OLMC to Complete Staff Housing Project for Visitation Hospital

In our 5+ years now being involved with the mission to Haiti in the village of Petite Riviere de Nippes, one of the projects the Haiti Committee has been following has been the building of a new Hospital, the "Visitation Hospital", (VH)which has been a project of the Parish Twinning Program, which is the organization that originally paired us with our sister parish, St. Antoine de Padua. You can find out more about the hospital at : http://www.visitationhospital.org/.

Among many projects that are under consideration, the Haiti Committee recently moved to support the Visitation Hospital in a fairly significant way, by offering to oversee and finance the completion of the Staff Housing for the hospital. The need first became obvious, as our very own missionary Karen Jung began working with the Hospital (which is currently a clinic) as the Hospital Administrator, but has been residing in one of the clinic rooms for over a year now, as there was no room in the Staff House.

As many times happens in Haiti...the money runs out...and buildings are left partially finished. The VH clinic and the staff house were to be completed in phase one, but when they ran out of money...the Staff house was left only about 25% finished. There are currently 4 completed bedrooms, but the dining room is an "open concept" design consisting of a concrete floor, tin roof, and rough block walls.

OLMC is working directly with the same contractor we utilized on the school project, Abdou Fall, to design and build the remaining 2 bedrooms, dining room, and family room that were originally anticipated for the Staff House, and in addition, at least 4 additional bedrooms on the 2nd floor, to provide space for not only the daily staff, but also visiting Doctors, and medical missions to the Hospital.

As of this posting, the construction team has already begun work in Ti Riviere on finishing the first floor! As usual, none of this could be done without the AMAZING generosity of the parishioners of Our Lady of Mount Carmel. Check out the "before" pictures below and the new plan (still under development), and then stay tuned to the blog for updated photos!

The view of the current incomplete Staff House (finished on the right...unfinished on the left!)

When the money runs out...you just stop where you are and leave that rebar sticking out for future building plans!

Here's the makeshift dining room where Karen and the current staff eat.

And here's the current plan for the completion of the entire first floor and 4 bedrooms and an open porch on the 2nd floor.