Dear friends,
We thank you so much for your ongoing support of Sante Total. The situation in Haiti continues to be very difficult despite international efforts to address the situation. Our Haitian partners Gaby, Berteau, and so many others, are courageously struggling on to improve their community and to help people despite the terrible conditions.
Fuel is still expensive and scarce, making it difficult to transport food and vital supplies from one part of the country to the other. This is making it difficult to get anything done at the clinic or any other projects, as you can imagine. Berteau said that many families don’t have enough food and can only afford to eat a small amount once a day, and the UN confirms that Haiti faces tremendous food insecurity.
Despite the difficulties, people go to work and to church, kids go to school, and life goes on in Jacsonville. Progress is slower than we hoped it would be, but Sante Total is doing our best to continue our work in the community. We obtained another School Lunch grant thanks to the ongoing support of St. Thomas of Villanova Parish which enables us to provide one healthy meal a day to all the school kids every day of the year. All the students we have supported have graduated and are working on projects in Jacsonville and helping to get the clinic up and running.
Gaby sends his greeting to all, saying “Hi guys. We still have a lot of problems in Haiti, but we continue to work hard. The gangsters are still in charge in the capital which makes life difficult. There are not enough Kenyans to control the situation, and we need more help. We don’t really have a government, and they don’t care about the poor people. Anyway, we try to do our best. The kids in school are learning better and the school is getting a good reputation. We have over 200 kids in the school this year. The security booth at the gate to the school is finished as is the surrounding wall and the school is safer. We also now have solar panels and electricity and laptops at the school which has made a huge difference for the teachers. We still have hope, another tomorrow is possible. Thank you for the support Sante Total is giving for the community. It is a bright spot during a very difficult time.”
Thank you so much from the bottom of our hearts! Please continue to support our efforts to help the conditions in Haiti improve!
Barbara Weis, MD MPHTM
Project updates:
COVID and cholera updates: Tracking of COVID cases was stopped in 2024 but like other parts of the world, it is still present in the country though it does not seem to be causing significant deaths. Only approximately 4% of the population has been vaccinated. Cholera is on the rise in Port au Prince again and has affected over 3000 people and caused 53 deaths this year, mostly in Port au Prince. There are no cases in Jacsonville so far be if it begins to spread, we may need to launch another cholera prevention program.
Clinic construction update: We have now created an “Open the Clinic” team consisting of Gaby and all or our recent graduates to address barriers that need to be overcome for us to open. Most of the furniture from the grant supported by the Rotary of Ellicott City is finished and just needs to be delivered. The microscope, centrifuge, computers, and other necessary items for the clinic are now in the possession of BicoVensen, the medical student we have been supporting in the Dominican Republic. He will transport everything to the clinic when the security measures necessary to keep it safe have been completed. Gaby has located a local physician who is willing to work at the clinic one day a week and we are hoping to start this as soon as the furniture arrives. Our hope is that with this team in place, we will be able to move forward rapidly and get the clinic open as soon as possible.
In the meanwhile, we have continued to support families in Jacsonville who need help with their medical bills and medications.
Student scholarships:
Ketteline has finished her nursing degree and has been working as a nurse at the school. In addition, she provides screening blood pressure clinics for patients. As soon as we have a physician to work in the clinic, she will spend some days helping there.
Maisson has completed his degree in administration at the university and is doing well despite the chaos. He is now a member of the “Opening team.”
Bicovensen completed his final year of med school in the DR and has passed all the exams necessary for him to practice in the DR. He now needs to complete a year of service which he owes the government for his medical school training. He is also completing an Ultrasound course so that he can use this technique in the clinic. He has been invaluable as a leading member of the “Opening Team.”
Myrbensly (Ben-Ben) graduated from pharmacy school on October 8th 2023 but he has not been able to find a job yet. He spent several weeks organizing all the medications and equipment we left in the storeroom in Jacsonville and is now working as a member of the “Opening Team” to organize the medications, tests and pharmacy supplies we will need to open the clinic pharmacy.
Ben Ben said: Thank you for all you did, all you are doing for me and all you will do for me. You are in my heart.
School partnership:
The school is growing dramatically, and attendance has almost doubled: from 120 students to over 200 this year. Gaby says this is because they have developed a good reputation, and parents are choosing to send their children there now. They have re-opened the middle school which was closed several years ago due to a teacher shortage. We have solidified our partnership with the team that helps raise funds for the school and will continue to collaborate. The solar panel project for the school has been completed as have the mini libraries for each classroom. Gaby is excited that they will finally have electricity and can use computers!
We received a grant from the St. Thomas of Villanova Parish again this year that covers the school lunch program, which has received its delivery of food for the year. We have continued to extend the food program through the summer because there is so much food insecurity and the kids will now receive food all year. The food from HaitiOne, the organization we work with, is being supplemented with local food to make it “taste more like the Haitian food the kids are used to. Otherwise, they won’t eat it” per Gaby. The families are very grateful that their children receive at least one balanced meal a day.
Update, Berteau’s Group: Berteau continues to hold weekly meetings at CHEAHP, the center for the handicapped and aged. Food is more expensive, so we have increased support to $600 a month.
He also organized a huge Christmas party which was attended by almost 500 people last year and he predicts attendance of 500 this year. Per Berteau:” Here thing still the same. The women are suffering lots of violence. We still working hard to see if we have something change…we live in a dictatorship with no elections for over 10 years…things still not easy and this year our budget is for 500 people again and we need $10 for each one. Foods, drinks and kits to go home included as well as toys for the children. The only once a year those people have chance to taste a good life. Many many kids always be there too. I know life is not easy there but if some things you can do I will be appreciate.”
Donations for this project would help us to increase the amount of food we distribute to the elderly and disabled in the community.
New projects:
1. We hired Ben Ben and Garel, Gaby’s son, to clean out the trunks and suitcases of supplies we left in the storage room. Many of the medications expired in 2019, but they were able to salvage the equipment and some of the nonperishable items such as gauze pads, crutches, etc. They worked very hard and they both did an amazing job! We now have a full inventory of everything left in the boxes. It was especially helpful to have BenBen there since he is trained as a pharmacist so knew all the medications. He is also trained in the safe disposal of expired medications so we are thankful that the medications will be disposed of safely!
2. Berteau would like to start a small store in Jacsonville to provide easier access to staples like rice, potatoes, flour, pasta, canned mackerel, fruits and vegetables. Right now, many people have to walk an hour each way to the market and shops in Pignon if they run out of food because there is such a shortage of gas and it is so expensive. This is difficult for the older people and takes time away from the time they can spend working in their fields.
We need $3000 of seed money for this project, so if anyone is interested, please let us know!
3. We are expanding the school health clinic so that it will be stocked with basic supplies the school nurse needs to care for the children such as band-aids, gauze, alcohol, medications for pain and fever, etc.
4. Dr. Weis has worked with BicoVensen to organize a new Global Health trip to the Dominican Republic in December. During the time there, we will run a refugee clinic at a large Haitian church in Santiago de los Caballeros for Haitian refugees who often have difficulty accessing the public health clinics in the DR. We are hoping that these clinics will continue once a month with BicoVensen and his colleagues after we leave. Stay tuned for the results!
