or 4 conversations and much lapsed time before your request is granted. Meanwhile I learned how to say "My name is Doctor Susan" and "Take a deep breath" in sign language, I could also ask a few basic questions like "fever? diarrhea?, etc" Several of the kids had no obvious or visible malady, but came in to tell me their problem was that they couldn't hear. Yeah, I get that. Sherye says they think the doctor is there to fix their problem, so they tell me their problem is they are deaf. Also the blind kids would say "I have trouble with my eyes". Dont I wish I had an eye doctor to help them? The best I can do is offer them some eye drops for relief from itching or burning.

On a lighter note, Sherye says one of the kids, Remy, is hearing but he has so many deaf friends that he signs fairly well. She talked to him for several minutes in Sign, until one of the other kids told her "He can hear." She said she rarely gets fooled by a kid pretending to be deaf, but Remy apparently was very good at it!

So if any of you know someone who can sign, please tell them about our work. We have a job for them! Sherye is as important to make the clinic run as the doctors are.

First news from St. Vincent's Mar. 20, 2011

From Susan Nelson:

All arrived safely minus one bag full of granola bars. We are staying at Heartline Ministries Guest House, which is under new management since the last time we stayed. Not quite as charming, but still comfortable beds with plenty of fans and cold showers. For some reason the new hosts prepare things like Mexican food (ground beef with tortilla chips) and lasagna rather than Haitian food, but oh well. Amy complained one day to Madame Marc, who is Pere Sadoni's mother and the chief cook at the school, that we had had no fruit for 4 days. That day at the school we stopped for lunch, expecting to eat from our usual stash of granola bars and salted peanuts. Instead we were taken to Pere Sadoni's office where there was a feast of pineapple, papaya, mango, tomatoes and watermelon. Delicious, although some of us had a few intestinal rumblings after all that fruit at one time. Nothing serious.

The internet connection at the guest house is spotty at best, so I have not been able to send any messages home, and for that I apologize. To all of you praying for us, I thank you. We have seen about 200 kids so far and most of them are quite healthy, they dont seem to have as much anemia and appear to be gaining weight. It was somewhat disturbing one day in particular when I saw 3 or 4 kids in a row with stomachache; they told me they had not eaten anything all day. We questioned the staff later about this, because I thought lunch was served every day to the kids. Apparently these boys had not gone to lunch because they did not like the food. Classic teenagers; my daughter does the same thing. Except that in Haiti you dont have a lot of reserves; if you miss lunch at the school on Friday you may go home and not get another meal for a day or two. There are 275 students at St. Vincent's now; about 80 live at the dorm and the rest live at home. It is interesting to note that if we find a kid with worms or with anemia, it is always a kid that lives at home rather than the school. That tells me the kids who live at the dorm are getting clean water and regular meals.

It is also good to know that the 6 months' supply of vitamins we sent last fall on the shipping container (along with the Stop Hunger Now food) are being used. Pere Sadoni has hired a full time nurse to work in the pharmacy, her name is Nomil and she has been helping Wes every day. He speaks no Kreyol and she speaks no English, but somehow they work it out. One of her duties, Pere Sadoni told me, is to give one vitamin to every student every day at lunch. One of our team members told me they actually saw this happen. So all of you who donated vitamins for this trip, please know that you are helping a child at St. VIncent's. Drew brought about 100 lbs of vitamins in his suitcase on this trip. Tomorrow I hope to find out how many vitamins are actually left from our original shipment last fall.

more later..

Haiti by moonlight

I wake up like its 6 AM and after tossing about for many minutes I get up to check the time, hoping its almost time to get up. Trying not to disturb everyone else while digging through my suitcase trying to find my watch. I walk outside on the patio and read the clockface by the light of the full moon. 2:15. Ah well.

The moonlight brightens the patio like a flashlight.. There is music playing of course, its Haiti. Sounds like a band or radio with drums and keyboards and lots of singing. From the patio I can see the lights of Port au Prince at a distance and the stars of Orion above me. A cool breeze blows through the mango trees all around the guesthouse where we are staying (and where some of us are sleeping at the moment).

We haven't had internet connectivity all week so this is my first message to write about our trip. I typed this into my blackberry, hoping the message will get through at some point. What else is there to do at 2 AM but think about the kids we have seen?

So much to say about our work at St Vincent's. Tonight after supper our team shared a bottle of Glenfiddich Scotch whiskey and shared stories. Bheki Khumalo is a podiatrist on our mission team and we have Nick Pesce, a physical therapist. They have worked steadily for 3 days with the Haitian therapist, Michel, seeing kids with developmental delay, rickets, and a variety of leg problems. The first day (Wed) was the clubfoot clinic. Dozens of babies and children under 2 years old with developmental delay and foot problems. At lunchtime on the first day, Nick said to me, "Did I mention I dont treat children?" To which I replied, "Did I mention we would be working in an ORPHANAGE?"

They could not finish seeing all the children who came that day, so Michel agreed to return the next day. And the next, even though she normally comes to St Vincent's on Wednesdays only. She will return again on Monday, which I find remarkable and a credit to the dedication and talents of Nick and Bheki. Nick was inspired this evening as he talked about seeing babies the first day, not sure how he could help, then seeing teenagers the next day with permanent deformities because they had not received adequate PT. The light came on as he realized that he has a chance to develop a program, working with Michel, to keep kids like Diana Vincent from becoming permanently crippled. We met Diana on our first trip to St. Vincent's in 2008 when she was so sick she could not pick up her head off the pillow. Each trip she grows bigger and stronger, although she still cant walk and has trouble holding her head up straight. I think she is about 4 years old now. We brought a child sized walker with us from Memphis, donated by Abby Nichols whose son has cerebral palsy and grew out of his walker. My husband had collapsed the walker so it would fit into a suitcase; we took it out with the bolts/nuts attached and John Mutin took it into the brace shop looking for tools and a wrench to put the walker back together. The men in the brace shop promptly took the walker from him and had it together in about 2 minutes.

Nick worked with Diana and some other young children at St. VIncent's and showed the other therapist how to help these children learn to use the walker. It will be a miracle of God's creation if these kids can learn to walk and get out of their wheelchairs, and Nick and Bheki believe they can do it, with continued help from Michel and an ongoing program of physical therapy. Also Bheki plans to make some braces for a boy named Levinsky, to help his legs straighten out so he will be able to walk. Now that's something worth investing yourself in.

 Drew with Levinsky (blue shirt) and blind child at St. Vincent's

NY times article-Haiti Cathedral Murals

By DAMIEN CAVE

Published: February 22, 2011

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Colorful and sad, beautiful but cracked, the three remaining murals of the Episcopal Trinity Cathedral received the soft afternoon sun after last year’s earthquake only because the rest of the church had collapsed.

Haitians walking by looked heartbroken. All 14 murals had been internationally treasured. Painted in the early 1950s during an artistic renaissance here, they depicted biblical scenes from a proud, local point of view: with Jesus carrying a Haitian flag as he ascended to heaven; and a last supper that, unlike some famous depictions, does not portray Judas with darker skin than the other disciples.

“All of this was painted from a Haitian perspective,” said the Rev. David César, the church’s main priest and its music school director. He marveled at the image miraculously still standing: Judas, with the white beard and wavy white hair often assigned to God himself.

It was his favorite mural, he said, and now, it is being saved.

In a partnership between the Episcopal Church and the Smithsonian, all three surviving murals are being stabilized and carefully taken to a climate-controlled warehouse in Haiti where they will be protected until they can be redisplayed in a new home.

The painstaking 18-month project began in the fall, with conservators analyzing how the paintings were bound to the walls (weak mortar) and the materials that were used to paint them (egg tempera). It was clear that they were fragile. A portion of one painting near the former altar faded to abstraction during the rainy season.

The other collapsed murals seemed to disappear. Perhaps portions were pulverized by the earthquake; perhaps some were stolen. But when conservators and Haitian art students separated the fragments from the rubble, they found only tiny pieces, usually the size of a hand or smaller, that could not be reassembled.

“We have only about 10 percent of the 11 murals that fell,” said Stephanie Hornbeck, the chief conservator with the Smithsonian, whose master’s degree focused on Haitian art. “When you have that little left, there’s nothing you can do.”

For the murals still standing, she said experts had higher hopes and immediate plans. For the past several weeks, Haitian workers in what was once the sanctuary have been carefully constructing scaffolding. A web of wooden beams now holds up tin and vinyl to protect the paintings, supporting both the art and the workers trying to carefully chisel it away.

Simply hearing hammers and seeing scaffolding — what smiles they bring here in a city where reconstruction is practically non-existent. No less soothing is the classical music — the high wail of trumpets, the smooth pull of violins — that frequently comes from behind the church, where Mr. César teaches outside. He is one of the many in Haiti who learned his first bars of music at the church’s music school. “My whole identity is here,” he said, and on this campus at least, reconstruction means more than architecture: a full artistic life is also being rebuilt.

The effort to save the murals is a visible extension of a little-known cross-border bond. The Episcopal Church of Haiti was founded by an African-American named James Theodore Holly, who led about 2,000 black Americans to Haiti in 1861 as part of a wider emigration movement. He and his sons played prominent roles as professionals and scholars after founding “what was actually Haiti’s first national church, and the first Episcopal church founded outside of the Anglophone world,” said Laurent Dubois, a historian at Duke University.

The eight muralists, while Haitian from their toes to the tips of their paintbrushes, also had American ties. Many trained at an academy founded by an American artist, DeWitt Peters, who came to Haiti in 1943.

Credit for the work, though, must also be shared by the Haitian bishops and priests who “gave them the liberty they needed,” said Mr. César. Some of the unconventional images would later become controversial for Christians who saw links to voodoo, but for many Haitians and art historians, they represented one of this country’s proudest cultural moments.

The earthquake ruined much of that. Only The Last Supper, Native Procession and The Baptism of Christ survived — and each work bears the wounds of the vicious tremor that killed 300,000 people. The paintings’ winding cracks, running through legs, through torsos, and through the neck of a dark-skinned woman in the baptism scene who seems to be screaming, are violent and painful.

Ms. Hornbeck said that conservators and the church are still discussing which damaged elements must be fixed.

But Mr. César, standing near the church’s former entrance, said he had little doubt about whether the paintings would be fully restored, or left how they appeared after the quake. He said that instead of rebuilding the church, religious leaders are planning to create a garden for the murals, in which they can reside in nature, earthquake scars and all. He said it was the only way to remember, the only way to move on.

“We have to live with it,” he said, staring at the roofless sanctuary and piles of rubble. “We have to learn how to live with it.”

To see the original NY Times article with photo, go to:  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/23/world/americas/23haiti.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Update on St. VIncent's from Bill Squire

Dear Friends,

I have recently returned from a visit to St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children and the Diocese of Haiti. Since the earthquake early last year, there has been considerable support for St. Vincent’s, and of course, the Diocese as a whole. This report, as you will see, is an attempt to show what is being done by the various groups committed to helping Father Sadoni care for the children of St. Vincent’s. I have included here those persons known to me to be involved with this effort – obviously there are others, but I have attempted to send this to persons heading organizations aiding St. Vincent’s. It has of course be disseminated to the members of the Board of Directors of CMMH. I have no pride of authorship and encourage you to share this information with others. Also included here is a brief report I submitted to Bishop Duracin on my last trip to Haiti in December of 2010. Again, it is for information, so that all who are reading this will be better informed. May God continue to lead us in our shared ministry.

Bill

MEMORANDUM

To: The Rt. Rev. Jean Zache Duracin, Episcopal Bishop of Haiti
From: The Rev. Canon Willard S. Squire, Jr.
Date: December 2, 2010
Subject: My activities regarding St. Vincent’s since the January earthquake

1. I have traveled to Haiti on six different occasions since the earthquake:

(a) January 15 to January 18, 2010 (I was accompanied by the Rev. Joe Diaz, Diocese of Southwest Florida – and we had to travel through the Dominican Republic).

(b) February 19 to February 23, 2010 (Margaret joined me on this trip, and again we had to go through the Dominican Republic).

(c) April 11 to April 14, 2010.

(d) May 31 to June 2, 2010.

(e) September 6 to September 8, 2010.

(f) December 2 to December 5, 2010 (accompanied by Margaret).

2. I have met with or been in communication (by telephone or via email) with the following people and/or institutions:

(a) The Presiding Bishop, the Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Shori and her Haiti Team, the Rev. Rosemary Sullivan and the Rev. Joseph Constants.

(b) ERD representatives to include Abigail Nelson, Katie Mears, and Michael McIntyre, ERD Consultant.

(c) Gary Shaye and Thomas Myhren, Save the Children and representatives in Haiti.

(d) Stephen Rothstein, Perkins School for the Blind, Boston, MA.

(e) Evelyn Margron, ICCO & KERK IN ACTIE, Haiti (I wrote a paper for a grant consideration regarding the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children being Advocates for Human Rights).

(f) Presbyterian Church, USA.

(1) Bill Simmons, Medical Benevolent Foundation (grant request pending)

(2) Randy Ackley, Disaster Relief

(3) Bob Ellis, Church Headquarters

(4) Pix Mahler, Haiti Coordinator

(g) Project Hope (I wrote a proposed partnership between St. Vincent’s and Project Hope).

(h) Hope Lennartz and Bill Harris, Friends of St. Vincent’s, West Hartford, CT

(i) Association for Aid and Relief, Japan

(j) Marvin Fourreaux, FourreauxProsthetics, Huntsville, AL (they made new prosthetics for JoJo).

(k) Ron Sconyers, Physicians for Peace

(l) Al Ingersall, Healing Hands

(m) Jack Victor (President Emeritus), World Rehabilitation Fund

(n) Erica Waasdorp, Wereld Nood Hulp,Amsterdam, The Netherlands

(o) The Rev. Susan Kent, Durham, England

(p) John McGee, Lunenberg, NS, Canada

(q) Erin Snyder, Catholic Medical Mission Board

(r) Margaret McLaughlin, Washington, D.C. (who has now created a coalition of Episcopal and Presybterian Churchs in our Capital city)

(s) Numerous contacts in churches throughout the United States who were supporting St. Vincent’s in the past or who now support St. Vincent’s.

**************************************************

Trip Report
to St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children

Port-au-Prince, Haiti

February 9-11, 2011
The Rev. Canon Willard S. Squire, Jr.

On this particular trip I tried to focus on “full disclosure,” attempting to discern just what various organizations and groups were doing in support of St. Vincent’s Center for Handicapped Children. I am hopeful that this report will assist in future plans regarding the needs of St. Vincent’s and that groups will not be at cross-purposes. As I do often, I remind everyone reading this report that St. Vincent’s is an institution of the Episcopal Diocese of Haiti and is the responsibility of the Rt. Rev. Jean Zache Duracin. Bishop Duracin has appointed the Rev. Sadoni Leon as the Director of St. Vincent’s (as well as the priest-in-charge of Church of the Epiphany, Port-au-Prince). Father Sadoni is the person Bishop Duracin looks to for the care of the children of the institution. Those of us in the United States who have committed ourselves to help Father Sadoni in his ministry are challenged to insure that what we do is in accordance with the needs of the institution as determined by him. Please be aware that the following is not all inclusive. I am sure that some groups are involved in ways I have not indicated here. What follows is the result of discussions between me, Father Sadoni, and Bishop Duracin (with input from persons from most of the various groups mentioned). So, please do not be offended if I omitted a part of your ministry; I just thought it important to at least get some of this information in “one place,” so that we can find ways to cooperate and together help Father Sadoni in insuring the well being of the children we all love.

Organizations/Groups Currently Supporting St. Vincent’s

1. Children’s Medical Mission of Haiti. CMMH is a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It began in the Episcopal Diocese of East Tennessee but is now a national organization with members of the Board of Directors from throughout the United States. CMMH supports the Operating Budget of St. Vincent’s; currently sending $8,500 a month (with a 13th check being sent in December because in Haiti an additional month’s salary is given at the end of the year). More on the salary issue later. Since the earthquake, CMMH has provided funds to build a large wall, with both a vehicle and pedestrian gate, fronting the main campus in Port-au-Prince. The wall is complete, securing the grounds, where two security guards are present. Funds were also provided to repair the brace shop, and the three classrooms above it; as well as repairing the surgical suite. All of this construction is soon to be completed. A member of CMMH is on the Board of Directors of the Friends of St. Vincent’s (see below).

Primary contacts: The Rev. Canon Bill Squire, Mr. Ken Quigley.

2. The Friends of St. Vincent’s. The Friends, also a separate nonprofit organization, are from West Hartford, CT. This organization has been in existence for a number of years and has provided assistance to St. Vincent’s in wonderful ways. The Friends fund specific projects and since the earthquake have provided funds to renovate a building at the Boy’s Foyer (around the corner from the main campus) which is used as the temporary school; provided funds for desks, chairs, and other needed furniture for the classrooms; funded the purchase of school supplies for the children; provide scholarships for four of the young adults to continue school beyond St. Vincent’s; and are funding a proposed water purification system at the Foyer. A member of the Friends of St. Vincent’s is on the Board of Directors of CMMH. Primary contacts: Ms. Hope Lennartz, Mr. Bill Harris.

3. Presbyterian Church, USA. The Presbyterian Church has supported St. Vincent’s in the past, and has committed to doing so in the future. A group visited St. Vincent’s earlier this year to determine just how they might help. At this point, they are hopeful, through their Medical Benevolence Foundation, to provide significant funding for the reconstruction of St. Vincent’s. They will be sending another group to continue their discussions with Father Sadoni in March of this year. Primary contacts, Ms. Pix Mahler, Mr. Bob Ellis, Mr. Bill Simmons.

4. West Tennessee Haiti Partnership. This group is relatively new in their commitment to St. Vincent’s. It began as a group of Episcopalians from Memphis, TN, but is now more ecumenical. For several years they have sent a medical mission team to St. Vincent’s twice a year. They also maintain a partnership with St. Paul’s Church in Montrouis. They have sent two containers of food (one arriving just before the earthquake and was so very helpful in providing food for the “tent city” set up at College St. Pierre in Port-au-Prince at the time. They have had several fund raising events and recently sent $10,000 to the Friends of St. Vincent’s toward the $30,000 needed to install the water purification system. A member of this group is now on the Board of Directors of the Friends of St. Vincent’s. Primary contacts, the Rev. Ollie Rencher, the Rev. Drew Woodruff, Dr. Susan Nelson.

5. Washington, D.C. Haiti Coalition. This group was organized in 2010. It began at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Capitol Hill and has become an ecumenical effort in our nation’s capitol. It has recently had a “service to serve Haiti” event where people from various church denominations and nonprofit organizations shared their concerns and showed their willingness to enter into partnership with their brothers and sisters in Haiti. We look forward to their being involved with St. Vincent’s. Primary contact, Ms. Margaret McClaughlin.

6. The Red Thread Promise. This ecumenical group has recently committed to supporting St. Vincent’s. They invited Father Sadoni to New Orleans, LA in mid-2010 to enter into discussions on how they might help. They have just completed an exploratory trip to Haiti with five of their members. They brought with them medical supplies, to include a new child’s wheelchair, a cast cutter, and six stethoscopes. Two of their members will accompany The West Tennessee Haiti Partnership on their medical mission to St. Vincent’s in March. Primary contact, Ms. Kathy Korge Albergate.

7. Aid and Relief, Japan. AAR, Japan built a temporary medical clinic on the grounds of the Boy’s Foyer – it is now operational. The building includes rooms for: eye clinic, physical therapy, club foot, orthopedics, pharmacy, temporary brace shop (to be moved soon back to the main campus, at which time this space will be used for a dental clinic), and a restroom. They also provided funding for staff and faculty for several months, and bought some material for the clinic. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

8. World Rehabilitation Fund. This group has supported the Brace Shop in the past and has committed to providing new equipment for the brace shop once it is operational at its permanent location. Primary contact, Mr. Jack Victor.

9. Perkins School for the Blind, Boston, MA. On several occasions Perkins has provided training for Father Sadoni in the caring and education of the blind students at St. Vincent’s, on trips to the United States sponsored by Dr. Harriet Epstein. They have committed to providing materials (all blind students currently have access to a brailler), and training faculty and staff. Primary contact, Steven Rothstein.

10. Catholic Relief Services, Haiti. CRS is a local organization in Port-au-Prince that provides food to St. Vincent’s; primarily wheat, oil, and beans. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

11. Food for the Poor, Haiti. This local organization provides rice on a regular basis, and sometimes provides other food items as well. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

12. Save the Children, Haiti. Save the Children provided a temporary shelter on the grounds of the foyer which can be used as a temporary classroom or office space; it is eventually to be used for typing classes. They also have an after school program at the Foyer and have committed to the purchase of mattresses and beds. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

13. World Vision. This group has committed to provide training for the Montesorri Program, if it can be restarted. They will also provide training materials, etc. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

14. Diocese of Haiti. The Diocese has an emergency relief agency, CEDDISEC, which often can provide materials to the institutions of the diocese. There is no specific program providing anything to St. Vincent’s at this time, but they have been supportive in the past. Primary contact, Father Sadoni.

15. Haitian Government. The government of Haiti does provide salaries for some teachers and professional persons in schools and medical facilities. Currently they pay six teachers, a doctor, and a nurse at St. Vincent’s (those persons are not included later as part of the operating budget of St. Vincent’s).

Current Activities at St. Vincent’s

1. 80 residents at the dormitory at the Boy’s Foyer.
2. 275 students in the school. All blind students have braillers. One brailler was sent to Archaie for a former St. Vincent’s student who is in secondary school there. Two braillers came from a priest in Honduras! The deaf students will take the official examination at St. Vincent’s at the conclusion of this school year for the first time.
3. 89 persons on staff and faculty, 81 of whom are paid from the operating budget (Father Sadoni is paid separately and presently the Haiti government pays the salary of seven people). The total number of employees has been reduced from 125. Only qualified, trained teachers are being rehired.
4. 40 teachers (and assistants) on the operating budget payroll. There are two volunteer teachers from France.
5. Medical Clinic operating three times a week, Wednesday being the most active.
6. Main Floor of the Temporary School: Director’s office, administrative office, one classroom (that will eventually become an office), a storage room, and toilets for students. Second Floor has seven classrooms and a toilet facility. There is a usable wheelchair ramp.
7. Six temporary small classrooms (concrete) in what was once the courtyard at the Foyer.
8. Currently there are adequate supplies for the children in school (obviously, more will be needed in the future).
9. The following musical instruments have been sent by various people: a saxophone, a trombone, two flutes, a clarinet, a trumpet, several guitars, two keyboards, 3 violins, and the bells for the bell choir, (which were saved from the music room after the earthquake). Father Sadoni is negotiating for a music teacher from the music school so that students can learn on the wind instruments. There is a volunteer art teacher that comes in the afternoon that is helping with some of the stringed instruments.
10. A water purification project, not unlike what was installed at the seminary grounds, is being proposed at the Foyer. Father Sadoni is working with the Friends of St. Vincent’s to accomplish this.The brace shop, which is currently housed in the medical clinic at the foyer, will soon move back to its original location on the main campus. Pierre Guy is to return to work at the brace shop one day a week. The upper grades will be using the three classrooms above the brace shop on the main campus, as soon as the renovation of that building is complete (expected soon – they were painting while I was there).
11. I spoke with Dr. Phil Caldwell from NC, a dentist who supplied equipment for the dental clinic at St. Vincent’s in the past, (we stayed at the same hotel).He has offered to again be involved with the institution. Once the brace shop is moved back to the main campus, space will become available for a dental clinic.
12. Four former St. Vincent’s students have scholarships to secondary schools; they are all orphans. There are children who qualify for secondary education whose parents cannot afford it – yet there are not scholarships available for them at this time.
13. Father Sadoni is the priest-in-charge of the Church of the Epiphany in Port-au-Prince. He does the Sunday services, two 6:30 a.m. services during the week, and a Friday afternoon Bible study. He sees to the pastoral needs of the congregation.
14. Salaries of St. Vincent’s employees remain an issue. For instance, the teachers are paid an average of $95 U.S. a month (3345 goudes), and the government required minimum salary is $170 U.S. (6000 goudes). These figures are based on an exchange rate of 35 goudes to a U.S. dollar. Father Sadoni wants to raise the teacher salaries to the minimum required salary. To do so he requires an additional approximately $3,000 a month. Realizing that is not feasible at this time, he is hopeful to increase the budget’s income to a point where he can at least raise the salaries of the most experienced and qualified teachers at St. Vincent’s. The teachers at St. Vincent’s that are paid by the government are being paid the minimum required wage. This obviously creates a morale problem among the faculty. The economy has of course gotten considerably worse since the earthquake and income at St. Vincent’s has been reduced accordingly. Many more families can no longer pay tuition at the school; the medical clinic has a reduced income level; the guest facilities are no longer available and consequently are not producing any income; and the brace shop produces very little income, if any, at this time. So, the only hope for increased income is from the U.S. partners at this time. Eventually, it is hoped that the school/medical clinic/guest facilities/brace shop will again produce income, at least at the level before the earthquake. This challenge needs to be addressed by U.S. partners and solved!

Diocesan Activity
1. Health Committee. A Health Committee is being organized by Bishop Duracin to serve the diocese. It is designed as a supervisory board. Mike McIntyre, ERD Consultant, is assisting the bishop in this endeavor. St. Vincent’s, Hospital St. Croix, Darbonne, and the Nursing School will be represented on the committee. Each institution will have its own advisory board (appointed by the bishop) with Haitians constituting the majority of each board. Father Sadoni has been appointed to Chair the Diocesan Health Committee. Each institution’s Advisory Board’s chairperson will be on the Health Committee. There will two at-large members and four representatives from the U.S. partners/friends group. The specifics are not yet determined; it is planned to have an eleven member committee at this time. The bishop and a medical advisor will be ex-officio and sit with the committee.
2. Hospital St. Croix. Bishop Duracin is satisfied with the progress at Hospital St. Croix, and its director, Dr. Gladys. He said that the Presbyterian Church is working on the plans for reconstruction. There is a team going to Leogane later this month.
3. There has been construction outside of Port-au-Prince (i.e., Leogane, etc.). The government is still trying to discern who owns what property in the capitol city. There is still talk about Episcopal institutions gaining more property in the city. There is no visible construction in Port-au-Prince (with the exception of the large wall fronting St. Vincent’s). A governmental office has been established to approve all construction before it commences.
4. A financial administrator has been hired and is now working at the diocese office. He is from Zimbabwe, and has worked in Haiti in the past. He will be working with all institutions regarding budget and construction costs, etc.

Conclusion
I know this is a long report, but I hope you all find the information helpful. I know I have left out some things, but have done my best to get all this information on one report so that we can find ways to cooperate in our supporting the ministry of St. Vincent’s. May God continue to bless the children of St. Vincent’s, and may our cooperative ministry with Father Sadoni, his staff and faculty, be directed by God.

contributed by Fr. Bill Squire, president of Children's Medical Mission of Haiti

Sad News from St. Vincent's

Dear all,
It is with my a very sad heart I send this message to you. Cebien
Time, one of the twin pass away this morning. He was sick yesterday and
this morning he went to see Dr Ferdinand who diagnose him and his
sickness is due to a food poison. and he recomand to send him to the
Hospital. As Ronald finish to prepare him for the hospital and in
front of the gate, ready to go in the truck, Cebien pass away.
Cebien is a 25 years old. He always with his brother Alisme. As twin
they never separate from ech other. Cebien will be always in my heart.
while we were in Montrouis I had this change to discover their talent
as singer. They will miss the children and the staff.
Please remember him and his brother in your prayer.
Fr Sadoni

PS: I hope I am clear in my language

sent by Pere Leon Sadoni, priest in charge at St. VIncent's School