Thoughts & News During the Covid-19 Pandemic
Dear friends,
I hope this finds you and your families safe, well, and healthy in every way. I've received a number of messages from Petit Trou over the past few days, and though they were sent to me, they are intended for all of you. Nurse Dorceley, Dr. Rodrigue, Rica, Darline, Patrick, Micheline, Father Luc, and Guilot have all sent their thoughts and prayers.
We try not to flood our supporter email list with too much info or too many emails, but it's important to keep you informed on what's happening in Haiti, and also on how we are evolving, adjusting, and planning here in Colorado. This is true now more than ever.
People in Haiti are terrified about what Coronavirus may mean there, and in truth, so am I. When I lived in Haiti I managed a cholera treatment center that saw 25,000 patients in the first year. It was a nightmare.
While the details and pathology of Coronavirus are very different from cholera, the weakness of the health system, the inability for meaningful surveillance, and the extreme vulnerability of the population are the same. Schools and factories are closed and people are uncertain about what comes next. Very few trust in the government even in the most basic way. It is hard to know how this will resolve itself.
Even before the virus, Haiti's economy was projected to shrink this year, and the political and security situation remain troubling. The director of a major hospital in Port-au-Prince was recently kidnapped. The local currency continues to lose value. Food insecurity is rampant - before the crisis, projections were that 4 million people would go hungry in 2020. I don't share this because things are hopeless - they are not. I share it to be honest about what Haiti will face in the coming months.
In Petit Trou the virus will be an enormous challenge in every imaginable way. St. Paul's School is currently closed, as are all schools, and folks seem to be waiting for word from the authorities on how to proceed. As of right now the recommendations in Haiti are similar to here. As you know, the idea of flattening the curve is to avoid overwhelming the health system. Sadly, in Haiti this has limited relevance. There are roughly 50 ICU beds in the entire country - there is no system to overwhelm. Social distancing is understandably being recommended as well, but as you know, this requires the ability to stock up and stay in. Few in Haiti have the means to do this.
We have sent funding to the clinic to purchase protective gear and large stocks of Chlorox, soap, and hand sanitizer, and we are working with our artisan friends in Petit Trou to support the sewing of masks. The sewing effort is being coordinated with like-minded groups in Haiti and we are ensuring that it’s carried out according to best practices and current research.
CHP's goals for 2020 are now very simple:
Continue to fund our basic commitments and salaries in Haiti - at St. Paul's, at the clinic, in agriculture, and in girls' empowerment. This is not the time to lay people off.
Find ways to help the community stay healthy, mostly through our long-term relationships at the clinic, but also by engaging the community at St. Paul's, the farmers we work with, the girls' empowerment mentors, and more.
Third, and critically, we need to stay connected to you, and help you stay connected to Haiti, in whatever way is possible. It’s true that we will very soon be in urgent need of funding, but this bullet point is not about money. It’s about connection and community. We will be proactively seeking ways to stay connected with you. While we know it’s a challenging and precarious moment for everyone, we simply can’t allow our family in Haiti to recede from our consciousness.
Thirty years in community; thirty years affirming our shared membership in one human family - this is the strongest foundation I can imagine in attempting to traverse this season together.
I am grateful to all of you who helped forge our bond with Petit Trou over the years, and we will continue to do all we can to honor that history and build upon it, through good times and bad.
With gratitude,
Wynn Walent
Executive Director
