A Journey to Pwoje Espwa Sud

by Margie and Mike Sweeney

My husband Mike and I were blessed to have the opportunity to visit Pwoje Espwa Sud near Les Cayes, Haiti from July 31 to August 3, 2014. The goal of this first trip was to learn more about this community. The focus of our visit was to become familiar with the medical and water needs of this Haitian village.

We must say that we were well received and were able to gather some good preliminary information on this first visit and I believe that with the grace of God we will be able to be of service.

Following are some facts that we learned thanks to Rachel Vinciguerra and Kelsey Ullom who are the Guest House Managers and Fr. Marc Boisvert, Founder of Free the Kids, which is the foundation for Pwoje Espwa Sud. Pwoje Espwa Sud is a village on 125 acres of land about 20 minutes from the city of Les Cayes and is fondly known as Espwa which in Creole means hope. For an inspiring story about the founding of Espwa please visit Free the Kids.

Villaj Espwa has boys and girls dorms, a preschool and primary, middle, and upper schools. They have a vocational school as well. On the grounds there is also a church, medical clinic, administration buildings, farm land, pastures for goats, pig stalls, and several water wells.

There are approximately 600 children from ages one to 18 that are residents at Espwa and an additional nearly 400 children from the surrounding areas that attend schools at Espwa.

The medical clinic is a spacious building with a pharmacy, waiting room, laboratory, nurse triage room, 2 doctors offices, and 10 exam rooms, including an x-ray room and procedure room. The clinic has its own treated water source and even has video-conferencing capabilities!

The Medical Director for the clinic is Dr. Cynthia DeSoi, an American doctor. She helps coordinate medical and dental teams that volunteer their services at the clinic. There is a local Haitian doctor, Dr. Pierre, who sees patients at the clinic on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays from 9 am to 11 am. There are 3 local Haitian nurses that work in shifts to provide 24-hour coverage for the clinic.

On our next trip we look forward to meeting Dr. Pierre and Mme Joseph, the head nurse for the clinic, to see about helping resume well child care for the children and coordinating additional medical teams to help out at the clinic. We would also like to learn more about their medical records system and find ways to potentially improve it and make it available on the Internet to volunteer physicians for remote consultation. On-site video-conferencing is a new and exciting tool that will allow specialist services to be available remotely. We look forward to learning from Dr. Pierre about the needs that volunteer physicians can supply.

As for the water supply, the primary source is groundwater with 5 wells in operation. The water is not potable but sufficiently safe for most uses. Drilling for a new well to expand irrigation is currently underway. We look forward to learning more about how the water and sanitation needs are being addressed with projects planned and underway.

We wish to say a big THANK YOU to Fr. Marc Boisvert, Rachel Vinciguerra, Kelsey Ullom and the Espwa staff for their warm and welcoming hospitality!

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Fr. Ronal - A Servant-Leader (April 6, 1966 - May, 1, 2011

In preparing for this reflection, my husband Mike suggested the “3 B’s” - one) be brief, two) be brilliant, and three) be seated. I promise I will deliver on one and three!

According to Robert Greenleaf, there are ten characteristics of a servant-leader: listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment, & community. Fr. Ronal embodied these characteristics. He knew what it meant to “wash the feet of his disciples.”

While I only met Fr. Ronal last April on our first medical mission to Haiti, I got to witness firsthand, these characteristics of servant-leadership in him. I was amazed to see him bringing up buckets of water and washing the bathroom out early every morning before we arose. No matter how early I got up, he was already hard at work making things happen. He made sure that we were comfortable and well fed. He made sure we were safely transported back and forth between Matthew 25 House and St. Gabriel Parish. He organized the number of patients that we would see and he even pushed us beyond that number on our first trip.

I was amazed to see how much he had accomplished in his preparations to receive us despite having recently buried 300 of his parishioners in light of the earthquake that year.

I witnessed how he ministered to his parishioners. They all loved and respected him.

While on that first trip I didn’t get a chance to explore the area, but I could see how he was hard at work healing his community after the earthquake. He knew what needed to get done and he went to work. He had begun clearing areas that were damaged for future rebuilding. On this second medical mission, we saw some of the fruits of that labor of love.

I remember thinking before our arrival on the first trip that we would be inundated with persons suffering from post-traumatic stress, but was pleasantly surprised to find that people seemed to take the earthquake in stride, as much as one can when one loses loved ones and one’s home and personal belongings. This is a testament to his gift of healing.

Additionally, I was pleased to see that much rebuilding had already begun at St. Gabriel Parish on this second trip thanks to Fr. Ronal’s foresight and stewardship. He was definitely committed to the growth and nourishment of his parish.

On reflection, I am very saddened at the loss of our brother in Christ, Fr. Ronal. I pray that the people of Beau Sejour will continue to heal from the traumas of the earthquake and now the loss of their servant-leader, Fr. Ronal. In this situation I must put my trust in Romans 8:28 - “All things work together for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose.”

I am grateful that Fr. Ronal was able to join the great servant-leaders before him, especially Pope John Paul II, on Divine Mercy Sunday! God is good all the time. Amen!

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Reflection by Margie C. Sweeney, M.D., SFO presented on Monday, May 23, 2011 at the Memorial Mass for Fr. Ronal at Holy Family Catholic Church in St. Petersburg, FL.

I have a dream....

By Margie C. Sweeney, MD, SFO

I have a dream that I can help those less fortunate than myself. It is a big dream but one that has already begun to be realized. You see, this dream that I have had since childhood started taking shape when I went to East Africa in 2001. I went to East Africa to follow a dormant dream that I had in college to help those in poverty in distant lands. Little did I realize how that dream would unfold! I landed in Nairobi, Kenya on the infamous September 11, 2001 and had a very blessed trip!

When I returned home from this awesome trip, I had a lot to think about. How were the experiences of my trip to be used so that my childhood and college dreams could become a reality? I prayed long and hard about this. Over the ensuing months the vision of founding a charity organization started to form and Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. was born on December 26, 2002. Through this volunteer-run, grassroots effort, nonprofit charity we aim to bring hope and healing to the ends of the earth by serving the needs of the poorest of the poor in developing countries. Your prayers and generosity have made and continue to make this dream a reality!

I have a dream that Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. will complete projects that are low cost and will have a high impact on those that are served. It is my dream that these projects will be self-sustaining and will help people become self-sufficient so that they feel empowered to help others as well. An excellent example of this dream is our very first project in 2003! With $516.68 we were able to provide electrical hookup for St. Francis Community School in Itimpi, Zambia in Central Africa which serves over 900 students from grade school through high school. Because of this source of electricity, this school can now also provide evening classes for adults in the community. It is incredible how such a small amount of money can go such a long way. Thousands have been helped to get an education which is so vital to breaking the cycle of poverty and your generous response will continue to make a difference well into the future for this school and the community that it serves.

Another example of low cost, high impact projects is the dairy farm established at Mgeta Parish in the Uruguru Mountains in Morogoro, Tanzania, East Africa in 2004. This community of 6,000 impoverished persons including those who are malnourished, the elderly, and those with AIDS is receiving nutritional support from 5 cows and one bull purchased with $4,242. This grant from Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. to this community also provided for enough fencing material to house a total of 30 animals in the future as this farm becomes populated. An additional benefit of this farm, is the biogas for heating that is generated from the manure of these animals making this an environmentally friendly project as well.

The school electrical hookup and dairy farm project are just two examples of how this dream to provide low cost, high impact assistance to the poorest of the poor is becoming a reality!

I have a dream that Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. will be a good steward of donations received by providing for the needs of the impoverished on a shoestring budget. This dream is already being realized in part by your generous response to our quarterly newsletter appeals and online donations. Because we are a volunteer-run organization, we do not have any staffing costs. We also keep our overhead low because we do not have advertising costs. We rely on ‘word of mouth’ marketing and social networking on the Internet to spread the word about the work of this ministry.

I have a dream that others will be as passionate about my dream to help our brothers and sisters in need as I am. To this end, I have been blessed with a board of directors that agrees that this is a ‘love of neighbor endeavor’ and agree that we are providing direction to this charity on a volunteer basis. We have additionally had other volunteers at various times to assist with administrative duties and community awareness events for Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc.

I have a dream that my family will be able to understand and share my passion with me. My daughter, Kelly has visited Tanzania with me in 2005 and Liberia in 2006. My son, Patrick has visited Liberia with me in 2006. Kelly has experienced Easter and Christmas in Africa and Patrick has experienced Christmas in Africa. Through these trips their lives have been enriched by a new awareness of an attitude of gratitude and generosity. My husband, Mike has been financially supportive of our trips so he has not been able to travel with us, but I dream that some day he will be able to take time away from his busy work schedule to join me. In the meantime, he shares my passion through stories and pictures shared about trips to Africa and projects completed.

I have a dream that Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. will expand beyond the borders of Kenya and Tanzania in East Africa, and Zambia in Central Africa to serve others as well. A leap of faith was all that was needed for this dream. In 2006, that dream became a reality as we raised $25,000 to build a medical clinic for Our Lady of Fatima Rehab Center in Monrovia, Liberia, West Africa. It took us 18 months to raise this money but I am amazed at the size of project that we were able to complete in the fourth year of this ministry! An additional blessing to this leap of faith—I was able to afford to travel to Liberia in December, 2006 with my two children, Patrick and Kelly, to visit and learn first-hand the needs of the residents of the rehab center. It was a Christmas we will not soon forget! When you say yes, God’s providence knows no bounds!

I have a dream that besides the financial assistance that Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. provides, we will also be able to provide spiritual assistance. This dream has been realized in answered prayers and assistance with providing spiritual materials, items for a retreat center, and a healing service in 2005. While Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. is not a religious organization per se, part of the human condition needs spiritual nurturing and we offer direction in this capacity when it is requested.

I have a dream that all people will have an equal opportunity for education and quality of life consistent with the dignity that is theirs. Toward this end, we have provided electrical hookup for St. Francis Community School in Zambia, tuition for various students in Kenya, Tanzania, and Zambia, school desks for St. Monica School in Tanzania, and repaired school buildings for Tawa Primary School in Tanzania. We have also formed the Eric William Bissmeyer Scholarship Fund within the framework of Helping Hands Healing Ministries, Inc. to meet additional educational needs that will help to break the cycle of poverty for the recipients of the funds. For this dream to remain a reality, we will need an ongoing funding source.

I have a dream that you will join me in prayer, passion, and provision as we experience God’s providence and enter into His promised land!