25030: News - Wharram - Mission to Haiti an eye-opener for Lake Charles medical student (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Bruce Wharram <bruce.wharram@sev.org>

 Mission to Haiti an eye-opener for Lake Charles medical student

By ERIN KELLY

Petit Paradis is a rural village in the northwestern corner of Haiti. The
name means "little paradise," but the river is a toilet, washing machine,
bathtub and drinking fountain. Villagers live in homes made of sticks and
wear dog-tooth necklaces to ward off evil spirits.

Some crave the dirt as food.

"They're so anemic that they're craving the soil," Ben Williams, 25, said.
"They don't understand that they don't have iron in their diets, and that's
what they're actually craving."

Williams, a Lake Charles native, is a medical student at Saba University
School of Medicine in the Netherlands Antilles. He was in Haiti on both a
medical and spiritual mission.

Williams devoured books on Haiti to prepare himself for the trip.

"I thought I was prepared. I thought I understood the poverty of the
people," he said. "That was until I actually got there."

He and three other medical students landed in Port-au-Prince, Haiti's
capital, where attack helicopters guarded the airport and United Nations
aircraft buzzed overhead. They were immediately swarmed by thousands of
Haitians, who knew that "a pale face" likely meant food, medicine or other
necessities, Williams said.

He had to grip his bags with one hand and control the crowd with the other,
saying "Non, mesi; non, mesi!" "no thanks, no thanks!"

>From there, the group rode nine hours to Bouchan Patriate, Ka-Phillipe and
Petit Paradis. The potholes were "as deep as buses," Williams said. Once
they reached the villages, they treated cases that "would never be seen in
the United States."

One elderly woman came to the makeshift clinic because she claimed to be
possessed by an evil spirit. When the medical staff introduced her to the
pastor, she became combative and started swinging a stick at them.

The group also treated a year-old baby who burned her arm when she dipped it
into a pot of boiling water. The mother covered the burn with a paste made
of black beans and egg.

The most common ailments Williams treated were gastrointestinal. Most of the
patients had worms.

"I saw worms everywhere you could imagine," he said. "I saw worms in
people's eyes."

One woman had an unknown parasite traveling across her back.

The villagers have no concept of how lifestyle affects their health,
Williams said.

The Americans were only able to leave villagers with about two weeks' worth
of medicine. They also distributed toys, clothing, water and vitamins.

"When I left, I was ready to come back home, but I felt guilty for coming
back to what I have," Williams said.

"It's heartbreaking. They don't understand that, as human beings, they're
entitled to something better."