In February, I went on a mission trip through our church (McFarlin United Methodist). There were 10 of us in our group which consisted of 1 dentist, 2 physicians, 1 nurse practitioner, 1 dental assistant, 1 physical therapist and 4 people not in the medical field. We flew out of Oklahoma City on our way to Port a Prince (PAP), Haiti, but the mission site was a village on La Gonave island which is off the coast of mainland Haiti. The name of the village was Source a Phillipe (pronounced soos a felip).
The picture below is us at the PAP airport. We loaded everyone into a van/truck. They call them "tap-taps." They are kind of like a tiny bus/taxi. They carry as many people that can fit. If you want a ride, all you have to do is "tap-tap" the hood and they'll stop and pick you up for a small charge.
Everybody's loading up.
On the way to the Methodist Guest House. It used to be the Swiss Embasy before they abandoned the complex. Now the Methodist church occupies the compound. There is a church, a school, and the guest house all within the compound. The house can sleep atleast 3-5 mission teams at any one time.
First meal: Fried fish, salad, plantain fries and a beans/rice mix.
This is a map of Haiti. La Gonave island is the big island within the bay of Port au Prince. Source a Phillipe is on the middle aspect of the southern coast of the island.
So the first night we stayed at the Methodist guest house and the next morning we woke up early because we had to drive to a port 3 hours away from PAP in order to catch a boat ride to La Gonave.
Below, Dixon is on top of the tap-tap strapping down the bags.
The Methodist guest house had a pool. (it was once the Swiss Embassy)
Dining area at the Methodist guest house
Picture of local buildings and houses in PAP.
More PAP realestate.
You can still see evidence of the earthquake that occured in 2010. Some has been cleaned up but there is still a lot of devastation that is still present.
This is a typical tap-tap. Some looked like normal trucks but many were decorated like this one.
More guys riding on a tap-tap. Honestly there are probably 20 people in that tap-tap.
I had heard about PAP and the problem with garbage before I went but I was still suprised by the amount of trash on the streets, in the allies, around the homes, etc. People would set up fruit markets and set their fruit on piles of garbage. People lived in it and around the trash.
Apparently the garbage problem has been present long before the earthquake. It's sad because the place could be a paradise with some work.
This truck broke down in the middle of the street and was abandoned. This particular truck caused a traffic jam that delayed our travel probably by 1.5 hours.
Another tap-tap
Fruit stands set on garbage piles.
Picture of the Haitian countryside
Our drive from PAP to the boat dock took 3 hours so there were a lot of sights to see. It was only about 40 miles but there is absolutely no infrastructure in PAP so traffic jams are a'plenty. Quality of roads are poor so this makes traveling slow too.
More countryside
This was a little boat that shuttled us out to our boat that took us to the island. You can see it in the distance.
This is a picture of the boat dock from the shuttle boat.
Here is the boat we took across to La Gonave island. It was a sailboat with a little 4 HP Johnson outboard motor. It took 4.5 hours to get there.
This is Jonathon, he was the mission trip leader. He's a Internal Medicine specialist in Norman.
The boat was probably about 25 foot long and there were about 20 people on the boat ride to the island.
This is Bill. He is a dentist in Norman.
The water was a beautiful dark blue color and was crystal clear.
Dixon on the left. He's in oil and gas in Oklahoma City. Amanda on the right, she is a pediatric nurse practitioner in Norman.
4.5 hours on a little boat....
Pictures of coast villages
This was the dock we ported at in Source a Phllipe.
A view from our guest house. All the trees had several colored rings around them that were painted on. The people say this was for decoration.
Front porch of the guest house.
A picture of the medical clinic building
Local boys playing soccer. Every evening they played about 2 hours.
Unloading all the gear.
Local kids
Some of the local cuisine. Each meal we had a rice and beans mixture. Every meal...
But for the most part the food wasn't bad.
I haven't had rice since I've been back in the USA.
Dixon hanging up mosquito nets for the girls.
One of the 3 outhouses in the village. Unfortunately, most people didn't seem to use them.
Here, Dixon is trying to sneak up on the kids and play with them.
Still sneaking...
Cover blown! and he blew out his flip flop in the process.
Limping back barefoot and with wounded pride.
The common room in our guest house. Bathrooms in the background.
More pictures of kids.
This is our group headed to Sunday morning worship at the village church.
Front of the church.
Doors at the village school.
Our church donated over 1000 toothbrushes to give out to the people in the village and the people we treated in the clinic.
A small portion of our supplies. We brought very little with us. We tried to buy most of our supplies and medications from the Haiti to help stimulate their economy.
A fishing boat that is under repair. The children always seemed happy and playful.
This is a smaller 1-2 man boat.
The children loved having their pictures taken. I don't think that many of them have ever seen their own picture. This was true of the adults also. I brought a polaroid camera along and 100 polaroid pictures and gave them out. This seemed to be really popular with the people.
Garbage.
This is a salt water well in the middle of the village. It's how Source a Phillipe got it's name. Many years ago, a man drilled this well and his name was Phillipe. They mainly let the cows and animals drink the water from this well.
This is a salt water to fresh water generator that was built in the 80's. Over time, the glass broke and the people never maintained it. Thus, it doesn't work anymore.
Disney is everywhere, even in Haiti.
These are 2 of the cook ladies that cooked food for our group all week.
Empanadas and a lobster mixture.
Jonathon tried to map out the village and draw the location of all the latrines. The Methodist Church's plan was to build new latrines for the village on their next mission to the village.
This is a song that the Haitians sing before each meal. Matin is for breakfast. Midi is for lunch, and Aswe' is for dinner.
This is an old dentist chair that we found in the clinic. It was great to have this, otherwise Bill would have had to pull teeth in a regular chair.
Dental supplies
This is the pharmacy cabinet. It was pretty unorganized when we got there so we put everything in order.
Organizing...
Getting the dental area set up.
Misty, the hygienist.
Still organizing...
Taaaa Daaaaa!
Have you seen the movie, "Fatal Attraction."?? Well, Dixon found himself a fatal attraction. On one of the first days we were there in the village, some of the kids were playing music and dancing. Scott went over to watch and this girl asked him to dance. Dixon being the nice guy he is, humored her and danced. She had her eyes on him the rest of the trip!
Watch out Tiff!
Kids at the school playing with Sabrina our "photographer"
Dixon's admirer in the middle.
This was a beet-based dish. I don't eat beets so I can't tell you what it tasted like but it looks pretty.
Chicken wings.
From the left: Amanda (Pediatric Nurse Practitioner), Jonathon (Internist), and Shane (just found out he got into PA school).
So my clinic area was basically in a closet. It was dark and cramped, hard to see, but we made it work.
Bill in the dental clinic area, ready to go to work.
People gathering before the first clinic day opened.
I'm seeing patients in my clinic area. My translator, Louie, is on the right.
Dixon got a job in the dental clinic sterilizing the dental tools in between patient's.
Filling prescriptions for my patients.
Getting to pull some teeth when there weren't any medical patients to see.
Like a boss!
Writing a prescription for a patient. Karen on the right was one of the other translators.
These are the 2 nurses that helped in the clinic. Krisslyne on the right lives on the island and treats most of the village people by her self the majority of the time.
Debbie here posing with the children.
There were goats, roosters, chickens, and cows running all over the village. Not penned or tied up. Basically they were considered village property and everyone that lived in the village owned them.
This was interesting. One morning for breakfast they brought in a ton of spaghetti. I said, "Spaghetti for breakfast?" They also mixed onions, carrots, and hot dogs in the spaghetti. The noodles weren't bad. The Haitians would spread ketchup all over their spaghetti.
People waiting at the clinic.
Sabrina. She was the designated photographer for the trip but also helped out in the pharmacy and dental clinic.
It was warm and humid while we were in Haiti, but I think that Dixon might sweat more than any human on earth.
There's not many hospitals that will let me see patients and where my hat backwards. I mainly wore it though to keep sweat from running down my face all day.
Amanda and Jonathon saw most of the children and I was assigned most of the adults.
The children wore uniforms to school everyday.
OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
UUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!!!!!!!
Ronald, the 3rd translator. His father was one of the village leaders.
Even Dixon got in on the teeth pulling fun. Bill kept telling him to hold the tools "like a man"
Look at the concentration!
I'm glad that no sweat rolled into a patient's mouth.
Way to go Scooter!
This lady was so nervous about the dental process that she wouldn't let go of Amanda through the anesthesia and extraction process.
A photo of me and some of the children that got Polaroids.
A previous mission group had come to teach sex education and left condoms with the village people. It appears that the condoms ended up being used at children's toys unfortunately.
Some of the village men were selling beautiful conch shells.
Dixon is making sure this one works. Interestingly, a lot of the people in the village had never held a shell to their ear and didn't know that it made a noise that sounds like the ocean.
Rice and beans, green beans, fried plantains and on the top right, goat.
Baby whisperer
These twins Misty & Amanda are holding are a little over a year old. Each weigh around 10 pounds. To give you something to compare, my son Cooper weighed over 10 pounds when he was born. Their mother died soon after they were born and they were put on cows milk which slowed their growth down. Other than their size though they seemed very healthy.
This is the name of the clinic.
The whole clinic crew.
There were some beautiful sunsets.
This little girl had broke her arm a few weeks prior to our arrival. She was still using her arm like normal but it was deformed. Obviously our resources were limited on the island but the child did accompany us on the boat ride back to Port au Prince to go to a hospital.
Trying to nap a bit on the boat ride back.
It took 4.5 hours to get back too.
Dixon's hands turned orange while he was sterilizing the dental equipment.
Happy to be headed home.
This is a good picture of the ocean water around Haiti. It's the bluest, clearest water I've ever seen. It's like something out of a cartoon.
On the way home!
The trip was one that I will remember for the rest of my life. I share a bond with the other 9 people on the mission team. The Haitian population overall is very poor, they don't have any luxuries, but they all seem to be full of life, generally happy, and humble. And the people all have God as one of their top priorities. It's easy to be a Christian when things are good, but these people are good Christians all the time. I think this trip more than anything made me appreciate what I have and how blessed we are.
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