Stories from communities around Bois de Laurence (northeastern Haiti)

Below are some of the stories we were told from volunteers in various villages around Bois de Laurence.  Some have had Community Health Evangelism (CHE) programs for several years, some have just started.  CHE works through three groups:  trainers, locally-selected committees, and community health evangelists (CHEs).

Anel Canis, Venbal, committee member

Before we had CHE in Venbal we really weren't healthy, either physically or spiritually. When CHE started in 2011, we got a lot of information and we shared it with our families. Change didn't happen all at once, but we have started seeing both physical and spiritual changes.

We had fewer people with diarrhea and vomiting in the time of cholera. We have Bibles so that we can evangelize. We do SODIS [solar disinfection of water] and make Tippytaps [simple hand-washing devices]. Since we've started with CHE there definitely are changes: we dig holes for our trash, people make dish racks for their dishes and they don't put them on the ground anymore. A lot of people didn't have latrines but now they do. Even if it's not 100% yet, but a lot of people have them. We have received seeds and we really like this. We have a lot more understanding now, and when someone wrongs us we have self-control, we can work things out. We might still fight some with our neighbors or families, but with CHE we've learned a lot of new ways to work things out.

We improved a road – before, the road from Venbal to the Big Crossroads was so small even small animals couldn't pass through. Now it's not so bad – people can use it and even large animals can pass. It's not all that long but it still helps us.

  (c) copyright Anel Canis. Used with author's permission.

Hercule-Louis Jean, Birèl committee president

Before CHE started in our area we didn't live very well because we didn't have training. People went to the bathroom on the ground. We gave them information so that they would dig a hole for when they needed to go to the bathroom, so that they would go in the hole.

We meet people who don't go to church. When we share information with them they change, and some of them now go to church. We love all of the training, both the spiritual and the physical.

There was a family in the area, they used to fight and yell at each other, always arguing. I went to their house to do some lessons. After perhaps four or five visits we had, where we talked with them, we see that they have changed, they don't fight like this anymore. I also taught them about treating drinking water and now they drink treated water. . .

We had everyone contribute 50 gourdes [just over $1] in case someone needed to go to the hospital. That way, if you don't have any money but need to go to the hospital, we can use what we've collected to send you. We collect funds once per year.

  (c) copyright Hercule-Louis Jean. Used with author's permission.

Joacius Celinor, trainer in Derrière Garde

Before the CHE program started in our area, it was really not healthy. There were lots of physical problems, spiritual problems, and social problems. There were a lot of women that died before going to the hospital, a lot of children who died from diarrhea.

Those of us who were trainers, we trained the CHEs. They started doing home visits and people started to discover what caused diarrhea, what caused children to be malnourished. We sat down together with the parents, we talked with them about a balanced diet: one shouldn't only buy rice but one should also gather leafy vegetables for one's children.

Despite the fact that the epidemic started – I mean cholera – no one died in the Derrière Garde area. We received soap to wash our hands before eating, we got oral rehydration salts. This was thanks to CHE. These things made the people in Derrière Garde love the program, and now everyone is with the CHE program.
 

We live better: we have Bibles now, and we sit down some afternoons to share from the Bible together. We teach people to learn verses by heart. The verse that touches my heart the most is John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only son, that whoever receives him might not perish but have everlasting life.”

We started a program for young people in the afternoons and they named a president who would train them so that they can protect their bodies, respect their parents. If they find trash they shouldn't play with it but they should put it in a hole used for trash. This is for young people from 7- to 17-years-old. We do this once per week.

I have a very special testimony for my family: up until now (and God willing for the future) I haven't spent a lot of money going to the doctor. See, when we have a problem we bathe, we use soap, we know how to use some simple medications. Our children don't get sick often. To God be the glory for this.

(c) copyright Joacius Celinor. Used with author's permission.