St. Clare’s Support for Haiti Outreach Mission
St. Clare’s support and involvement in the Haiti Outreach Mission (HOM) has been a major factor in the improved medical and educational resources in Mirebalais during the past six years. Donations of medical supplies, participation in mission trips, and prayers for our friends in Haiti are critical contributions to sustaining this ministry.
The Seventh Annual Haiti Gala - Caribbean Feast will take place on October 2, 2010, and promises to be a lively and wonderful fundraising event for the Haiti Outreach Mission. It features an authentic Caribbean-style meal, silent auction, live auction, raffle, and dancing to exuberant steelband and calypso music. We look forward to spending time with our friends within and encircling St. Clare’s in the activities of this event, knowing our participation helps provide sustaining support to the people of Mirebalais.
Please look in your mail for an invitation to the dinner, or stop by the Haiti table at St. Clare’s on Sundays in September. The Haiti Gala truly won’t be the same without you!
In addition to the dinner, there are two important ways to contribute to this event:
- Silent auction: Many wonderful items will be offered for auction at the event. We are currently looking for donations. Please see Haiti Gala Silent Auction for more information.
- Wine auction: If you enjoy wine or have friends who do, consider bidding on wine to benefit the people of Haiti. Please see Haiti Gala Wine Auction for more information.
HOM visit to Mirebalais in March 2010
The Haiti Outreach Mission (HOM), begun in 1998, is an ecumenical lay mission group dedicated to helping the people, especially the children, of Mirebalais, Haiti and to educating people in the U.S. about this devastated country. HOM receives primary support from several churches (including Episcopal, Catholic, and Baptist) and partners with two churches in Mirebalais, St. Louis Catholic and St. Pierre Episcopal, which provide a base of operation and are accountable for the goods and services HOM provides.
St. Clare’s has been supporting HOM since 2004. Jim Schairbaum, St. Clare’s HOM co-liaison, first visited Mirebalais in 2004. Here is part of his report about the March 2010 visit by a 35-member HOM team, two months after the January 2010 earthquake that devastated nearby Port-au-Prince:
(Jim’s report) Through its commitment to HOM, St. Clare‘s helps sustain the ongoing operation of the clinic, the full-time physician and dentist, the 50 children at the orphanage and various capital improvement projects like the St. Pierre school support pillars and the new water purification system at the orphanage. Most of St. Clare‘s financial support comes from the Caribbean Feast.
During the March 2010 visit, work included the following activities:
- The St. Pierre Clinic, which operates normally with a full-time physician and dentist, was augmented with several doctors, nurses and a dentist, who saw nearly 1,500 patients.
- Simultaneously, 3 doctors and several nurses traveled to three remote locations in the countryside with a mobile medical clinic. They saw nearly 600 patients during the week.
- A dental hygiene and fluoride team provided toothbrushes/toothpaste, a lesson in oral hygiene, and a fluoride treatment to nearly 1,700 area school children, including 430 children outside Mirebalais.
- An anti-parasite medication was also given to all these children, and all were checked and treated for skin lesions and major medical needs as necessary.
Water purification system at orphanage
- A construction team installed new light protection fixtures at St. Blase Orphanage, revamped the new water system at the orphanage (including adding an ozonater), rewired St. Pierre school (800 students) so that reliable power is available, cleaned and streamlined the water system at St. Pierre clinic, and evaluated local conditions for future projects.
- A fiber optics cable between the clinic and St. Pierre school was installed to enable access to the internet from the clinic
It was apparent from the increase in school enrollment (about 15%) that a substantial number of earthquake victims had come to Mirebalais for food and shelter. Local residents estimated this influx to be in the neighborhood of 15,000-20,000 people. However, there was little or no evidence of ―tent cities or other population overflow, perhaps indicating that these people have found refuge with friends and relatives.
Everyone returned home safe and sound Friday, thankful for the opportunity to share time and resources with our brothers and sisters in Mirebalais, and with gratitude for the lessons learned through our relationships in Mirebalais.
St. Blasé orphanage
Since the trip, funds have been released to construct reinforcement pillars for the second story of St. Pierre School, and to reconstruct the perimeter walls of the St. Pierre rectory that have eroded away from the many storms over the last several years. A small HOM team is expected to travel to Mirebalais to review this work and assess operations at the clinic and orphanage.
(For Jim’s complete report, please see the August 2010 St. Clarian newsletter.)
