Wòch nan dlo pa konn doulè wòch nan soley./The stone in the water does not know the pain of the stone in the sun. – Haitian Proverb

This is the third post from my recent trip to Haiti with a small delegation from St. Gabriel the Archangel. The first post was an introduction, which can be found here. This is my third trip to Haiti, having traveled there in 2007 and 2009. A post about those trips can be found here. The second post in this five part series is about the school at St. Anne and it can be found here. This post is about the St. Anne clinic, which is across the street from the church.

During the weeks before we left for our trip on January 25, we had placed boxes in the vestibule at St. Gabriel to collect medical supply donations. The Haiti ministry committee met a couple of nights ahead of the trip to pack the donations in suitcases. The donations filled four extra large suitcases.

Of course when we got to the airport, we realized three of them were overweight, so we had to remove items and place them in a fold up suitcase someone had brought for this purpose. Eventually, we redistributed everything and they were all under 50 pounds, ready for flight. We had some concerns about customs in Haiti, but they all made it through with contents in tact as we left the airport in Port-au-Prince.

After spending Friday morning touring the school, we brought the bags across the street to the clinic and opened them on the floor of the director’s office.

Once opened, we worked with the clinic director to sort the items by type: bandages, analgesics, ointments, etc. in corners on the floor.

Once sorted, we carried them by the armload to the storage closet and the director and Dany put them away by type:

After everything was put away, we had lots of soap and toothbrushes left, so we put them in brown lunch bags and distributed them to the people in the waiting room of the clinic.

With these “tasks” completed, Pére Didier and the clinic director gave us a tour of the small facility.

The clinic sees about fifty people each day, whether for initial treatment or follow up. There are small apartments where the doctor, nurse, and director stay on the premises. Recently they have opened one of the apartments up to create a recovery area. They hope to add more beds. This could be a project St. Gabriel might explore – salvaging hospital beds and shipping them to Haiti.

From its location across the street from the church and school, the view of the surrounding area encompasses street traffic and the mountains.

Following the afternoon at the clinic, we went for a ride to Les Cayes, a trip I’ll write about in the final posting in this five part series. Upon our return from Les Cayes later that night, we attended an Adoration with Pére Didier in the church. You can read about that in my next post about the church and chapels. Stay tuned…