07-13-2010

Traveling across country as I have done many times before, I felt nervous yet excited.  I have wanted to go on a medical mission for years.  It finally came together, and Haiti seemed to be the right choice.  However, I was not prepared for the poverty and destruction that I witnessed.  Garbage everywhere, crumpled buildings and masses of people.  Haiti is the poorest country in the Western hemisphere and people are crammed in everywhere.  The acres of tent cities are a reality as housing is questionable at best and fear still runs high.

I was working with two other physicians and nurse practitioner Terry Zahniser, as well as support people.  We partnered with a local church and went outside the city to two remote villages.  We saw a lot of people, but probably only provided a band-aid to the real problems of malnutrition and infectious disease.  There has been a lot of relief money poured into Haiti, yet as one missionary said, "Where is it?"  Mercy and Justice do not exist for these people.  Yet the majority of Haitians we met were warm, friendly and still with hope.  On the last day we had the opportunity to work at an orphanage and then at a field hospital set up by the University of Miami.  Once again - there were more resources, yet sometimes very little we can do in the "big picture."

As I left Haiti, my wife asked me over the phone if I felt this would make a difference in someone's life?  I told her ... in mine.