Guess who's staying in Haiti!!!

My initial plan regarding my trip to Haiti was to come for three months. I knew quickly that I would by no means be able to leave Haiti at the end of the allotted time. So quickly I grew to love everything about this beautiful country, including the people, the way of life and the amazing stories of perseverance and survival I saw day in and day out in the clinic. I began to send out emails to family and friends in order to secure some donations for my living expenses here in Haiti, which by American standards are probably what a person would make in less than one week. Unfortunately in this economy most people were unable to donate and the majority of my friends are fresh out of school, starting families or trying to get on their own two feet. It quickly became apparent that I might not be able to extend my stay as time was running out for me to collect donations and I knew that without them, I would be unable to pay my bills, however small.

Then as if it were meant to be, raw food chef Melissa Chappell came to MBH and began her volunteer work. Not only is she an amazing chef but a savvy business woman with a heart of gold. After seeing the work we do here and how passionate about it I am, she linked me up with several of her friends from Utah who have decided to sponsor me to stay in Haiti for another 6 months!! I am a firm believer in the fact that things will work out as they are meant to be however for a moment I was nervous that my desires to stay in Haiti would be limited by my least favorite rate limiting factor, money. I cannot begin to describe how happy and thankful I am to all the donors as well as how much it makes my heart happy to see that there are people in the world who are willing to step back from their lives for a moment and see the bigger picture. Everything we do to help those in need is not simply for them, it is for us all and for the greater good of the world we live in.

Thank you to all who helped and know that your donations are going directly towards providing patient care in Haiti. One more Physician on staff can increase the patient load hugely, we can now continue to see over 100 patients per week, teach more educational classes and add on more clinic days! I will try and blog about more patient cases with pictures and stories so you all can see just what is going on here at the MBH clinic…all contingent on power that is ;)