Haiti Log

Friday 

Arrived at the airport, not knowing anyone I would be traveling with. When I walked through my flight's gate I noticed a group of people wearing our Haiti Mission shirts. I introduced myself, not knowing that these people would grow close like family over the next week. I met Tom and Kelly Dulick who would become my adoptive family over the week. We left MCI airport at 6 am, flew to Miami, then Port-au-Prince in Haiti. We rode a tap tap (bed of a pick-up truck) from the airport to coconut villa hotel. The streets were covered in trash, mud, and water. Smoke and pollution filled the air. Haitians packed into other tap taps and traffic was insane. There are no street lights, stop signs, or lines. Everyone just drives as they please. Cars break down in the middle of the street, flat tires, and people hopping in and out of tap taps as they arrive at their destination.

Once at the hotel, rooms were distributed and dinner was served. Two types of meat, plantains, and macaroni and cheese filled our plates. I recruited Janice Berndt and Kelly Dulick to be my dental assistants for the week, because no one had any dental experience and they didn't know where they would be used. Janice is an ultrasound tech, so she told me she wouldn't pass out at the sight of blood, I thought, PERFECT! Kelly is a hairstylist and nanny and volunteered to be a hand holder and helper. We all headed to our rooms early to get a good night's rest before heading to our final destination the next day.

Saturday 

We woke up early and had omelets for breakfast at the hotel, explored the "resort", and spent some time reading God's word. I had the opportunity to share my testimony with the group I had been traveling with that morning. Around 10am we headed to the airport where a small 12 seater airplane waited to take us to Port-au-Paix. The planes are flown and operated by missionary pilots. Everyone has to be weighed because there is a certain weight limit for each plane. When we flew over Haiti it was an amazing view. These small planes don't fly very high, so the scenery is completely visible. These plane rides were one of my favorite parts of the trip as I was able to experience Haiti from a birds eye view. From little villages on the top of mountains to small farms by the rivers, it was a lot to take in. We arrived on a gravel landing strip in Port-au-Paix and were dropped off on the side of the runway. We waited a few minutes for the next plane of volunteers to land before hopping aboard another tap tap to travel to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in St. Louis du Nord.

We started driving through the city and it was very dirty. Dust and dirt flying everywhere. People washing in the water sitting on the streets, all the buildings run down and cracked. We stopped at a gas station and I was amazed that our driver put 500 Haitan gouds into the tank and we got 2.6 gallons of gas. We rode through the city where the streets are dirt and rock, going very slow. All the little kids point and yell "Blanc!" as we pass by. We rode for 45 minutes when we were going up a hill and got a flat tire. We all got out of the back of the truck and the driver and his co-driver changed the tire in less than 2 minutes. (It must happen a lot there). We hopped back in and arrived at the mission for the first time. It is a gated compound that is about 2 acres.

Later that day I learned that our hour drive from the "airport" to the mission was only 8 miles! I could not believe that such a short distance took so long. When we unloaded at the mission I was welcomed by Pat Koontz (my old college pastor), Blake Fortner (missions pastor from my church), and Bri Weeda (her mom was a volunteer when I was in high school). Pat showed me to the dental clinic, where he and Blake had already spent a whole day cleaning and getting everything ready for me. I felt so blessed that they would spend so much time making sure I would be good to go! After bringing in all my dental supplies, we began to pack dental hygiene bags. A toothbrush and toothpaste for adults, and the same but adding a sticker for kids. We packed all the bags and then it was time for dinner.

Every night for dinner we had a chicken leg and rice or stew over rice or soup. The food was not bad, just a little bland and very salty. Kelly and I slept in a two person tent on the balcony all week. The breeze at night is much cooler in a tent than in the dorms where bunks are. At night you can hear dogs barking and roosters crowing ALL NIGHT LONG. Ear plugs were an absolute must! The showers are a PVC pipe with an on and off handle. The water is very cold and comes out like a hose. In order to preserve water we took military showers, wet your body, turn off water, lather all soap, rinse with water. The toilets are also interesting. If it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown flush it down. All toilet paper goes into a 5 gallon bucket beside the toilet, and if you go #2 you have to get a bucket of water from a big drum to dump into the bowl. The gravity/weight of the extra water forces the toilet to flush.

 

Sunday

We woke up and had breakfast and waited for church to begin. They know church is starting when they start singing. The missionaries running the mission are amazing. All of them are around my age, right out of college, serving day in and day out in Haiti. They have the mission running so smoothly and are willing to do anything to make sure you have everything you need. We went to church and it consisted of lots of loud singing, all known my heart. They don't use hymns or words on a screen. They sang with such passion and the songs each lasted about 10 minutes. Because I didn't know what the preacher was saying I spent a lot of time reading in God's word and praying. Being part of that service gave me a little glimpse of what Heaven will be like. All tribes and nations coming together to worship the King of Kings!

After church we went back to the mission which is literally across the street, and Kelly and I got a tour of all the mission has to offer. From special needs, to elderly care, the mission provides so many resources. The mission provides services that Haitians would not have access to otherwise. The rest of the day we had different options to see the city, play with the orphans as a field day, or go to a beach. I knew that I came down to extract teeth, so I decided to go to the beach because I wouldn't have the opportunity to see much outside the mission. It took us about an hour on the tap tap to arrive at the beach, but when we got out of the tap tap the "owners" informed our translators that the beach was not clean. So we hopped back in the tap tap and rode another 30 minutes. We arrived at a very interesting "Tiki bar" that had a gate out to the "beach". Beach is a very loose term as there was trash scattered over the volcanic rock sand and there was clumps of dirt along the coast. The clouds came over the sun and we spent around an hour walking through the ocean and looking at the shells and sea urchins. It was a nice time to relax before our busy week ahead.

We got back to the mission, had dinner, and had our first evening devotions. Each night we met after dinner in the chapel for worship, a challenge/message from one of the volunteers, and a time to share what we experienced during that day. It was one of my favorite parts because it allowed time for reflection and prayer. After devotions was also one of my favorite times. We all sat in the common area (where we ate meals), and ate the best popcorn I've ever had and talked and played uno. Growing in community this way allowed our relationships to grow so much. We all got to know each other and heard how God has worked in many ways in all different ways and lives.

Monday

The first day of clinic! After morning devotions and breakfast I made my way down to the dental clinic with my amazing team, Janice, Kelly, Blake, and our fabulous translator Jackson. We made our way down to the nursing home on the mission, which consists of elderly Haitians that were abandoned by their families. In Haiti, family is everything and if you lose your family or they don't want to take care of you, you are on your own. I performed a dental exam on each of the individuals living in the Grand Moun. The outside of their building is lined with rocking chairs and they all sat in them as I made my way down the line. My trusty team held gloves, mirrors, and charts while I told them what we would do and on whom. It was very hot and my hands were so sweaty I could barely put on each new pair of gloves. It was hard to explain through translation that it was important to have teeth that were very decayed extracted. There has not been a dentist on the mission in 5 years. I was the first opportunity for this group of people to receive any care at all. That blew my mind. That means that even when they had an incredible tooth pain they had to use tylenol to mask the pain until it subsided. After we finished screening them we went back to the clinic and began seeing the Grand Moun individuals.

I ended up seeing 12 patients and extracting 43 teeth that day. A lot of their teeth were very periodontally involved, which means they were pretty loose. A lot of the teeth were also completely decayed to the gum line, so the patient didn't even know that tooth was still there. One individual I grew very close with is a sweet lady named Meprilla. I extracted 10 teeth from her that were all broken at the gum line. She was so thankful after we got them all out she started praising the Lord. She hugged and kissed all of the dental team as she headed back down to the Grand Moun.

We finished before 4 that day and had the opportunity to go on Meals on Heels, which is like meals on Wheels in the states. We walked through the city and delivered rice and beans to multiple families. We prayed for them as well before moving on to the next home. It was mind blowing to see how the people live and sell items. We walked through the market and there would be a huge pile of raw chicken sitting on a little wood table and there would be hundreds of flies swarming it. I couldn't believe that more people are not deathly sick after consuming foods like this. We also walked to the ocean and the sand was not visible as the trash was so dense. The "sand" is literally trash. Sheep, pigs, goats, and dogs were everywhere rummaging through the trash. We returned to the mission for our regular evening activities and headed to bed exhausted.

 

Tuesday 

We began seeing a few patients from the Mirriam center, which is an on campus living and care center for individuals with special needs. In Haiti, if you are born with a special need you are left to die as you will not be a productive part of their society. In the mission these children are loved as they should be and provided an abundance of care, therapy, and love. We saw one girl name Emma who has cerebral palsy and had one tooth that was severely decayed and needed to be extracted. We brought in our anesthesiologist, Connie, to determine if it would be a good idea to sedate her since she has such a strong gag-reflex. Connie determined that it would be best for me to do whatever I could to not sedate her.

So, we prayed for her and I started numbing her. I had administered almost all of the needed anesthesia when she started gagging and began throwing up. I had to remove the needle and sit her up to let her vomit. We continued working on her and throughout the procedure between her vomiting 11 times, I had about 5 seconds of working time between vomits. I am a person that can handle a lot of blood and guts, but bring puke into the picture and I'm useless. I would start gagging myself and have to step back while my trusty team and Stephanie, the missionary in charge of the special needs clinic, soothed Emma through her vomiting sessions. I finally got the tooth in one piece and praised the Lord! I have never worked on a special needs child and it was a lot easier than I thought it would be because of my great team!

Hope was also screened that day and due to her having microcephaly and being unable to control her extremities, we decided it would be best to sedate her with ketamine in order to complete the procedure the next day.

Later we went down to check on the Grand Moun geriatric patients that I extracted teeth from the day before. Meprilla, the one I extracted 10 teeth from, was in a lot of pain and very swollen. I was informed that she had not eaten nor taken any medication since her visit. I asked one of the missionaries to get her medication and she was down a few minutes later with it for her. Despite being in so much pain Meprilla was beyond thankful that I had extracted her teeth. She hugged and kissed me and praised the Lord. I put some ointment on some new gauze for her after she took her medicine and told her to eat and get lots of rest.

After visiting the elderly, we went on Meals on Heels again and I noticed that the homes were the same both days. I asked about this, and the translators explained that this service is for people who cannot physically make it to the mission to be part of the nutrition program. The mission has a nutrition program for kids and families and the only thing required is to be registered. It truly is an amazing blessing for many people there as food is scarce. Something that struck me was how skinny all their animals are as well as people. The cows are skin and bones and there is only one breed of dog and you can see ribs on them all. Nutrition is a ginormous problem in Haiti, and rice and beans are relied on for nutrition. Meat is not included in every meal as it is much harder to come by there.

Wednesday

I woke up feeling like I was hit with a bus. My body ached and all my muscles were very sore. Regardless, I knew I had lots of work to get done, so we had devotions, ate breakfast, and I was stopped by one of our group leaders, Scott, asking me if I would see a patient who was in a lot of pain. He said she was already waiting and that she said she couldn't talk very well due to her extreme pain. I headed down to the clinic and saw this patient immediately. She had one tooth that was causing all of this pain! I extracted a lower premolar and headed to the OR to treat Hope.

Due to Hope's history of being a regurgitator, we had to wait till the morning to treat her so we knew she hadn't had anything to eat before surgery. Instead of completely putting her to sleep, she was sedated with Ketamine, it made her relaxed and put her in la la land. As soon as she was relaxed I got to work with my trusty team, this time Tom, my adoptive dad for the week, joining us! I extracted 8 very decayed teeth from this sweet 11 year old girl with no complications! I put some sutures and packed her mouth with ointment and gauze to promote healing. We administered some morphine to make sure she didn't wake up in extreme pain, due to her condition. Tom carried Hope into the Post-op room and instead of setting her down in a chair, he sat in the chair and held her for the next few hours. He said she would wake up for a minute, look at him, and fall back asleep. Tom is such a loving man, and watching him care for Hope was amazing. His face was so full of joy, almost as seeing a new baby for the first time.

As for me and the rest of the team, we had a lot planned for the rest of the day. We saw a couple more patients before heading over to the school to present dental hygiene. Quinn and Sharlene came with us to help pass out toothbrushes and toothpaste to all the kids. We started with the kindergarteners who were so adorable and stood while I showed them how to brush their teeth. They were all so excited to receive a bag with a brand new toothbrush and toothpaste. A toothbrush would cost them $3 or 30 Haitian goud. This is a lot of money for them, as a man's daily pay is $5, and a woman's is $3. Haitians live off $1 a day, so a working man can support a family of 5. Necessities are hard to buy when it means you won't eat a meal for multiple days.

After we visited the kindergarten center we headed to the church, where the rest of the children were presented dental hygiene instructions. I introduced myself and explained why it is so important to take care of their teeth. They were all such good listeners and laughed as Quinn showed them all how to brush their teeth and had to run out of the back of the church to spit the toothpaste out! We ended up seeing over 800 students aged 3-18. We actually ran out of toothbrushes and toothpaste there were so many of them. We had brought down trash bags full of dental supplies, to hand out.

One boy came up to me and told me his back lower teeth were causing him pain and that he wasn't able to sleep well at night. I told him to come see me when he got out of school. He never came and I talked to one of the missionaries about trying to find him. She said that if he didn't have the money to pay for the treatment, which is the equivalent to $4, the security guard would not let them inside. This broke my heart as I knew I could help him by extracting his rotten teeth, but the fact that he did not have the money to pay was hard to swallow. I could not believe that I was the only attainable resource for this population to receive any type of dental care! I wanted to stay so much longer and just pay for people to be able to see me. The Haitian's must pay for themselves, or else the mission would be bombarded and would not be able to see everyone. The mission is also privately funded, so even the small charge to see a doctor helps them stay in business.

The word was starting to get out and we were extremely busy the rest of the day. My hand was so tired at the end of the day that I couldn't even grasp the forceps to extract teeth. Haitians have extremely long roots and very dense bone, requiring a lot of work for each extraction. I had to separate many roots with a drill and really work to determine the best way to extract each tooth.
We called it quits for the day and made it to dinner, devotions, and played our usual game of uno while eating popcorn and drinking real cane sugar sodas.

Thursday

Again I woke up, extremely sore and tired. Again, the word had spread through the city and we had a full waiting room of patients waiting as soon as we headed down to the clinic. I saw 7 patients from 8-9:30 and sent all my instruments to the autoclave to be cleaned. Meanwhile, my team and I took a little break and went to go see all the babies that were on campus waiting for their vaccines. Some only 5 days old, some a couple years, we all took turns holding happy, sleepy, and sweet babies. It was such a glorious break and to see the beautiful view of happy mamas holding their babies in the Haitian sun, was another small glimpse of heaven. Anyone who knows me knows I LOVE BABIES! I would love to adopt a baby from Haiti, but the children in the mission orphanage are not up for adoption. They believe in raising the kids in Haiti, and growing them into productive adults to better the Haitian society. You can, however, sponsor each and every Haitian living in the mission. After they took all the babies inside, we had a little bit of time till our instruments were clean. We headed down to the Grand Moun to check up on Meprilla again. She came outside to greet us with a GIANT SMILE! She looked so much better and happier! Her swelling had reduced and she was no longer in pain! She again thanked me so much for helping her and loving her. She is such a sweet lady and I am so thankful I had to opportunity to meet and help her.

We returned to the clinic, where we worked hard for the rest of the day. I saw 12 patients and extracted 22 teeth by the end of the day. We ended and had the opportunity to go on another walk through the city with a different group of people. Their mardi gras festival was just beginning and it was really fun to see how they celebrated! Voodoo is very real in Haiti and they all wore masks and danced around the town square. We walked past a man climbing a coconut tree, cutting down coconuts. He slid down and picked up a couple coconuts and handed me and another girl one. I thought it was a nice gesture as most people would always ask us for money and try to sell bracelets and mats to us as we walked by. When we got back to the mission, one of the doctors was talking about going on a hike to a high elevation to see over all of St. Louis du Nord. Even though we were exhausted, we joined in!

It took us 30 minutes of hiking up a mountain to arrive at the top where the view was incredible! It is so sad to see a beautiful place like Haiti with such potential to be just as beautiful as another other Caribbean island, coated in trash. Far above it doesn't look as dirty and the tropics really shine. We could see a wonderful view of Tortuga, a new soccer field, and the mission. We climbed back down the mountain and as we passed people they would waved and smile. I was walking, minding my own business when two little kids yelled "Ashley! Ashley!" I turned and was confused at first, not knowing how they new my name. Then Kelly reminded me that I introduced myself at the dental presentations and they must have been listening. It warmed my heart that they remembered and cared who I was. The Haitians are truly very loving people and appreciate others efforts to help them, no matter how small.

That night for dinner a few men from my church cooked awesome BBQ chicken legs, baked beans, and corn bread! It was a nice change from the typical carb loaded Haitian meals. A group of the older orphan girls sang for us at devotions and it was absolutely beautiful. I was able to share at devotions about my experience through the week and explained how much everyone meant to me and how humbled I felt because everyone called me doctor and treated me like one.

Friday 

We woke up early to catch our tap tap to ride to the "airport" in Port-au-Paix. We waited about an hour once we arrived for our 6 seater plane to arrive. We traveled to Port-au-Prince where we waited about 6 hours in the airport for our connecting flight due to some delays. We flew from Port-au-Prince to Miami and made our way through customs and were heading to our gate when we heard our flight was delayed. We ate a nice American meal and headed to our gate. Delay after delay, we finally got on our flight an hour and a half late and got back to Kansas City at midnight. I was welcomed home by my amazing fiancé who finished up wedding planning while I was gone.

A Few Extras

As I reflect I just want to encourage anyone who has thought about going on a mission trip, but didn't go because they thought they needed medical training to make a difference. Every single person who went was used with and without medical background. I had a hairstylist, ultrasound tech, pastor, and 9 year old helping me in the dental clinic, and we did great. There was a prayer team, people who completed eye charts, and manned the pre-op and post-op rooms all who were in college or not medically trained. Every talent can be used on a mission trip!

Another thing I encourage you to do is look into sponsoring a child or elderly adult living on the mission. You can go to NWHCM.org and look into what it all entails. My fiancé and I are sponsoring Meprilla now so she can get the medications, food, and care she needs. It isn't expensive, and you are literally providing basic necessities for them. It is also neat because you can communicate with them and show them love that they aren't receiving from a family.



I cannot believe that I just spent a week in Haiti serving the underserved, the forgotten. I am more blessed because of the people I met and became close with than the blessing I provided by extracting rotten and painful teeth. God has given me a heart to serve, a talent to share, and a support system I would never have imagined. There is nothing special about Ashley Anderson, beside the fact that Jesus Christ came into my life nearly 8 years ago. I am humbled by the opportunity provided for me to travel to Haiti and serve them to the point of exhaustion everyday. I am already planning on making the trip next year!

Lastly, I was reading my bible one afternoon and this passage nearly jumped out at me about serving on the mission.

1 Thessalonians 5 12 We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, 13 and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves. 14 And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle,[c] encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all. 15 See that no one repays anyone evil for evil, but always seek to do good to one another and to everyone. 16 Rejoice always, 17 pray without ceasing, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 19 Do not quench the Spirit. 20 Do not despise prophecies, 21 but test everything; hold fast what is good. 22 Abstain from every form of evil.

23 Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. 24 He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.

Exciting Things Happening

My world is pretty crazy now. Between clinic and everything else going on, I don't have much free time, but its all for good.

At school we have been busy deciding where we want to go on our four external rotations next year, figuring out when we are taking the second part of our national boards, and working through bugs in our schedules. I have gained so much experience since I started seeing patients at the beginning of July. I've completed over 200 extractions, 40 fillings, 2 crowns, 2 removable partial dentures, 30 scaling and root planings, among many comprehensive exams and other procedures. For about a month I strongly considered specializing in oral surgery, but after much prayer and consideration, I've decided to stick with general for now. I love extracting teeth just because every extraction is unpredictable. It's a challenge to see a tooth, look at the x-ray, and determine the best approach to remove it from the mouth. Then once the tooth is successfully extracted it's an amazing feeling and pure satisfaction. It's an experience that can't be explained unless you've done it.

I have met some very interesting, crazy, and sweet people as patients, and truly am honored to be able to change someone's life by changing and restoring their smile. Some of my patients are ex-drug users, some still using, some haven't been to the dentist in 10 years, but going from rotten teeth to health is an amazing thing to witness. I've finished one case so far, and her transformation is amazing.

I can't wait to successfully treat many more patients like her and be able to compare where they started to the final product. I am loving dentistry more and more everyday and learning new ways to perform procedures.

I have been busy planning my wedding on the side as well as preparing to travel to Haiti for a mission trip. It might sound crazy, but in two weeks I leave for Haiti, where I will be for one week, and once home I'll be getting married two weeks later.

I am traveling with a group of people from my church in Kansas City to Haiti where I will be performing extractions and cleanings. While at the mission I will be treating both adults and children. There is an orphanage there where I will see kids for cleanings, and a clinic where I'll set up shop for extractions. I was asked to go on this trip in December, and all the details have been completely taken care of from the expenses to time off of school, God has taken care of it all! I am so excited to use my talents to bless those who don't receive dental care on a regular basis or maybe ever.

If you could say a prayer for my travels, safety, and health I would greatly appreciate it! Also pray that God would use me in a powerful way and that I would have energy each day to see and treat as many people as possible. Pray that the word that I am coming would be spread to those who need dental care. Also, pray that I wouldn't get sick as I won't have much time to recover before my wedding. I am so blessed and honored to have this amazing opportunity to serve the people of God and cannot wait to share my experience with you!


"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth." Acts 1:8