The baby boy (Lixier) with hydroencephalitis was just approved for his Visa last night! He and his mother will be leaving for the states on Saturday and Lixier is scheduled for surgery on Monday at St. Joseph’s Hospital. It was a long and stressful process but it looks like things will work out after all. However, surgery is only half the battle. His follow-up care will be crucial in helping him to stay alive. As it is very difficult to receive the post-operative treatment he needs in Haiti, the host family in the US has offered to house Lixier and his mother for 2 months.
I'll be going with them to the airport tomorrow morning to say goodbye and wish them luck. Please continue to keep them in your prayers.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Training for a marathon
I love to run down here. It’s easy to get discouraged, and all too often, I find myself desperate for a break. My runs relieve any built up stress and help to clear my mind. I seem to get my best ideas when I’m running. Seeing as how my runs usually take me through villages, I pass hundreds of homes and hundreds of families. The children run after me yelling “blan, blan” (white man), and begin laughing hysterically when I respond “M’ pa blan!” (I’m not white!). The older children usually stand on the side of the road cheering me on yelling out the little English they know, “How are you?” and “I am fine.” The adults shout out “bonjou” and “Sali,” (good morning, hello). It never ceases to amaze me the level of kindness these families show me. It’s as though they have nothing to be sad about. Haitians are a hopeful people, full of passion and pride. They continue to serve as my inspiration.
Last week when I was in Port-au-Prince trying to get the visa for Lixier, I met a woman at the guest house I stayed at who began telling me about a marathon in the Cayman Islands that’ll be held on Dec. 7th. I’ve always wanted to run a marathon but have always used my asthma as an excuse not to. Well, I decided to do it this time. I began training the day I arrived back to Les Cayes and have been running an average of 8 miles/day. Because of the unbearable heat, I can only run at dawn or dusk. The roads are rocky and the dirt paths are anything but flat. I figure that if I can train for a marathon running on small boulders that the real thing will be a piece of cake.
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Teaching Summer English
Monday through Thursday, 8-9am, I teach begining English classes to 22 of the older boys and 2 girls at the Espwa orphanage. We started with the ABCs just three weeks ago and now they're saying complete sentences. I teach fully in English and only use Creole when I need to explain something more complicated or when I want to make sure that they understand. Every Thursday, they have a test on the material we covered Mon-Wed.The classes are completely optional yet I rarely have a class that's not packed. The kids are desperate for knowledge and passionate about learning. Considering their lack of resources (text books, pens etc.) their work ethic is admirable and inspiring. For many of them, school work is the one and only thing they have control over in their lives. Studying vocab or solving math problems help them to put out of mind if even for an hour a day, the daily struggles they face.
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
When the bed bugs bite...
After examining the children’s houses, we discovered that not only were virtually every one of the beds infested with bed bugs, but they had also created homes and breading grounds through small holes in the walls. Just when I thought that I'd exhausted all possibilities for prevention programs at the orphanage, another one presents itself.The purpose of this project is to sufficiently diminish, and hopefully eradicate, the massive bed bug infestation in the children’s houses. Bed bugs are well worth eradicating because their bites cause anemia and anaphalactic shock, and can transmit diseases such as Hepatitis B and Chagas, a blood disease caused by a parasite that leads to dehydration, organ failure, and anorexia. Bed bugs lay 200-500 eggs in a single batch, and can survive up to 140 days without feeding. They only come out at night, and when they do, they can bite up to 500 times without waking their victim.
The discovery of the bed bugs came at a perfect time. The goals of this project largely overlap with those of Houses to Homes (another grant project that is currently in progress at the orphanage)—plans to provide new beds, furniture, and paint are essential in addressing the bed bug problem, and are already in motion. This project proposes an added focus on clearing each house of infestation before moving new beds and furniture back into the houses. Starting tomorrow, my public health guys and I will be heading into the children's village to begin bombing the houses with insecticide and destroying all of the old beds.
Monday, June 30, 2008
He’s Dying, Why Can’t You Help Us?
Day 1-It was a week ago today when the founder of Pwoje Espwa came to me and asked that I help a 3-month old baby boy with hydroencephalitis get to the United States for emergency surgery. His name is Lixier and his head is three times the normal size. The pressure building up on his brain forces blue veins to pop out all over his head. His eyes are permanently fixed downwards and his cries are nothing more than whimpers. The slightest bit of sunlight or heat causes him great pain. His mother, a primary school teacher and major bread winner for the family, spends nearly every waking moment with him. An organization called the International Humanitarian Aid Foundation had arranged for the surgery at St. Joseph’s Hospital in New Jersey and found a host family for Lixier and his mother.
Day 2-I wasted no time in contacting the American Embassy in Haiti to schedule an appointment for an emergency medical visa. When I received no response the first time, I resent the same email in capital letters and with “URGENT” in the subject line. The Embassy responded within an hour of the second email. We were scheduled for the following morning at 11am in Port-au-Prince.
Day 3-Dan, the logistics coordinator, myself and Lixier and his mother boarded the 7am flight to PaP. The moment we stepped foot off the plane in Haiti’s capital city, the race began.
Several important documents that were needed for the visa had been sent to a hotel on the other side of the city for us to pick up before our appointment. When we arrived at the embassy, the guards at first refused to let anyone but myself and the baby into the embassy. Because I had made the appointment and the baby was the candidate for the visa, we were apparently the only ones approved to enter. After explaining the urgency of the case and showing him the baby, his eyes widened and he rushed us in without another word. Sure that we had all necessary documents, the Visa officer informed us that the infant would need a passport before a Visa could be issued. The mother had been told earlier that month that her baby didn’t need a passport. We’ve since learned that even a 1-day old child needs a passport to leave the country. At this point, it was a setback and nothing more. We had the child’s passport photo taken by a vendor on the side of the street, and hurried to the other end of town to the Haitian Immigration office to apply for a passport. Our driver, Garry, was with us the entire day, clearing the way, bargaining for lower prices and convincing officials that this baby would die if they didn’t give us what we needed asap. The immigration office turned us away. We had two more stops before we could even apply for a passport. We spent the day in the blazing sun walking through the slums of Port-au-Prince.
After a long and seemingly unbearbable day, we were approved for the passport and were told that it would be ready for us the next morning. The four of us stayed at a guest house in the city and had no problem sleeping through the night.
Day 4- We waited about an hour at immigration for the passport and once again set off for the American Embassy only to find out that they were unsatisfied with our documents and needed a few more before we could proceed with the application process. Now, four days into the process and still no visa, we began to get anxious. Lixier is worse off everyday and his mother is tiring quickly. Dan and I tried to stay positive, assuring the mother that we things will work out and that we needed just a few more documents. We left the embassy and made several calls to people in the states to have the missing documents sent over to the embassy via fax and email. By the time the documents arrived at the embassy, they were already closed. We would have to spend another night.
Day 5-We woke up early to be at the embassy when the doors opened. The necessary letters were in! The letter from the host family where Lixier and his mother would be staying pre and post surgery and the letter from the hospital stating that all costs will be covered by the hospital and that taxpayer money will not be used. I was elated. I looked to Lixier's mom and smiled. However, the smile didn't last long. Apparently, the hospital letter was signed by the Director of Physician and Hospital Affairs and not by the Chief Financial Officer of the hospital, which is what the visa application requires. At this point, I could not hold in my anger. I told the visa officer that this child will die if we don't get him to the states asap. I couldn't believe how picky they were being. "It's procedure," he replied. We snatched the papers back and left before I would say something I might regret.
While Dan was on the phone with the hospital in the states to try and get them to fax another letter asap from the CFO, I stayed with Lixier and his mom. We sat there in silence. I was afraid that if I said something to her, that she'd be able to hear the worry in my voice. The last thing I wanted to do was take away her hope. Sitting in front of us was an 8-year-old girl. The mother of the girl turned around and told us that her daughter had the same thing when she was born and that surgery saved her life. You should've seen Lixier's mom's eyes light up! "Isn't she pretty? Look how beautiful she is," she kept saying. I must admit, even I regained a bit of hope.
2 hours later, Dan walked back in with an expression on his face that gave me goosebumps. He had just been on the phone with the Director of Physician and Hospital Affairs to find out that the Director never wrote any letter for Lixier. It had been forged. The hospital had never officially approved the surgery! Here we were, sent out blindfolded with a mother and dying child, spending day after day trying to get a visa, when in reality there would be no surgery. The hospital has since called to session an emergency meeting to consider the case of Lixier and the forged documents. Now we won't know until this week, whether or not the hospital will do the operation.
The man who forged the letter is someone I know, a pastor, and the founder of the organization that was responsible for getting Lixier surgery. I don't know what was going through his mind when he forged that letter. Perhaps, he felt the pressure to get us the necessary documents asap and thought he would do no harm and that no one would ever know. The reality, however, is that Lixier is going to die without surgery and now the little bit of hope that was given to his mother and father has been ripped away. What this man did was not only illegal and unethical but immoral.
I haven't given up hope yet. I will see this man today and I have a few choice words for him. But in the mean time, please keep Lixier and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Day 2-I wasted no time in contacting the American Embassy in Haiti to schedule an appointment for an emergency medical visa. When I received no response the first time, I resent the same email in capital letters and with “URGENT” in the subject line. The Embassy responded within an hour of the second email. We were scheduled for the following morning at 11am in Port-au-Prince.
Day 3-Dan, the logistics coordinator, myself and Lixier and his mother boarded the 7am flight to PaP. The moment we stepped foot off the plane in Haiti’s capital city, the race began.
Several important documents that were needed for the visa had been sent to a hotel on the other side of the city for us to pick up before our appointment. When we arrived at the embassy, the guards at first refused to let anyone but myself and the baby into the embassy. Because I had made the appointment and the baby was the candidate for the visa, we were apparently the only ones approved to enter. After explaining the urgency of the case and showing him the baby, his eyes widened and he rushed us in without another word. Sure that we had all necessary documents, the Visa officer informed us that the infant would need a passport before a Visa could be issued. The mother had been told earlier that month that her baby didn’t need a passport. We’ve since learned that even a 1-day old child needs a passport to leave the country. At this point, it was a setback and nothing more. We had the child’s passport photo taken by a vendor on the side of the street, and hurried to the other end of town to the Haitian Immigration office to apply for a passport. Our driver, Garry, was with us the entire day, clearing the way, bargaining for lower prices and convincing officials that this baby would die if they didn’t give us what we needed asap. The immigration office turned us away. We had two more stops before we could even apply for a passport. We spent the day in the blazing sun walking through the slums of Port-au-Prince.
After a long and seemingly unbearbable day, we were approved for the passport and were told that it would be ready for us the next morning. The four of us stayed at a guest house in the city and had no problem sleeping through the night.
Day 4- We waited about an hour at immigration for the passport and once again set off for the American Embassy only to find out that they were unsatisfied with our documents and needed a few more before we could proceed with the application process. Now, four days into the process and still no visa, we began to get anxious. Lixier is worse off everyday and his mother is tiring quickly. Dan and I tried to stay positive, assuring the mother that we things will work out and that we needed just a few more documents. We left the embassy and made several calls to people in the states to have the missing documents sent over to the embassy via fax and email. By the time the documents arrived at the embassy, they were already closed. We would have to spend another night.
Day 5-We woke up early to be at the embassy when the doors opened. The necessary letters were in! The letter from the host family where Lixier and his mother would be staying pre and post surgery and the letter from the hospital stating that all costs will be covered by the hospital and that taxpayer money will not be used. I was elated. I looked to Lixier's mom and smiled. However, the smile didn't last long. Apparently, the hospital letter was signed by the Director of Physician and Hospital Affairs and not by the Chief Financial Officer of the hospital, which is what the visa application requires. At this point, I could not hold in my anger. I told the visa officer that this child will die if we don't get him to the states asap. I couldn't believe how picky they were being. "It's procedure," he replied. We snatched the papers back and left before I would say something I might regret.
While Dan was on the phone with the hospital in the states to try and get them to fax another letter asap from the CFO, I stayed with Lixier and his mom. We sat there in silence. I was afraid that if I said something to her, that she'd be able to hear the worry in my voice. The last thing I wanted to do was take away her hope. Sitting in front of us was an 8-year-old girl. The mother of the girl turned around and told us that her daughter had the same thing when she was born and that surgery saved her life. You should've seen Lixier's mom's eyes light up! "Isn't she pretty? Look how beautiful she is," she kept saying. I must admit, even I regained a bit of hope.
2 hours later, Dan walked back in with an expression on his face that gave me goosebumps. He had just been on the phone with the Director of Physician and Hospital Affairs to find out that the Director never wrote any letter for Lixier. It had been forged. The hospital had never officially approved the surgery! Here we were, sent out blindfolded with a mother and dying child, spending day after day trying to get a visa, when in reality there would be no surgery. The hospital has since called to session an emergency meeting to consider the case of Lixier and the forged documents. Now we won't know until this week, whether or not the hospital will do the operation.
The man who forged the letter is someone I know, a pastor, and the founder of the organization that was responsible for getting Lixier surgery. I don't know what was going through his mind when he forged that letter. Perhaps, he felt the pressure to get us the necessary documents asap and thought he would do no harm and that no one would ever know. The reality, however, is that Lixier is going to die without surgery and now the little bit of hope that was given to his mother and father has been ripped away. What this man did was not only illegal and unethical but immoral.
I haven't given up hope yet. I will see this man today and I have a few choice words for him. But in the mean time, please keep Lixier and his family in your thoughts and prayers.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
