25351: Wharram - news - Making a difference in the world (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

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



 Friday, June 10, 2005

Making a difference in the world

With only $30 U.S., Mary Kimsey Tacy saved a boy's life on an island off the
coast of Haiti. She is now dedicated to helping the people of La Gonave.

By Tarryl Jackson/staff
tjackson@newsleader.com


Courtesy of Mary Kimsey Tacy


HARRISONBURG ? On a trip in La Gonave, Haiti, last May, James Madison
University Professor Mary Kimsey Tacy took a horrendous two-hour drive to
Wesleyan Hospital to save a 10-month-old boy's life.

The child suffered from malaria and dehydration and was on the verge of
death.

To save his life, Tacy paid 30 American dollars.

"Now I get to hold him every time I go back there," Tacy said.

Situations like these have inspired Tacy to help La Gonave, an island that
lacks proper drinking water, food, electricity and medical care.

On a trip to La Gonave in March 2003, Tacy asked more than 50 families what
the people needed the most.

"The number one answer was they needed a doctor," Tacy said.

The people of La Gonave were surprised when Tacy came back to help solve
their problems.

"They said 'Nobody ever comes back,'" Tacy said. "To me, it was the ultimate
challenge."

Tacy took the challenge further by becoming director of International
Partnership For La Gonave, a nonprofit organization who has been working to
improve the conditions of La Gonave.

"It takes so little on our part to make a huge difference in their lives,"
Tacy said.

One of the organization's goals is to establish on-going medical care at
Bob's Clinic, named after a contributor, in Pointe-a-Raquette on La Gonave,
Haiti.

The clinic's Cuban doctors were forced to leave Haiti after the country's
president, Jean-Bertrand Aristide, was removed from office in February 2004.

Tacy said the Haitian government was not able to negotiate with the Cuban
government to develop a plan to have the Cubans stay.

The clinic, which helps supply healthcare for the approximately 100,000
people on La Gonave, was left with no doctors.

The clinic has since hired a doctor and a nurse to run the facility.

"There has been a tremendous improvement on the lives of the people," said
Linda Kofledt, parishioner at St. Francis Catholic Church in Staunton.

International Partnership is raising money to install electricity and
running water, and to buy food and medications for the clinic.

Tacy's students have developed a plan to electrify the clinic with solar
power for their senior project.

A story about a woman named TiMangou inspired Kofledt and others to get
involved with the La Gonave project.

TiMangou was referred to as "crazy lady" by many of the island's people
because of her psychiatric problems.

She would walk around in the night and caused disturbance.

The island did not have any psychiatric care or any way to help the woman,
so she was chained to a log for 14 years.

"It broke my heart to see her like this," Tacy said. "She wanted to die."

The woman was unchained a few months ago and is now taking medication,
attending church, and living in her house again.

Harrisonburg resident Ben Melpon helped fix wells on the island with
volunteers from the Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Harrisonburg.

"I enjoy doing these things, and I thought I could be of service," Melpon
said.

Melpon said many of the wells were not operating because of lack of care.

The volunteers jacked old water pumps out of the wells and someone was hired
to maintain the wells for the long term.

Melpon said many of the problems in Haiti are part of a chain reaction. For
example, repair tools, like nails and bolts, are not available because there
are no stores. There are no stores because there is no economy.

"Haiti needs everything," Melpon said. "Name it, and they don't have it."

Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church recently helped install a solar energy
system so members can communicate with the Haitian people through the
Internet.

The churches are looking for grant money to do more with the water project.

More than $100,000 has been raised for the La Gonave project over the past
two years.

"I feel a greater sense of purpose," Tacy said. "Every moment in Haiti is an
adventure."

Originally published June 10, 2005


Copyright ©2005 The News Leader.