God's Heart for Haiti

Construction of the Wall @ Lespwa Timoun

I visited the construction site of the clinic for Lespwa Timoun and found that amazing progress has been made in the past four weeks.  The barrier (outer wall) is nearing completion and that will allow the drilling of the well and the construction of the cistern and generator house.

Carmel and I also visited and explored several new venues where her medical and nutritional work with at risk infants and their parents is expanding.  One such place is a very large refugee center where many thousands are (and many more will be) living in a semi-permanent tent city.  This tent city is being constructed just outside Croix-des-Bouquets.  Carmel hopes to set up a nutrition center within this tent city in the near future.  She is part of the team that is designing and overseeing this project.

The needs are amazing – recent estimates are close to 2 million people living in temporary structures throughout Haiti and just over 800,000 in Port-au-Prince alone.  You can financially support this work by going to the Haiti Relief Fund tab above.  +TJ

Carmel checking on a mother and daughter

Student's at St. Simeon School

I am just back from a visit with Pere Valdema and his wife, Carmel.  All six of his schools have been repaired and re-opened this week.  I was amazed by the many things that have been accomplished since my last visit four weeks ago to prepare for this re-opening.  Many of the students will not go into their classrooms because of fear of building collapse and, therefore, many classes are meeting under tarps or temporary structures.  There is so much to do, but I rejoice in what has been done.  +TJ

Today we focused on the work of Lespwa Timoun (Hope for Children).  We had an amazing day, we started at the Lespwa Timoun clinic in Croix-des-Bouquet that was filled with a variety of health issues and went from there to the village of Thomazeau.

The nutrition workers associated  with Lespwa Timon were conducting their monthly follow-up with the parent’s and children in the nutrition program in the Thomazeau area.  The children are monitored on a monthly basis and given vaccines, vitamins and food supplements like plumpy nut and AK1000.  They stay in this program from three to six months depending on how they respond.  Today 58 children were monitored and treated at Thomazeau (which is one of  six monitoring stations – with more being planned).

The results are incredible but the need remains staggering.  Toward the end of today’s clinic, Carmel sent the driver to check on a mother who had not been following up with the program.  He brought both mom and child back with him.  The child is very sick and extremely malnourished.  She is two years old, weighs 12 pounds and can neither walk nor talk.  Although extreme, this was not the only child at risk.  Of the 58 who were seen today at Thomazeau least 30 were identified as significantly malnourished.

The work of Lespwa Timoun has been going on for seven years and each year has brought an expansion to the scope of this work both in terms of numbers treated and geographical area covered.  The Haitian government has asked Carmel to oversee basic health care for children in another five villages.  At the present time we are focusing on completing the “base camp” for this ministry.  We have purchased three+ acres of land and are in the process of constructing an expanded clinic.  Donations can be made by using the tab at the top of this page.

Tomorrow we will review plans for construction of the clinic and then go down town Port-au-Prince to meet with the Haitian leadership of College Ste. Pierre.  +TJ

Pere Val, Carmel, Phil Black, Millie Powell, +TJ

I met with the Episcopal Bishop of Haiti (Bishop Zache Duracin) today along with Millie Powell of St. Peter’s Church (Mt. Pleasant, SC) and Mary Balfour VanZandt and Philip Black of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church (Birmingham, AL).  Our time in Haiti will be focused on furthering the medical work of Lespwa Timoun and laying the ground work for re-building the Episcopal High School (College St. Pierre).

I will post an update with pictures tomorrow, but tonight we are thankful for the hospitality of Father Fritz Valdema and his wife, Carmel.  Among the four of us, the image that stands out among the many that we have seen is the countless thousands of people continuing to live in tents and very minimal and temporary shelters.  Lord, have mercy.  +TJ

An update from Father Fritz Valdema and his wife and nurse, Carmel relating to their work with Lespwa Timoun in the refugee camps around Croix-des-Bouquet (which is on the outskirts of Port-au-Prince).

Dear friends

We would like to share with you the work has been done through Lespwa timoun this week with the homeless.  Lespwa has been working with children and mothers under the tent, we weigh them, provide education for mothers, distribute Plumpy-nut and AK1000, vit A, vaccins for measles, DTP, dT, and they don’t have to payfor the  medicines at the clinic.  Now the  Communal health office Croix des Bouquets asked Lespwa Timoun to work in 6 more villages 5kms  around the clinic  where we have to do all the activities. Thank you for your effort to allow us to do all that.

Carmel and Pere Val

One of the Refugee Camps where Lespwa Timoun is at work
Vitamin and supplements for this little girl	Carmel is wearing the blue shirt
Plumpy’nut Plumpy’nut is a peanut-based food for use in famine relief which was formulated in 1999 by André Briend, a French Paediatric Nutritionist. The Plumpy’nut product is a high protein and high energy peanut-based paste in a foil wrapper. It tastes slightly sweeter than peanut butter. It is categorized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food (RUTF). Plumpy’nut contains vitamins A, B-complex, C, D, E, and K, and minerals calcium, phosphorus, potassium, magnesium, zinc, copper, iron, iodine, sodium, and selenium. – Plumpy’nut, Wikipedia

The Clinic at Croix-des-Bouquets

Construction in Progress

Lespwa Timoun means Hope for Children in Creole.  We can give the people of Haiti hope by helping complete the Lespwa Timoun Clinic.  This nutrition clinic will bring medical, dental, nutrition and education programs to the neediest children in Croix-des-Bouquets area.  Children in the program are weighed monthly, receive monthly food supplements, vaccinations, vitamins and worm medicine.  Their parents receive education in health and nutrition.

Lespwa Timoun is even more essential to build after last month’s devastating earthquake.  Many, many refugees are now in the Croix-des-Bouquets area and they need medical attention desperately.  $200,000 is needed to finish the clinic and roughly $95,000 has been raised in the last month.  This money has been raised from all over the USA, but we need more! You can make your donation through this blog or by sending checks to St. Mary-on-the-Highlands Episcopal Church in Birmingham, AL.  P.O. Box 55245 Birmingham, AL 35255.  Please put Haiti Relief in the for line and remember all checks are tax deductible.

Thank you for your prayers and assistance to our brothers and sisters in Haiti.