September, 2008
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The BIG DAY is coming soon! The clinic building is a reality. The dedication of Clinique Espérance et Vie is set for November 1, 2008. This is All Saint's Day. I cannot think of a more fitting time for this grand event. So many Saints have gone before us giving us the vision for health care in Haiti. Our motto for the entire Terrier Rouge project has always been, Rêvez grande. Dream big. Pere Bruno and I starting dreaming some 20 years ago about a clinic and look what happened. Dreams became reality. The Lord has provided us with many people who have worked tirelessly on this clinic. Gifts of sacrifice and love are in every stone. Haitians built the entire building. This has provided jobs for many in the village. A Haitian engineer has worked tirelessly with an American architect and me. Groups have come to paint, medical students have worked all summer on a hand-washing project, doctors, physical therapists, and midwives have visited. I would like to share a story with you from two Rice University students, Meagan Barry and Tiffany Yeh: 
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Barry, a biosciences major, graduated last month. Yeh, a cognitive sciences major, will be a senior in the fall. In Terrier Rouge, Barry and Yeh implemented a health-education program for elementary students at the St. Barthélemy School in the town of Terrier Rouge. They interacted with 450 children in classes ranging from kindergarten through fifth grade. Using in-class lessons and homework, Barry and Yeh taught basic hygiene and health, such as how diseases like dysentery are transmitted, as well as how common practices like hand-washing can prevent infection. In a May 30 blog entry, Barry described a class- room experiment in which she and Yeh used a micro- scope connected to a laptop computer to show the children the many germs in water from a muddy puddle. The children had to compare the dirty water to a sample of purified water. Later that afternoon, the Rice students met a man who excitedly thanked them for their work. His children attend the school, and they had already told him about the morning's lesson. "Tiffany and I were so happy that the children were sharing their experiences with their parents and that they understood the purpose of the experiments!" Barry wrote. |