News : Vinton area residents help Haitians recover from earthquake

Vinton residents Leo Wobeter, Dixie Fank, J.R. Schemmel and Sr. Mary Hargrafen traveled to Haiti.

A group of children whom the Iowan helped pose for a camera earlier this month.

The devastation of the earthquake can still be seen throughout Haiti; rebuilding is done by hand.

Poverty and the palace: Iowans hope to improve Haiti through education.

(Editor’s note: For several years, many volunteers from the St. Mary’s parish in Vinton have been working to help people – particularly children – in Haiti to overcome their poverty. The long-term goal says Vinton resident Leo Wobeter, is to give the children of Haiti the education they need to lift themselves out of poverty. The group also works to provide immediate needs, including medical care. Along with Woboter, Vinton area residents J.R. Schemmel, Dixie Fank and Sister Mary Hargrafen recently completed their annual trip to Haiti, where they helped staff a medical and dental clinic for the children in several homes there. They also saw firsthand the devastation that remains from the earthquake that hit Port Au Prince more than a year ago. Below is a report from Leo Wobeter, who told Vinton Today that he went on the trip in part to help tell the story.)

By Leo Wobeter

Our group consisted of 14 individuals, which included two medical doctors, two dentists, dental assistants, nurses and support people. People on the team from the Vinton area were Sr. Mary Hargrafen, JR Schemmel, Dixie Fank and Leo Wobeter. The team was organized under the joint Haiti Committee of St. Mary's Church in Vinton and All Saints Church in Cedar Rapids. These churches adopted a sister parish located in Belle Fontaine, Haitiin 2000, and have visited Haiti annually.

We flew out of Cedar Rapidsand arrived in Port au Prince, via Dallas/Ft. Worth and Ft.Lauderdaleon Jan. 10. We spent the first night at Wings of Hope, a children's home which is in the Port au Prince area before leaving for Trinity House, a home for boys in Jacmel, Haiti. Jacmel is located on the southern shoreof Haiti. A medical and dental clinic was held at Trinity House for the 25 boys who reside there and for the 100 children who attend Lekol Sen Trinite, a free school for the poorest of the poor children in Jacmel. In addition, staff and families of the children were also seen. As part of the clinic, many decayed teeth were pulled, de-worming medication was administered as well as antibiotics and other medications. A similar clinic was later held at Wings of Hope for the disabled children who reside at that facility and for the Haitian staff. On a free afternoon we visited the underground museum in Port au Prince which gave a history of the island. We were also able to see the anchor from Christopher Columbus' ship the Santa Maria, which had sunk just off the coast of present day Haiti.

Haiti has only started to recover from the earthquake which occurred on 1-12-10. We learned that only 5 % of the damaged and destroyed buildings are in the process of being rebuilt. We saw very little heavy equipment. Most of the reconstruction effort is being done by hand. At St. Joseph's Home for boys, volunteers and Haitian workers are digging a new foundation for the destroyed portion of the home, using picks and shovels and then removing the dirt and rocks using 5-gallon buckets which are connected to ropes and hoisted out of the foundation trenches. The country continues to experience extreme poverty. The unemployment rate is estimated to be 80%. The crowded streets are lined with sidewalk stalls where Haitians sell such things as food, clothes and shoes, to name a few. The streets are lined with garbage and the smell of diesel fumes is everywhere. Taxis called Tap Taps are seen everywhere. The Tap Taps are small pickup trucks which have a roof over the truck bed with 2 rows of benches in the back and normally there are 12 people sandwiched in and many times several people hanging on the back as they swerve through the heavy traffic. We noticed numerous tent cities throughout the Port au Prince area and extending out into the rural areas. We drove through Leogane, the epicenter of the earthquake where the roads still have large cracks from the earthquake.

A couple individuals on the team had the opportunity to visit a tent city. Those living in the tents have been there for an entire year after their homes were destroyed by the earthquake. We were told there are no concrete plans for these people to move into more permanent homes in the foreseeable future. In spite of all the hardships the Haitian people have experienced from the extreme poverty, hurricanes, the earthquake and now the cholera epidemic, they continue to cope and make the best of their situations. Time after time, when the tent city residents were asked about their view of the future, they replied their hope and trust was with God. They are a deeply spiritual people and we could sense a spirit of hope among the Haitian people.

Out in the rural areas we visited, we saw cholera clinics which consisted of tents and medical staff who were equipped with IV's and medications. The people in Belle Fontaine, which is where our adopted parish is located, appeared to be well educated about the dangers of cholera and were washing their hands in bleach solutions. An old building is being restored to make a bakery; a place for food and employment. It was encouraging to see a Spanish doctor and a nurse had established a clinic in Belle Fontaine and have architect plans for building a hospital. And, the road to Belle Fontaine continues to be improved by the local villagers, although the condition of the road continues to be indescribable. For example, it took over 2 ½ hours by 4 wheel drive vehicle, to travel 15 milesto our adopted parish.

When speaking to the Haitians (through an interpreter) they said that either of the two front runner candidates seem like a good choice for President.

Wobeter and his group are available for presentations for other churches or organizations who would like to learn more about the efforts of Iowans to help in Haiti. Call Wobeter at 472-5161 for more information. In addition to the annual mission trips, the Iowa parishes stay connected to the churches in Haiti throughout the year through a parish twinning program.