Mountains Beyond Mountains

It’s been over a week since I returned from Haiti. No matter how many international trips I take, I think it will always take some time to process each one when I return home. Those who have been on service trips know what I’m talking about...it’s not so easy to answer the question, “how was your trip?”

During our team debrief they talked about preparing a 30-second, 3-minute, and 30-minute answer to that question. Some people don’t really want all the details; some do.

So, the 30-second version is we had a great trip as a team unified around our common purpose. We accomplished our team goals. Our team consisted of 16 member, mostly from Iowa, but also including Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Florida. No team member was seriously sick. We held 4 days of clinic and saw around 180 patients. Our dentist pulled approximately 120 teeth. It was hot, we sweat a ton, and the country was naturally beautiful.

Now for the 3-minute version.

Saturday, October 7, 2017

We drove to Chicago the previous night and stopped at Giordano’s for pizza. Spent the night at a hotel and headed out to the airport early for our flight to Port-au-Prince via Ft. Lauderdale. Arrived in Port-au-Prince, cleared customs, and loaded up in our team’s bus for the trek to the guest house in Williamson.

Team photo at Grace Community Church
prior to heading to Chicago

Somewhere over the Caribbean

Driving in Port-au-Prince toward our guest house
with the setting sun

Our guest house

Sunday, October 8, 2017

We attended a local church, where worship and preaching were in Creole, and where both national members and ex-pats attend. After church, we headed to a hotel where they made us lunch, and then we visited with the sponsor kids before heading to the clinic site.

Church on Sunday morning

Lunch at a hotel restaurant. Pretty sure they
literally had to go to market while we waited in
order to prepare our meals.

Hanging out at the guesthouse prior to meeting the kids.

Visiting the sewing center and meeting sponsored kids

Touring the clinic before the week's work begins

Monday, October 9, 2017

The week started with clinic at Williamson. We were the first team in the new building so we kicked off the excitement with a dedication ceremony and ribbon cutting. Our “limit” was 50 patients for the day, which quickly become more. As I was one of four providers who routinely sees kids in practice, I ended up seeing a ton of kids during the week, which was fine by me since I love kids! During the week, our youngest was patient was 5 days old and our oldest patient was over 100 years.

How we traveled to the clinic every day.

Dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony

The clinic from a distance

A four-person visit, one of them was 5 days old!

Tuesday, October 10, 2017

Day #2 at Williamson. The morning and early afternoon were busy again; mid-afternoon four of us snuck out of clinic to attend the women's conference hosted for women from various churches in the area. We were able to meet some of the women and one of the families next door where we hung out until our driver arrived to take us back to the guesthouse.

The Williamson clinic - City on a Hill

The women's conference on Tuesday evening

Bible stories with culturally-relevant
illustrations. Made me smile.

Evening trek to the well for water prior to a rain storm

Rainbow viewed from the 2nd balcony at the
guesthouse after the evening showers

Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Our day “off” from clinic. Started by visiting the goat herds (one of the World Wide Village community initiatives), loved on some baby goats, and then separated into groups for our walk to meet the surrounding neighbors, learn about their lives, and pray with them. Next we were able to see some sights in the neighboring town, Luly: fishing village and the Luly school (sponsored by WWV). Our afternoon was spent eating lunch by a pool near the Caribbean ocean, baptizing three team members in the ocean, and swimming.

Baby goat!

The fishing village

Wahoo Bay and the Caribbean

Thursday, October 12, 2017

We only had one clinic in Luly. It was held at the Salvation Army school in an outside pavilion with cemented tables and benches, which made the clinic logistically tricky. Luly is a spiritually darker (and wealthier) town than Williamson and this was reflected in many of the patients our team encountered. Many were there only for medications and had no interest in letting us get to know them and their stories. However, there were some interesting moments of the day including stitching up a chin laceration on one of the school girls who fell and was injured that morning. This clinic was the longest one of the week, ending two hours later than the others.

Our dentist joking around with his assistant
prior to seeing patients

The Luly clinic at the Salvation Army School

Friday, October 13, 2017
Finished out our week of clinic at Williamson. The line for dental extractions was ridiculously long, and our dentist and his assistant were troopers - they removed approximately 120 teeth throughout the week. For clinic, we capped our patient number at 30 for the day as we ended earlier to sort through and pack supplies prior to heading out of the country for the next 6 months.

Some of our interpreters for the week

This little girl looked like a regular diva :)

Saturday, October 14, 2017

Left the guesthouse at 5:15 AM and drove to the Port-au-Prince airport where we cleared security, enjoyed breakfast from the cafe, and boarded our flight after a 1.5 hour delayed boarding time. Flew through Miami, where we grabbed lunch, boarded our plane, sat for 30-45 minutes, de-boarded our plane due to mechanical failure, and re-boarded a different plane an hour later. Finally arrived in Chicago, where we grabbed our bags, shuttled back to the hotel, and started our 3.5 hours drive back to Chicago.

Team photo at the Port-au-Prince airport

You may be wondering what we did besides clinics. Well, our evenings were spent getting to know each other, laughing, talking, sharing life. Our team would debrief about the day night before worship, devotionals, and break-out sessions. We also met with our team prayer partner daily to discuss challenges, thoughts, and experiences during our trip.

Morning view from the guesthouse

After-clinic, before-dinner relaxation time on the balcony

Colorful dinners!

Love the joy and laughter in this photo
of our team at dinner

Devotional time on the 3rd floor balcony

Devotional time

So, that’s the week in brief. If you want to know the 30-minute version, let’s get together for lunch sometime.