A group of 10 Alberta nurses and a doctor who went to Haiti to help people struggling with the recent earthquake have returned, filled with some hope and some frustration.

 

The Bridges of Hopes medical team included eight nurses from Lethbridge; two of which are Tina Wiebe and Jodie Nieboer.

“What inspired me to go back was the sense of urgency after the earthquake,” says Wiebe, who was on her second trip to Haiti this year, “There is still hope there after all the devastation.”

This was the first trip Nieboer has made to Haiti.

 “Now that I have been, I have a sense of urgency to go back. There’s so much to do there, but every effort is one step closer,” says Nieboer.

Wiebe and Nieboer say many illnesses the team treated were caused by vitamin deficiencies, especially in young children.

 They spoke of a young girl named Emmanuella who was losing her vision to a simply treatable vitamin A deficiency.

“It was amazing to be able to treat her,” says Nieboer, “It really makes a person realize how fortunate we are here.”

The team saw over 200 patients in mobile clinics set up in Jacmel and Chabin over their 10-day trip. They said some common problems were vitamin deficiencies, malnutrition, malaria, scabies, intestinal parasites and heart problems.

“The people there were so grateful to have any kind of help we could give,” says Nieboer. “Here we are continuously asking for more.”

Wiebe and Nieboer say it was also very discouraging that Haiti, one of the poorest nations on Earth, is just a short flight from Miami, Florida.

“It seems so weird that the disparity is so large. An hour flight to Haiti and you have one of the poorest countries in the world,” says Wiebe.

They said another difficulty the team encountered was seeing how Voodoo beliefs impacted some of the Haitian people they were treating.

“Some women are petrified that their babies’ fathers are casting curses on their children,” says Wiebe. “We can keep going from Canada and the United States to help, but what they really need is to come to know God. It’s voodoo that is really tearing the country apart.”

The team partnered with Lifeline Haiti, a Lethbridge organization founded by Bob Davisson.

He says voodoo, which was brought over hundreds of years ago from Africa, has dropped significantly in the last five years.

“There used to be 6000 voodoo priests registered in the south of Haiti and now there are less than 300,” says Davisson.

Since the earthquake, 300, 000 have come to know God and that the organization’s focus is to feed education and provide for the Haitian people according to Davisson.

“When people hear the truth, the truth sets them free,” he says.

“I have many voodoo stories of sacrifices which are illegal. . . I have heard none since the earthquake,” Davisson adds.

To read more about the Brides of Hope medical team visit their blog at www.hopenetworkenews.wordpress.com.

For more information on Lifeline Haiti visit www.lifelinehaiti.com.