Local Newspaper Article

Our happy little mission made the local paper this week. Thanks again to the Daily News-Record:


Daily News-Record (Harrisonburg, VA)
February 10, 2012

Section: News-Local

A Hand For Haiti
DOUG MANNERS


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HARRISONBURG - Eric Kramer could see and feel Haiti's rebuilding efforts on the four-hour ride from the capital city of Port-au-Prince to the rural village of LeGene.

Bumpy roads that were unpaved and unpainted two years ago are now hard-surfaced. Power lines are starting to go back up in places. And the orphanage in the central Haitian community features a new bunkhouse.


Yet people still live in huts with no plumbing and there's no commercial electricity. Many residents remain out of work.

Beautiful people in a bad situation - that's how Kramer described life in the impoverished Caribbean island nation still healing from a massive 7.0-magnitude earthquake two years ago.

"The local townspeople are amongst the happiest people for their condition that I have ever met," said Kramer, an emergency department physician at Rockingham Memorial Hospital. "They don't have much materially. ... I call them sanguine, but content in their relationship with the church."

Kramer, 45, traveled to Haiti in late January with eight other area residents for a one-week medical mission at the Mount Carmel Orphanage just north of the small city of Pignon.

The Rockingham County resident first visited the orphanage in February 2010, one month after the devastating earthquake. He was forced to cancel his trip last year after the U.S. Department of State deemed traveling in Haiti too dangerous amid political unrest.

`Pray For The People Of Haiti'

This year, Kramer provided medical care to about 500 Haitian villagers at a temporary clinic with assistance from Clint Roberts, an RMH patient care technician.

Kramer treated mostly common ailments, including respiratory conditions and back pain. Each patient left with a bag full of vitamins, medications and "dewormer" pills to combat parasite problems.

Even a basic medical checkup is far from routine for many villagers.

"Just having a doctor attend to you is a big thing because they're so limited there," said the Rev. Henry Elsea, pastor at Mount Pleasant Church of the Brethren.

Elsea and his wife, Janet, helped spearhead the mission trip, his sixth to Haiti since 2000.

He first met the pastor who runs the Haitian orphanage, Geordany Joseph, about 18 years ago while living in West Virginia.

Joseph feeds, clothes and helps educate about 30 orphans. Most were rescued from the streets because their parents either died or abandoned them, Elsea said.

In addition to providing medical care, the group of nine local residents - all affiliated with area churches - worked to install solar panels for electricity, fixed trucks and prayed with villagers in the community of about 800 people.

For most in the group, helping in Haiti is a lifelong commitment, Kramer said.

"We're always raising funds for them and in communication," he said. "They have rudimentary email capabilities in places. The ones that can type English, I communicate with, including Pastor Joseph."

Elsea, 64, hopes to lead mission trips to Haiti every January or February, an ideal time because the weather is comparatively dry and cool.

"Once you are there, it grabs you. You have a heart for it. You're always thinking, how can I help these people?" Elsea said. "People need to pray for the people of Haiti, especially her children."
Contact Doug Manners at 574-6293 or dmanners@dnronline.com

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