Vassar Haiti Project

“This past week I traveled to Haiti with Lila, Andrew, and the most wonderful Amy Sherman. After about 3 hours of sleep on Saturday night, we left Hopewell Junction on Sunday morning tired, but excited to begin our wonderful journey. When we arrived in Port-au-Prince that afternoon, I cannot even begin to express how happy I was to be back in Haiti. There was something comforting about having done it all before, but knowing that there was still so much to learn (and this time with my suitcase!) that made me smile at having finally arrived.

Outside of the airport, we were met by Pere Soner, our new partner! It was incredible to finally meet him in person. His cool, calm energy was certainly different than our enthusiasm, but nonetheless perfect for providing stability in the middle of what sometimes seems like chaos.

Our next stop was Bernard Mevs Hospital, the hospital where Peter, our translator, consultant, and above all friend, works. We picked him up along with one of our doctor candidates, Dr. Gueslin, then began the first leg of the trip to Chermaitre. The roads were so much smoother than I remembered, mostly because we were driving from Port-au-Prince as opposed to Cap Haitien. We made it to Gros Morne in just about 4 hours, where we ate a traditional Haitian meal of rice and beans, fried plantains, and picklies (a spicy cabbage salad) and tucked in at the George Hotel.

The next morning we got ready quickly to drive to Fiervil and then hike up to Chermaitre. After a bumpy ride, we arrived in Fiervil and I saw the completed clinic for the first time. I’ll admit, I got a bit emotional. For so long the clinic had been this idea in my head and finally it was a tangible structure. It suddenly all became very real. We unloaded the boxes of medications and just as we were about to hike to Chermaitre, it started to pour down rain. We waited out the storm and made it up the mountain in great time (everyone got piggyback rides over the rushing rivers and of course lots of support from the children as we trekked up the slippery slopes). Chermaitre was quieter than I’d seen it previously because school was already out and most people had gone home to get ready for dinner. We had a productive meeting with Clairvoix, then crashed for the evening.

The next day we met with Pere Soner to get a better picture of how we were going to make the partnership work. We also met with Dr. Gueslin and our nurse Etienne to talk about our vision for the clinic, as well as what they wanted to see. We also observed school in session and had ample opportunity to play with the children. After lunch, we hiked back down the mountain so that we could prepare the clinic for the Wednesday’s big clinic day. We met our second doctor candidate, Dr. Damas, and then opened up and inventoried all of the medications, which included boxes we’d ordered from Blessing International, things from Haitian pharmacies, donations from Peter, as well as donations from Food for the Poor which had arrived as a surprise to us at Pere Soner’s house. There were so many different medications, but I felt very doctor-y reading the names and learning what each one did. I’m hoping that those hours will come in handy one day! We were also able to meet the artisan, Saint Anise, who is going to work with the women of Chermaitre to form the women’s cooperative. She showed us the handcrafts she makes and talked about her process. Just thinking about the women’s cooperative makes me smile because everyone involved is passionate about it and I can see such potential for it. I’m very excited for it to get off the ground and flourish.

Wednesday was our huge clinic day, aka my favorite day of the trip. We woke up very early to finish organizing the pharmacy and put the final touches on the clinic. We opened our doors at around 9 am and stopped taking patients at about 1, but the clinic continued until 5. For most of the time, I worked in triage, taking patients’ vitals while Etienne took down their personal histories. It was difficult at first to navigate the language barrier, but I eventually figured out a system of communicating without words. It was fascinating to interact with patients of all ages; I saw 2 month old twins, as well as an 85 year old woman who could barely walk. There was also a wide range of the kinds of medical problems the patients came with, which was also interesting as a premed student. Later in the clinic I worked in the pharmacy, which again got me acquainted with the medicines. All in all, we saw around 70 patients.

That night we headed back to Gros Morne, then got up very early the next morning to drive back to Port-au-Prince and catch our flight home. It was surreal to go from working in the clinic to JFK airport in 24 hours; the juxtaposition of worlds was jarring. However, I greatly appreciated a long, warm shower at home as I decompressed from the whirlwind 5 days. We accomplished so much in so little time! As always, the trip produced more questions than answers, but that just makes me more motivated than ever to find the answers to all of them. There are many great things ahead of us.”

— Sarah