Our January trip was a huge success! Here’s a look at our work and accomplishments from our week in Cite Soleil:
- Supported 2 cooking business ordering 40+ lunches daily
- Fed 40+ people daily
- Outfitted the clinic with:
- Another examination bed
- 1000+ condoms
- Children diapers
- Baby Bottles
- Over 300.00 worth of over the counter supplies/vitamins and medication
- Made beads for bracelets to be sold in Canada
- Hired 2 taptaps/drivers and 2 security personnel for transporting the 15 person dental brigade in and out of Cite Soleil
- Organized the safe and controlled space allowing 325+ people from 22 different zones inside Cite Soleil (and some people from outside Cite Soleil too) and of varying age (from as young as 4 years old and as old as 100!) Treatments included:
- 410 Tooth extractions
- 82 Fillings
- 127 Cleanings
- 10 people treated for existing infections
- Visited a local market that has been in motion for 1 year now
- Reunion with a family in Souterre and provided them with vitamins, baby care and financial support
- Made an agreement with a community leader to organize garbage bins to be placed at the end of our clinic drive way
- Supported a portion of the construction of a community Fwa – A Fwa is where vendors from all areas of Cite Soleil will gather together to sell their wares in February
- Hired a teacher who ran a 3 month dental english class for 7 translators. Food and drinks were provided in these classes for participants
- Provided a water distribution in two different areas of Cite Soleil
- Participated in 3 community gatherings
- Provided 3 families with sheets and blankets
- Hired 36 people
- Purchased a wheelbarrow for a young man to assist him in his business in turn for work on the Helping Haiti Community Centre property
- Renewed a motorcycle license for a young man to assist him in his business in turn for services at the Helping Haiti Clinic
- Live Art display for one of our donors
- Large cooking pot given to support a small business
- Met with the 6 young ladies who had started small business and are working towards their opportunity at a micro credit loan
- Met with our engineer to discuss expectations for the Helping Haiti Community Centre build
- Met with 4 community representatives from 3 different areas
- Established a plan for ensuring the continued sustainability of the clinic
- Filled 10 prescriptions for those in desperate need
- Took enough footage to create a new video for Helping Haiti to be uploaded on Youtube once its finished
- Conflict resolution and sparked growth/understanding with a large group of people trying to monopolize a service
- Invited one of the presidents from our Queen’s Helping Haiti chapter to be involved in every aspect of the trip. A better understand of the area where we work will allow her to guide the rest of the chapter through brainstorming workable programming.
Planning for July 2016 begins!
Thank you all for your encouragement, financial and non monetary support and donations. What a week!!
See the write-up our trip received from the Kingston Herald in the Press section of our website!