November 2011 Mission Team #18 !!!

Its hard to believe that OLMC just sent our 18th mission team to our sister parish in Petit Riviere de Nippes.  Team 18 was led by experienced Haiti travelers Bruce Carlstedt and Ken Bassler.  The other missionaries were Father Adam Mauman, Michelle Curran, Jacqueline Graham, Emily Laskowski, Mary Zagzebski, and Peggy Surbey.

The most important part of every trip to our sister parish, is to continue to build a sense of community with the people in and around the town, and in particular the people of St. Antoine de Padua Church and its staff. This team had a lot of "community building" activities and was busy from start to finish.  Some of their activities included:

-administered topical flouride tooth decay prevention to 120 school children
-deworming and scabies/lice treatment for 700-800 school children
-made rosaries with 150 adults and children from the parish
-visited the south coast of Haiti at Les Cayes, where Father Adam concelebrated a Haitian Funeral Mass
-visited 16 homes in Ti Riviere and administered a Gift of Water questionnaire assessing the residents use of the Gift of Water
-visited the Visitation Hospital and spent time with Dr. Rony Jean-Francois about the needs for medical missions to the hospital, and their plans for the addition of surgical services.
-visited the Sisters of Charity St. Therese of Avalon orphanage where they held, fed, walked, changed gowns of numerous infants and small children
-assessed the structural facilities at three outlying chapels, via a tortuous beautiful drive through the mountains and hills south of Ti Riviere.  OLMC has committed to help rebuild these chapels.  One of the small community chapels would be named Our Lady of Mount Carmel.
-visited the Sisters home in Ti Riviere
-attended daily Mass and especially enjoyed the Sunday Mass with all the children filling the choir loft
-visited the classrooms in Immaculate Conception School where the children sang for them (see slide show)
-shopped for the Haiti Committee's arts and crafts sale at the artisan's coop in Port au Prince
-had a nightly meeting where they reflected on the daily readings and other bible passages and shared their "rose, thorn and bud" for the day.

The trip was a huge success and I've already heard rumors that they're making plans to go again as a team!  If you'd like to explore going on a mission trip to Haiti yourself, 2012 is going to offer at least 3 different mission trip possibilities.  Check this blog and the bulletin for details.  As all of Team 18 will tell you, it is a life-changing experience!