CLOSED until further notice.....

MEDICAL ACCESS in Northwest Haiti is a HUGE ISSUE right now and is weighing heavy on our hearts.  The clinic we go to support in Lacoma closed on 4/25/13.  Our friend/hero, Madam Anatole, the nurse that worked 24/7 for 3 years as the sole medical provider to the community is gone...... after 10 months without pay she and the other 4 people that ran the clinic had their jobs terminated and the clinic is now closed until further notice.  I can't say exactly how much it costs to run a clinic like that, but I will say that it is likely less than 2000 a month, including supplies.  Heartbreaking.

We try not to take too many pictures depicting the poverty and lack of dignity that Haitians in this community are faced with every day as this sort of exploitation may be interesting to people but it doesn't help anyone.
Would it help the baby with partial thickness burns all over her abdomen, butt, thighs and groin heal if we posted a picture? NO it would not.
Would it be helpful for people to see our patient vomiting worms,  eating mud cakes,  experiencing pneumonia from untreated HIV infections? I don't think so.
Would it help us raise money? Probably.  Ah, ethics.... what to do.

The hardest part of this trip is being home and feeling like we should still be there helping the community that has NOTHING.  Don't think about it so much, but we do.  And try to never compare things but, again, it is most difficult.

Reentry has always been the hardest part of each journey to Haiti.
The shock of poverty and suffering is somehow easier to digest than the shock of excess and entitlement.
The complaints, attitudes, wants/needs of those with SO MUCH wears on you and causes one to crawl back into invisible armor.  Working at such a privileged facility in such a privileged community just isn't comfortable.  The disposable supplies, wasted medications, unbelievable priorities and over-the-top incomes encountered daily leave us wondering about the big picture.  As dokte Mark said after he returned this last trip- "it is 2013 not 1913!"  People of all ages are dying of easily treated illnesses and starvation in Haiti while patients here don't blink an eye at shelling out $7,000 so their breasts fit some idea of perfection.

"Science has revolutionized medicine- but there was no revolution and no plan for ensuring equal access. Excellence without equity is what you now inherit. It’s the chief human rights problem of twenty-first-century medicine, and only when we’re all under general anesthesia of the soul will we be able to ignore it as the century marches on. " Paul Farmer (from Partners in Health- the organization that just built the gigantic solar hospital in Mirebalais- a city about 12 hours from Lacoma)

Access to medical care and supplies is at an all time low in NorthWest Haiti. 
We are trying to help---- please stay with us and help us help Haiti!

Start of the day- the 2 of us saw 100 patients this day!!! 

Crazy beautiful Nord Ouest!

Peace Love Haiti spring team #1!!!

Farmer Hands

BACK TO REALITY!~

WE are home from Haiti!  I always hope that it will get easier to transition into life in the USA, but each time is just as difficult as the last.   We are so thankful we were able to help in HAITI.   Thank you for all of your love and support.  Even long after we have left the country we are still thinking and praying for our friends in Haiti and continually ask ourselves how we can help more the next time we go!

This beautiful lady walked hours to come and see us.  She was in pain throughout her body..mostly her joints.  She could not figure out why she was in so much discomfort.  She had been farming since the time she was 7 and she was now in her 60's. Her joints were swollen, her skin like leather. She had a couple massive calluses on her hands....about an inch thick.  This is where she braced her hoe for farming......

Amazing people with amazing strength!!

It was sure nice to see a relatively healthy and hydrated baby girl!!!  These eyes penetrated by soul~

 OSCAR

I love this picture!!  This little boy was so sick!!  ? typhoid, malaria, HIV?

His mother was so nurturing!

SEVENTH TIME'S A CHARM

Here is a little taste of flying in Haiti!
Leaving from Port de Paix airport in a lil 5 seater with a few gusts of wind, weeeeee

We are getting our medications and supplies ready for action~ hard to believe in less than a week we will be back in beautiful Haiti for mission #7......

THANK YOU sooo sooo sooo much for all the years of support--- your kind words and prayers mean so much to us.
WE could not do it without you!!!!

Here is a disgusting read from the Miami Herald too.....

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/04/05/3325538/study-finds-haiti-aid-largely.html#emlnl=The_Americas

Please please don't forget about Haiti!
They still have little to no resources and what many chose to give they did NOT get!

A HUGE THANK YOU FOR ALL OF YOU WHO VENTURED OUT FOR OUR HAITI FUNDRAISER!!!!!!

Special thanks to:

SARAH KRUEGER AND BAND

DIRTY HORSE 

AMERICAN REBELS

RT QUINLANS

Thank you for your love, good vibes and support.  We will pass on your love in April when we go on our next mission!  Thanks for making a difference in the lives of the Haitians!!!!!

ROCK FOR HAITI-FEB 8TH!

ROCK FOR HAITI BENEFIT #8

THIS FRIDAY, FEB. 8TH 2013

RT QUINLANS

SARAH KRUEGER AND BAND 10:00 PM

DIRTY HORSE 11:30 PM

AMERICAN REBELS 1:00AM

$5.00 COVER

ALL PROCEEDS GOING TOWARDS MEDICAL SUPPLIES AND MEDICATIONS FOR OUR NEXT MISSION IN APRIL 

Thinking back on how things changed us 3 years ago....

Our dream, the desire that is in our soul, did not come out of nowhere.
Someone placed it there.
And that Someone, who is pure love and wants only our happiness, did so only because he also gave us the tools to realize our dreams and our desires.

When you are going through difficult times, remember: you may have lost some major battles, but you survived and you’re still here.
That is a victory. Show your happiness and celebrate your ability to go forward.

Pour your love generously out onto the fields and pastures, down the streets of the big city and across the dunes of the desert.

Show that you care about the poor, for they are an opportunity for you to display the virtue of charity.
And care, too, about the rich, who distrust everything and everyone, keep their granaries crammed with grain and their coffers full, but, despite all that, cannot drive away loneliness.

Never miss an opportunity to show your love, especially to those close to you, because we are always at our most cautious with them, for fear of being hurt.

Love – because you will be the first to benefit. The world around you will reward you, even if, at first, you say to yourself: ‘They don’t understand my love.’

Love does not need to be understood. It needs only to be shown.

(Julie and Tricia... with some help from Paulo Coelho)

AMAZING

Thank you to middle school teacher Jill Hinstala.  I am thankful she is teaching the kids about the world and poverty. We were able to present about HAITI. WOW!  The kids and the questions they asked were amazing!  Thank you for your donations, we are able buy some medical supplies and medications!

HAITI- where did the money go?
 http://vimeo.com/37752014


Thank you to my mother in law Peggy (AKA mother).  She asked me to come and present at her church, Nashwauk Lutheran Church.   WOW, what an amazing group of woman.  We are so thankful to each of you and loved the Advent day. Thank you for your donations! We will be good stewards of this donation.

Recently in the Duluth News Tribune  Bridgefest