Haiti – October Update

In October, a Haitian team and I worked to get official papers and visas in order. We hope to offer surgery to some Haitian children (see photos) who are badly affected with severe bilateral cleft lip palates. This is a particularly severe form of cleft palate that almost completely distorts the face.
We are looking for $8,500 for patient transportation and insurance papers. The surgeries and aftercare will be done completely free. I plan to assist the surgeries and follow-up with patients once I’m back in Belgium. Dr. Luc Cesteleyn, a good friend and famous Belgian cranial-facial and maxillofacial surgeon has offered to help us with this. The children will be in Belgium about 3 weeks to guarantee complete recovery. The Hospital infrastructure of Haiti is such that it has proved impossible to do the surgeries in Haiti. It’s a miracle that these children are still alive. The least dysphagia (difficulty swallowing) could have easily resulted in death for these precious children.  Our DM clinic is now running at full speed in the town of Carrefour, Haiti. We were able to save the life of Moyuste Schamaica, a baby that was severely burned (see picture).

There is still much work to be done in the Haitian countryside. Haitian pastors in the poorest areas have cried out for help as new outbreaks have occurred almost everywhere. This was confirmed just last week by Doctors Without Borders. At this time, as many as 465,000 Haitians have been infected with cholera. Many of the weakest are usually the first victims of such deadly diseases. They do not have the strength to fight such a disease through their own resistance.

Our team is committed to the continued fight against this and many other diseases. Too little is done by the government in terms of treatment and prevention. At the same time, many international health care organizations who were active in bringing clean water and sanitation have withdrawn.

Haiti seems like an island of “lost” children. Wherever you go you find children, often orphans who are lost and don’t have access to an orphanage. We have the properties but are in need of funds to start building. One would be in Akin near Les Cayes and the other in the mountains of the Artibonite region where the cholera first broke out. We will build as God provides.

Besides the near starvation conditions; the children are exposed to cholera, malaria, typhoid, parasites and a whole range of tropical diseases.  With the rainy season, the diseases have been expanding enormously.