Greetings from Haiti! Today started with “Rooftop Yoga Club” of Jacob, Ty, Kat, Mikayla, Silvia, Claire, Jen and our teacher Kristy. We felt really good about ourselves until we saw the group at the guest house across the street running, doing calisthenics, and kick boxing on their roof. After everyone was up, we all had a great breakfast of eggs, watermelon, mango, bread, peanut butter and jelly. We knew we would have a later departure than usual today because of the logistics of our day. We were working with children from Assistante pour des Enfants d’Haiti (OAEH) but we are not able to go to them, so we borrowed a church with an appropriate space in Port au Prince where we could work with them. Our bus driver Steevenson went to pick them up and 7 am, dropped them off at the church and then came to get us. Unfortunately he got a flat tire along the way and we had a bit of a delay while Steevenson changed the tire. After that we loaded our suitcases on the bus and headed out to meet our friends from OAEH. They gave us a very warm welcome and greeted us by singing a song. Some of it was even in English! After the introductions, we got to work setting up the medical/dental clinic and our education program. While some of us were setting up, a few students used the puppets to teach the kids about the best way to brush their teeth. Today in the clinic we had Molly, Jennie, Kat and Mikayla assisted by Min in dental. We had Sam, Amelia, Hollis, Nate, Aurora, Robert, Austin, and Natasha working in medical. They were assisted by Professor Hankin, Darlene, Kristy and our interpreters Louie, Roosevelt, Junior, Eddyson, and Wacnel. The medical team served over 65 patients. They saw 48 patients and applied 48 fluoride varnishes. They sealed 504 teeth! The sealants are only applied to permanent teeth and prevent future tooth decay. Our education team consisted of Jacob working with Tom and Greg on “Balloon Rocket Racers”, Mia and Riley working with Lynn at our bones lesson, Claire and Ty were back at the heart lesson, Sara, Abby and Marcia were working at the insects and malaria and scientific observation lesson, Isaac and Kaia were working outside on physical education, and Brooke and Emily were working on an art game and lesson. The “Balloon Rocket Racers”, the physical education equipment, and the art game were provided by students and teachers at Tioga Hills Elementary School in Vestal, New York. We had Elysee, Lyndie, Steevenson, Derson, Bury, Fritz and Jerry helping us to communicate. The kids rotated through the clinic and the education “stations” for a few hours and then we served them lunch. The lunch was purchased with the donation money that the Health for Haiti students raised before our trip. After lunch some of the OAEH kids treated us to a dance performance and we handed out some gifts we had brought for them. The kids were very well behaved and it was a pleasure to spend the day with them. Everyone pitched in and helped to clean up the church so we could leave it the way we found it! Steevenson brought the Health for Haiti group back to the guest house and then went back to take the OAEH kids back to their homes. Once we were back at the Guest House the students took some time to write in their journals and we all had some down time. Later on we enjoyed a dinner of salad, bread, rice and pumpkin soup. Everyone is tired after a busy but productive day. Jude put on the movie “Bohemian Rhapsody” to end our busy day. Everything was going on at once while we were working with the OAEH kids today so the photos are a bit of a jumble…but….we have a decent Internet signal so there are lots of pictures to enjoy. Thanks again to Marcia and Silvia for sharing their photos. And thanks to our entire team for all of their hard work!!
SUNY Broome Health for Haiti 