cholera in Haiti, one year later - via PIH



via Partners in Health video


My last post shared the news about the cholera vaccine, thanks to NPR.  Now I have an article and video from Partners in Health for you.   The article has some rather sobering statistics.  One thing is sure: it was never in Haiti before last year.  Now it is.  And it's in Haiti for good.  Vaccination and access to clean water could make it much less threatening and widespread.  So simple.  We just need to do it.

article:  http://www.pih.org/news/entry/cholera-one-year-later/

cholera vaccine heading to Haiti

A Haitian protester in Port-au-Prince
last month spray-paints a wall,
equating the UN mission in Haiti
 (abbreviated here as MINISTA) with cholera.
via NPR

Woo-hoo! After so very many deaths, there has finally been a go-ahead given for a cholera vaccination program in Haiti.  Thanks be to God!  I can't imagine anything more needed, more logical, or more cost effective. 

And yet apparently they are having trouble finding donors to support it.

What???!!!

NPR's article on this (link below) says,

You'd think a few hundred thousand dollars to launch a vaccination campaign against a big and growing disease threat wouldn't be a problem. After all, donor nations pledged $4.6 billion to help Haiti recover from the calamitous earthquake of January 12, 2010 – the biggest international relief effort ever.

Donna Barry of Partners in Health says nearly 60 percent of those funds, or $2.6 billion, remains to be disbursed.

But yesterday the group's founder Dr. Paul Farmer was in California beating the bushes to raise money for the vaccination campaign, "which I regard as somewhat ridiculous," he says. "We're not entirely pleased that we're going out on a limb, looking for funding that should have been made available very quickly."

Go figure.

Well, here is a step in the right direction, and we can help make further strides: call your senator or member of congress, donate yourself, start a campaign, talk about it! 

(And in case you have not yet noticed, there is a Partners in Health badge on the right which links to their donation page.  Just a suggestion.)

Cholera is in Haiti for the long term.  Something needs to be done, and it needs to be done yesterday.

Here is the link to the article and the source for the photo:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2011/10/20/141546570/after-a-half-million-cholera-cases-vaccination-will-begin-in-haiti

fighting malaria

Gates Foundation mosquito nets -
Zabibu Athumani and her son rest under a bed net
at their home in Pande Village in Bagamoyo district, Tanzania.

So many organizations now are givng us the opportunity to help with this.  Ntes for Life comes to mind, for example.  It's amazing what a simple mosquito net can do.    Furthermore, there was a recent breakthrough in an experimental vaccination that now seems promising.

Malaria Vaccine Trial Shows Promise - WSJ

I would like to share with you an article and a video from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation:

Can Social Media End Malaria? Can You? - by Melinda French Gates




I have my mosquito net ready to go.  Perhaps you can help others obtain one as well.

Myers-Briggs Prayers



Myers-Briggs Prayers

 Sorry, I have no idea where this originated - but it was too good not to share (thank you to my friend J who posted it on Facebook!).  The type is a bit small as seen on the blog page, but if you click on the photo, the original is larger and much more legible.  Have fun!

 Let me know if you want me to find and post links to the MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) websites. 

Where do you go when two-thirds of your country is under water?

Two-thirds of Thailand flooded — including 108 temples - msn.com article

"Parts of the temple at Thailand's Wat Chaiwatthanaram,
a UNESCO World Heritage Site, are flooded Wednesday"
October 12, 2011
Thai government, Reuters, via msn

Another prayer request...

What an incredible couple of years it has been.

I hear Japan had more flooding not long ago, too.

What are people to do and where are they to go - never mind what they are to eat and where they are to find clean water?!

city sidewalks

Busy sidewalks... 

I took a walk over to the Museum of Fine Arts yesterday.  Free admission! It was a treat.  But there was something I enjoyed just as much or more: stopping to look, really to look around as I went.  I took photos of the little things that I noticed.  It seems I am noticing more and wanting to notice more the closer I get to leaving.  Once I have left for Haiti, you see, I won't be coming back to the Roxbury convent.  Assuming we get a buyer, there will be someplace new to call home when I am on this side of the water.  And so I look around more.  And I pay attention. 

It reminds me, too, that much of the joy and the adventure is in the journey itself if we just take the time to be truly present.  This may not be news to any of us, but I find I need to hear it over and over.  Better yet, I need to experience it and to make the time for it.

And Monday was like that.  It's hard to compare a city sidewalk to a Degas exhibit, but they each have their own interesting angles, their own beauty. 

In honor of the journey, I'd like to share photos of the sidewalks themselves.  I hope you enjoy some of these images as much as I do.



hopscotch on Highland Park Ave




save the fish




pavement patterns




shadows advancing




perched postally




your pumps should always match your pumpkin




cross-country commuting




garden between the paving stones



This is an unusual piece of yarn...

Tag, you're it!

sunrise



The heavens declare the glory of God

and the firmament shows his handiwork.

Psalm 19:1

sunrise through the stairwell window
St. Margaret's Convent, Roxbury, MA

You have shown us

Micah 6:8
He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?





You have shown us, oh God, what is good
You have shown us, oh Lord, what You require
You have heard all our songs
How we long to worship You
Yeah, You've told us the offering You desire

To do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God
You said, to do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God

You have shown us the riches of Your love
And You have shown us Your heart for those in need
Lord, You're opening our ears to the cries of the poor
You have called us to be Your hand and feet

To do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God
You said, to do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God

To the oppressed and the broken
To the widow and the orphan
Let the river of Your justice flow through us
To the oppressed and the broken
To the widow and the orphan
Let the river of Your justice flow through us

Let Your river flow, let Your river flow
Let the river of Your justice flow through us, oh

To do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God
You said, to do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God

To do justice and to love mercy
And to walk humbly with You, God

[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsmode.com/lyrics/p/paul_baloche/you_have_shown_us.html ]

Thanks to the following bloggers in Haiti for sharing this with us:  http://livesayhaiti.blogspot.com/2011/10/to-oppressed-broken-to-widow-orphan.html. 

a winning kick and a crown

From the New York Times, something to make us all smile.  I've written about princesses and keep getting more hits from one of the princess pictures than anything else, so perhaps it's high time I post something about a queen. Homecoming queen, that is.  But that's the least of her accomplishments - 4.0 student, student government treasurer, soccer player and now, first girl on the football team.  I wonder what she'll do as an adult! 

winning kicker and homecoming queen, all in one

From the article:

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — In his 18 years at Pinckney Community High School, Jim Darga, the principal, said, the homecoming queen had always been crowned at halftime of the school’s football game. Never before, though, had she had to be summoned from the team’s locker room.

And that was just the beginning of Brianna Amat’s big night.

If being named homecoming queen is a lifetime memory for a high school student, so, too, is kicking a winning field goal. For Amat, 18, they happened within an hour of each other.

You can find the rest of the article here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/04/sports/homecoming-queen-and-winning-field-goal-on-same-night.html?_r=2&src=tp

PIH hospital under construction in Mirebalais

This new hospital will have six operating rooms, digital equipment, and classrooms for Haitian medical students where they will be able to see Harvard Medical School classes online.  It is desperately needed as they face the ongoing cholera epidemic. 

PIH hospital plans - Mirebalais

If you are interested in reading more about Partners in Health and Paul Farmer, Tracy Kidder's book, Mountains Beyond Mountains, is a must-read.  It tells the story of its beginnings and paints a vivid picture of life in rural Haiti. 

The photo below I found on PIH's Facebook page.  It's of the aforementioned book floating in the space station where one of the astronauts had brought it to read.

"Beyond mountains! Tracy Kidder's book Mountains Beyond Mountains floats aboard the International Space Station. Astronaut Ron Garan brought the copy up with him on his last mission. The book tells the story of PIH co-founder Paul Farmer, and the founding of PIH" (photo and caption via PIH Facebook page)