Swimming at Bette's house

After a day of work Bette invited us to
her home for a dip in her pool. Bette
is one of the leaders at HHF. She
lives on the side of the hill
overlooking the Caribbean waters. It
was wonderful!

Our driver and our translators

We have had lots of fun with our
translators this week...Winnefred
(left) and Fan Fan (right) and our
driver, Pascal (middle).

Molly drinks Claren

The youngest of the crew
tries "claren". It's much like vodka
with a bit of licorice flavor.

Making moonshine

This could be in a national geographic
magazine. These oxen help grind sugar
cane that is then cooked and stilled to
make what they call "claren".

A lady in her 70's waits for Akamil

It's tough for the elderly in the
mountains. This lady needs extra
nutrition and is waiting her turn for
the Akamil.

Feeding the children Akamil

Molly is feeding the children Akamil.
HHF is going to put up six production
sites in the villages to make Akamil.
It's the right proportion of
carbohydrate and protein for better
nutrition for the people in the
mountains.

Molly, the BP lady

Molly took blood pressures on all the
pregnant and postpartum women today.
She is now the expert!

Crossing the river

Today we crossed the river on our way
to the mountain village of Lasisse. We
had to hold on as the water was high
and the driver had to go as fast as
possible.

Last day in Jeremie

Look at what we woke up to this morning.

Serenades by Pascal

Last night in the tropics, we were
serenated with music by Pascal. We
listened to wonderful music as we
looked at the ocean and viewed the
beauty of Jeremie.

Donna does pediatric care

HHF has reduced the death rate of
children from pneumonia by teaching the
health agents to count respirations and
treating with antibiotic if the
respirations are high. Donna did
pediatric care today. She saw patients
with pneumonia, scabies, malaria,
malnutrition and worms. Just a typical
day at the pediatric office!

Colleen does adult care

Colleen examines the adults today. She
sees lots of adults with stomach pain,
back pain, neck pain and weakness.
They have lived hard lives in the
mountains.

What HHF is all about

Molly took this picture. It depicts
what HHF is all about....caring for
children and tracking their care with a
card that has their weights and their
immunization records.

Beautiful scenery in Haiti

Today we traveled by land cruiser to a
mountain village to do primary care.
The Grand Anse Department has had lots
of rain....the scenery was beautiful

Visiting St. Pierre School

Today we visited St. Pierre School
along the water front. The school has
a great story of how teachers took poor
children along the water front and
started teaching them. Soon someone
visiting HHF saw the work of these
teachers and built them a school.
Other volunteers are paying for them to
eat a warm meal every day and others
help pay the teachers. Each class
(grades 1-6) sang for us as we visited
their classroom.

Weight lifting

If you want to pump some iron. You
should try this exercise. He's
carrying charcoal from the mountains.
His neck and shoulders are straight and
strong!

A Drive thru Jeremie

Sister Mary Ann took the four of us on
a tour of the city. Donna took a
picture of one of the houses in St.
Helene, one of the poorest sections of
the city.

Preparing Layettes

Wednesday is postpartum and newborn
exam day a the Center. The group
prepared the layettes the night before
in preparation for seeing lots of
babies.

Lots of kids in Haiti

Here's a better story about
Kwashiorkor. This little girl is
improving. Colleen lets her try on
sunglasses. Today Colleen gave her a
pretty white dress. She was so happy.

Infant Mortality Rate

Yesterday we examined a toddler with
Kwashiorkor malnutrition. She had an
enlarged liver and was very listless.
Today we arrived at the hospital only
to learn the she had been admitted to
the hospital during the night with high
fever. When we examined her at the
hospital she was seizuring and her temp
was very high. "Very slowly" she
received Tylenol, valium, an IV and
Ampicillin....however most often these
children have been malnurished too long
to fight infections. She died over the
noon hour. Sister Sophie, Colleen,
Donna and I took her body to the
Sisters of Charity for burial. In a
short three days we have already been
exposed to the realities of high
mortality rates in children in Haiti.

Donna is busy

HHF has an anemia program for children
requiring that Hemoglobin checks be
done at 6 & 12 months. Donna check
hemoglobins today on 12 months old.
She thought the average hemoglobin was
about 9.8.

Monday is work day

HHF administration has asked us to
teach the nurses at the Center of Hope
how to do PAP Smears. Here Donna
Shull is explaining to the nurses with
the help of the interpreter Winifred
why we do PAP Smears.

Sister Sophie and Molly Lowe

Sister Sophie and Molly Lowe are busy
talking about India culture as we wait
for the benefit concert to begin.

Benefit for the radio station

Sister Sophie invited us to a benefit
for the radio station on Sunday
evening at 5pm. Many Haitians
gathered at the new cathedral to hear
a French singer and some local
Haitians put on a concert. It was
crowded and hot. The group had a
taste of Haitian music and culture.

Sunday afternoon at the beach

The beach was awesome! The water was
warm, there were no rocks on shore.
We relaxed and enjoyed the sunshine.
Later the Uraguay UN soldiers came and
set up a volley ball court on the
sand. There were more than usual
local Haitians at the beach today.

Finally we have internet access

We arrived in Haiti on Saturday, Nov.
4th without any problems. Here the
four of us smile (Collen Patton, Donna
Shull, Molly Lowe and Annette Larson)
as we wait to go through customs in
Port au Prince. We are excited to be
in the tropics!