When my alarm went off at 7:30 this morning I was quickly energized from the beautiful sun that shined in my bedroom.  After sitting up and stretching a bit I looked out my window to see the Atlantic Ocean and the sun beating down on the water.  It took my breath away.  I thought this is a great way to start my day.

After waking everyone up, which is my “duty” for the trip; we started our day with a good breakfast.

Today we started off at a centre for children with disabilities.  This was right up my ally since I work at Pathways Health Centre for children in Sarnia in 3 different departments within the organization.  I also have been exposed to children of many disabilities through out my childhood and adult life.  Seeing this facility today I was beside myself.  First, we were a bit behind schedule showing up to the clinic. Second, I had to wear a towel to cover my arms up since they are a very Catholic-based organization, women can not show any skin. And third, we were unable to take any pictures to show my fellow staff members back home how lucky we have it (although I fully understood why I couldn’t).

After going into the room and seeing the children, making them laugh at my funny faces or letting them wear my sunglasses to make them smile, I was back in my element.  After listening to our guide talk about the centre, I was happy with what they can do with such little help, but of course I was thinking what else could be done?  However we did learn that the children receive physical therapy which improved their movements.  For example some children who couldn’t sit up now can and others who were bedridden can now walk. Working in this kind of environment at home made me think of how BLESSED we have it; with the kind of resources we have to access on a daily bases, the help we get 24/7 and the questions that we have get answered or someone finds an answer for it.  By the end of our visit I realized how great these people are for helping these wonderful children out on a day to day basis: changing their diapers, feeding them and giving some therapy to them just to name a few things.

After leaving the centre, we traveled to a school that has 3 classrooms for grades 1, 2, and 3. These classrooms are linked to the malnutrition centre, Sacred Heart, where we brought our vitamins and clothes to.  It is truly amazing how much these teachers do with their students in such a little environment to teach in.  These 3 classrooms are broken up with 2 different chalk boards and the size is no bigger then my bedroom at home.  We were able to interact with each classroom by singing songs and giving a little English lesson with flash cards.  Truly, the time there was great.

We were able to tour around Haiti in the afternoon.  We traveled down to Labade, which is a tourist location for cruise lines. Kind of a different thing for you to hear, eh? We were informed that cruise lines avoid mentioning that the ship stopped in Haiti; instead they used ‘Espanola’ which is the island that the Dominican and Haiti share.  The area is guarded by security and tucked away from the reality of Haiti.

At this point we thought our day was done.  We were traveling back to our hotel to discuss our experiences and talk about the days to come, as well as enjoy each other’s company.  Instead something fantastic happened, we got a flat tire!  We were then parked at the side of the road with our small group of 6 six with the 2 men changing the tire.  I looked a little farther down the road and saw 4 guys playing basketball.  I crossed the road and put my hands out to play the sport with them. At first fooling around doing jump shots, we then put together a little game of 3 on 3.  There we are 3 little Canadian girls playing basketball with these 3 Haitian gentlemen. This was one of the highlights of my day by fair.  When we were told it was time to go we were saddened but shook hands with our fellow players and traveled back to the hotel.

I hope you enjoyed reading our adventures with more to come!  I now need to go and listen to Hope’s wonderful voice singing a song Laura wrote.  Good night!

Mary Daly
Rayjon Youth

Woke up with an early start today to explore, what we were told by the Haitians as the 8th wonder of the world, the Citadel in Cap Haitian. We were so surprised on our way when we were driving on paved roads with stop signs, speed bumps, crosswalks, and passing lanes! You don’t see that often in Haiti.  On our way we picked up our tour guide for the day and continued to the palace.  Our tour guide was amazing at teaching us the history behind both the palace that was destroyed by an earthquake 200 years ago and the Citadel. We were able to do a little bit of bartering with the local people for bracelets which was an awesome learning experience for us all!  We were bombarded when we got to the entrance to the pathway of the Citadel by locals that were trying to sell us souvenirs and wanted us to ride their horses up the pathway.  We learned that the Citadel was built in 1806 by Roi Christophe who hired over 200,00 people to help build it and over 20,000 died.  It was built to protect the Haitians from an invasion by the French.  On our walk which was completely uphill we were accompanied by many locals who were able to teach us some Creole!  It was a great experience to be able to communicate and bond with the local people.

We were also able to visit a hospital in Milo and we were toured by a Haitian nurse and our driver/interpreter Eddie Josef.  It was so nice to hear that the cholera tent that the hospital has had no more than 2 patients when we visited today!  The Haitians have done an amazing job at teaching the people the importance on washing their hands properly, treating the water, cleaning tips etc.  This hospital also flew in a lot of earthquake victims for prosthetic limbs.  We met a doctor from the United States, who was a surgeon down for the week performing surgeries at this hospital.  I have been very surprised at the Haitian healthcare system.  So far what I have seen it is much better than I expected it to be!   The hospitals that we have seen are well organized and well run by the Haitian people with support from organizations around the world.  As a nursing student it was so neat to be able to compare and contrast the differences and similarities in the health care systems.  Today when we walked into the pre-op area of the surgical area, I was surprised to see vital sign monitoring machines that were exactly the same as the ones we have in Canada.  We have witnessed the Haitians making changes to the health care system to better it so that they are able to recognize diseases in the earlier stages before it becomes terminal. I am looking forward to returning to work as a nurse in Haiti one day and witness the growth and development of the health care system.

Hope Bechard
Rayjon Youth

It was a bit of a journey, but our small group of six made our way from Sarnia, to Detroit, to Fort Lauderdale, to Port au Prince and finally on a tight squeeze of a plane, to Cap Haitien.  Day one and a half was just about arriving and getting settled.  It was a process, but it was only the beginning of becoming acquainted with each other and understanding the flow of traveling as a group.  A success, considering we had to catch some z’s on the floor of the airport during our long stopover. 

This is the first time for most of our group to visit Cap Haitien.  I have spent many meetings learning about the centre, the sisters that run it and the way things are in Cap Haitien.  It has been my favourite project to learn about and to speak about during outreach presentations in schools.  Finally, I can see it all with my own two eyes.  Last time I was in Haiti was in 2009 and knowing that I was returning after the earthquake created a bit of nervousness for me.  We haven’t seen much of Port au Prince yet; however, I am quite surprised by how developed Cap Haitien is in comparison to the rest of Haiti as I remember it.  Roads are paved, the city is quite kept together and clean.  It’s a little rough around the edges, but isn’t that what we love most about Haiti?

Today was spent mostly at the centre Rayjon supports.  We were able to teach, to play and to interact with the students and infants that attend the program there.  Hope, one of our youth members, brought her guitar and the rest of us with shakers and sticks to create music with kids turned out to be what brought us together.  I think the magic of Haiti is within the children, capturing us to do whatever it is we can do to continue nurture the richness of their spirits.  I am relieved we are able to provide food, water, clothing and education to little ones who are clearly in need of it.  I have developed an even stronger connection to this project. 

With a focus on developing future trip leaders in Rayjon, others are working on cleaning up some of the business side of this centre as well.  We are developing a better understanding of how the centre runs and areas it can be improved.  We are attempting to offer skills to the staff in order to allow the centre to run better than it already does.  It’s a process, but it’s always worth it.  The sisters and staff have been very welcoming to our youth working with the children.

We also visited a hospital in the area.  It was incredibly well-run and clean, not to mention our encounter with one of the doctors and one of the nurses was most definitely informative on not only the hospital, but also on the health care of Haiti and how it has run in the past and how they working to improve it.  It was empowering to see the Haitians doing so much for those in need of health care in their country.  This place is endlessly strengthening faith and hope.

This evening we are under the night sky, enjoying Hope tickle some strings on the guitar.  I have to go sing with the others, but we’ll be sure to continue our story!

Laura Persichetti
Rayjon Youth

The following is a copy of a letter from Miguel Tejeda in Guatemala.

Miguel was the host for our eyeglass clinic in Rabinal, Guatemala during the first week of November, this year.

He made all of the preparations for the clinic and for our accommodations and transportation.

Miguel’s efforts contributed to another very successful and trouble free clinic.

Letter to Rayjon