Day 4 - March 1st

This morning started out with a delightful breakfast of the Haitian version of Froot Loops cereal along with an array of real fruit and buttered toast. The juice we typically have at breakfast is squeezed from a fruit that is the hybrid cross of an orange and a lemon. This cross is a complex process carried out by the expert gardener, Levy, a towering 6' 5", delightful Haitian man. After an early breakfast, Uncle Ian and I picked up a young Haitian woman interested in the youth malnutrition project in and around Deschapelles along with a high school student, Stephanie. The experienced driver, Lionel, guided us up to the dispensary in Tienne, navigating the ill-maintained mountain roads with expertise and carefulness.

One of the most prevalent health issues in haiti is the malnourishment of children, especially in mountain villages such as Tienne. Malnourishment results in stunted growth that will affect the child for the rest of their life. Many older people, even to the age of 70, are far underweight partly because of the malnourishment they received as a child, which is evident in 120-pound grown men.

Not only is a lack of necessary nutrients an issue, but the level difficulty to access clean water is extremely high, initiating a distribution of purifying tablets to each dispensary. These tablets are intended to reach the households, encouraging the consumption of completely clean water among all communities.

One household we visited had a child who was unable to walk or stand for an extended period of time due to a developmental illness, attributed in this situation to genetics. Illness aside, it was apparent that this family was determined to provide for the child everything it needed, even if that meant that each individual would end up sacrificing a portion of the minimal resources they possessed. This willingness to ensure the well-being of family despite the lack of resources is an intangible value that holds true throughout families in Haiti. Another family we visited along the way had two parents, neither of which had attended school, and two children, both of whom were attending school. The mother spoke about her determination to provide her children with what she never had, an act worthy of some consistency in life. Unfortunately, impoverished Haitians do not receive consistency and assuredness in life most of the time, and still the spirit to move forward and provide consistency for each other remains, giving hope to communities like Tienne.