More posts soon...I promise!

I have been very busy with the start of school, Etc. but I have lots to post. For today, however I had to share this. This Dr. visited our Orphanage with the last missions trip.

A Journey Through the World's Most Miserable SlumWhat Next for Haiti's Cite Soleil?By Dr. JOHN CARROLL, MDOn February 7 I looked over the balcony rail from the second floorof our clinic in Cite Soleil. Five UN (MINUSTAH) tanks werepatrolling the streets directly below us and passing by slowly insingle file. Their guns were not aimed at the clinic like usual as Itook their picture. A TV cameraman from Channel 4 in London took along video of them as they passed and waved.Despite the friendly waves, two days later, in the early morninghours, 700 UN forces, mainly Brazilian, entered the slum and had afierce gun battle with a gang in the Boston region of Cite Soleil.The shooting lasted for hours. All the main roads into the Soleilwere blocked by tanks. People were allowed out on foot and were notallowed to return until late afternoon when the shooting hadstopped.The UN was successful in destroying a prominent gang leaders base inan area of Soleil known as Boston but was unsuccessful in capturingor killing him. Apparently one civilian was killed and two UNsoldiers were injured.The gangs in Soleil shot thousands of rounds of ammunition at theUN. The gangs have M-14's, 9 mm weapons, 38's, American-stylemachine guns, and hand grenades. I have seen these weapons up closeand personal and they appear even more menacing in the hands ofshirtless, 19-year-old young men, who are hungry and on the run-being hunted by UN forces. The UN tanks have 50 mm machine guns andon Friday they had a remote control airplane circling Soleil.Cite Soleil is considered one of the poorest and most dangerousslums in the world. The UN has peacekeeping forces in many parts ofthe world, but from what I understand, Haiti is the only countrywhere the UN has a peace keeping mission which has taken on heavilyarmed gangs.The shooting and war that is occurring in Soleil now is horrific.Hundreds of thousands of people are trapped inside this slum payinghomage to the gangs and their soldiers or are running from thebullets from the MINUSTAH tanks and automatic weapons. However, theviolence hurts the people of Soleil in so many other ways than justdeath and injury from bullets.Father Tom Hagan has a program here in Haiti called Hands Together.Father Tom has eight schools in Soleil, a medical clinic, and feeds10,000 children each day in this massive slum.On Friday, he was unable to enter Soleil in a vehicle and so hewalked in and was able to free up food for eight thousand peoplefrom his two main feeding centers. A radio station in Cite Soleilmade announcements that food would be given out as usual to hisstudents in those two areas.One of Father Tom's centers is in the Bois Neuf area of Soleil.After freeing this food, Father walked down the middle of the mainroad in Soleil, saying the rosary, and opened his other feedingcenter at Soleil 24. There was no traffic except UN tanks. Forty UNtanks were inside and outside of Soleil at that point.Father's schools were closed because his teachers could not get inthe slum. And with the shooting, parents were afraid to send theirkids to school. It says quite a bit when Haitian parents are toofrightened to send their kids to school because that means noeducation and probably very little food that day for their children.People delivering food into Soleil were not allowed in on February7, and so the women who sell in the main market had nothing to selleven if they could have during the barrage of bullets. This weekend,there has been very little food for hundreds of thousands of people.In an area of Soleil called the Wharf, The Daughters of Charity havesix sisters who do incredible work. They have a medical clinic thatsees several hundred children a day for acute medical problems. Theyalso have a pediatric vaccination program and a malnutrition programfor 50 very malnourished babies. They provide two hot meals forthese babies Monday through Friday. While the babies are napping,their mothers participate in a well-organized sewing program,designed to teach them a skill.The sisters also have a school in Soleil near the clinic that has600 students. Each day the sisters provide 1,200 hot meals for thekids in their schools and programs.None of this happened on Friday. The medical clinic was closed. Theschool was closed. The malnutrition program was closed. Nobody gotfed. And most of these people had no food in their homes thisweekend either.One of the sisters had a scheduled vacation to her home country inSouth America and had to walk out of the slum with her suitcase inher hand amid the gun fire. She was picked up outside the slum by adriver who took her to the airport.A friend of ours who runs an orphanage four miles from Soleil wasbesieged by twenty women from Soleil who had snuck out of the slumwith their babies asking her to take their kids, feed them, cleanthem, and put them up for adoption. Our friend had to deny theirrequests because she already has over 100 children in the orphanageand absolutely no where to put these kids or give them adequatecare. They all had to return to Soleil.Today, Sunday, Father Tom picked me up and we went to Soleil in hisjeep. He says mass on Sunday mornings at Saint Ann's which is in theback part of Soleil called Soleil 17.We easily entered Soleil from route National One. There were no UNtanks blocking the entrance.The main street in Soleil seemed quiet with fewer people. However,the machan-women street merchants-were selling at their market nearBois Neuf. However, it did not appear that there was much food tosell.We went down Soleil 1 and turned left on Soleil 17. We saw noMINUSTAH tanks or our way to church. St Ann's is one block down thestreet on the right. The church is a large structure on a corner.There were no other cars around and gang members from that area saton the corner and wandered in and out of church. Every one seemedunconcerned.The altar in the church is simple but there is a beautiful crucifiedBlack Jesus on the cross painted on the wall behind the altar. Redblood pours from his hands and the wound on his right side. Therewere about 150 people at mass, mostly children and elderly ladies.After Mass, I spoke with the local gang leader and his soldiers and,they all claimed they were hungry and the thousands of people theycontrol are hungry. They also think that if they lay down theirarms, MINUSTAH will arrest them, turn them over to the HaitianNational Police, and they will be tortured and die in the HaitianPenitentary.The look on their faces is hard, cold, and scared. I asked them whatthey thought MINUSTAH was going to do next, and the gang leadershrugged his shoulders, looked at the ground, and said he didn'tknow.Father Tom hopes to be able to bring in dry food into Soleiltomorrow, which will be bags of rice and beans, and distribute itwith the help of the gang soldiers.Father Tom and I then walked through the slum. While we were on apaved road, two UN tanks quietly came down the street. The soldierswaved at us. Their guns were not pointed at the homes or people orus. The tranquility had to be appreciated by the worn out populationof Soleil.We walked into the back neighborhoods where we were surrounded bychildren and one gang member continued to walk with us. A ladyapproached and asked me if I would examine her daughter.I turned around and walked back with her and stepped into her shack.Lying on a bed was her 19 year old daughter who was shot in theback, abdomen, and left arm by MINUSTAH on December 27 as she satoutside her shanty. She was hospitalized at St. Catherine's, a smallhospital in Soleil, where she underwent abdominal surgery and washospitalized for 8 days.She was lying on a small bed with perspiration covering her foreheadin this hellhole. She complained of abdominal pain and said she isnot able to eat. Her surgical dressing is still in place and shesaid she has an appointment tomorrow at St. Catherine's.Her 3 month old baby girl was lying at her feet. The baby had nothad milk in four days because she says she has no breast milk andthey have no powdered milk in the one room shack which serves astheir home. I saw the empty tin can of Alaska powdered milk next toher bed. They have been giving the baby some boiled water and mashedup cookies in water. The baby seemed fairly content under thecircumstances.I told the 19 year old mom and her mother that I would find the babysome powdered milk and bring it to them.Father and I continued on and arrived in the Boston section of CiteSoleil and then crossed over to another district of Soleil calledBeleco. I went over and talked to a Beleco gang of soldiers. Theyimmediately asked me what I was going to do for them. They werearmed and are the soldiers of the escaped gang leader Evans who ishiding in the slum. They said they are hungry also.People are loyal to Evans. Even though he kills and extorts money,he still feeds thousands of people. He is hidden among them now andno one will say where he is. His name isn't even mentioned. However,the people of the slum fear him and his soldiers less than they doMINUSTAH which shoot to kill from their big white tanks that passthrough their neighborhoods.While I was talking to the soldiers of Evans' gang, a 40 year oldlady with a low voice asked me if I would check her mother, who wasvery sick. As I was walking to her shack in the maze that neverseems to end in Soleil, I stumbled onto a lady selling te (earth)which are circular 5 inch diameter pies made of mud with butter andsalt mixed in. They are baked in the sun. They are made right in theslum to stem people's hunger. They offered me one which I declined.A pretty 20 year old girl took a big bite of one of these toxicpatties, chewed it up and swallowed it while she smiled at me.I followed the lady with the sick mother and arrived at their shackabout 30 yards from the road.. Her 62 year old mother lay on thefloor next to a bed lying on her right side. She was covered withflies and groaning softly. Her family obviously could not give herany significant care. They said she was not eating and could notstand.When I examined her on the floor, she was lethargic and had a hardmass in her abdomen that seemed to be originating from her liver.The family showed me some worthless medication she was taking.The family carried her to Father Tom's vehicle and we loaded her inback. As we left Soleil, the gang members from Boston waved andsmiled as they walked down the road. We took her to a home for dyingand abandoned adults run by the Missionaries of Charity in adifferent part of PAP. This Sisters graciously accepted her and herdeath will be easier now than it would been on her floor in Soleil.So what to do----This is all a dynamic, tricky business. The focus is on the gangsand their soldiers and the UN soldiers. However, these two fightingfactions represent only a miniscule of the people affected. Hundredsof thousands of people's lives and well being are at stake now. Whatwill this week bring? There is no tomorrow for Soleil unless soundand beneficent decisions are made within the next few days.The UN should bring in massive amounts or rice and beans and startfeeding the starving people of Cite Soleil. tomorrow morning(Monday).They should do all they can to provide clean water. Theyshould build roads and create a sewer system for Soleil.MINUSTAH should stop their indiscriminate shooting in densely packedneighborhoods of innocent people. They need to get down off theirtanks and walk into the maze of poverty with real human beingsliving inside.MASH-type medical clinics need to be set up by MINUSTAH, which couldtake care of the vast majority of medical problems found in the slumnow.Where is the Catholic Church? Catholic leaders from Haiti and allover the Americas need to come here, walk through Soleil and visitthe people. They need to have meetings with MINUSTAH and the gangleaders. The Church needs to promote meaningful dialogue and changenow for the poor that are begging for their help.Will the people continue to starve as they offer their babies up foradoption or will meaningful dialogue occur? If people don't starttalking tomorrow morning in Haiti's slum and agree to stop all ofthe violence, the despair and death in Soleil hasn't even started.Dr. John Carroll, an American doctor who works in some of the mostoppressed areas of Haiti, can be reached through the DyinginHaitiwebsite.