11°F -12°C this morning. We're going in the wrong direction.
>Haiti
Her best friend, a super-skilled oncology nurse, moved to Grand-Goâve after the earthquake to help with medical relief efforts. Jenny had been there a couple of times before as part of a medical team. Jenny ended up opening a 'nursing station' which was supposed to do minor medical stuff in the remote hillsides. As it turns out, anybody with syringe and some medical know-how is soon pressed to perform full-blown duties as a doctor --there just ain't enough docs around, license & degree be damned. So, the nursing station has evolved into a regional clinic/pharmacy. To raise money to keep it afloat, it also performs as a hostel to house medical teams and other aid groups while they're there on missions.
Louise has been going for 4-5 years now as part of a mission group affiliated with a large church out of the Richmond, VA area. But groups always want to go out and help the widows, orphans, schools, etc. --the "warm & fuzzy, photo-op" stuff. Few took time to help Jenny with the infrastructure and needs of her compound. Louise had become somewhat frustrated by this and wanted to devote more time to working on the compound itself. Last year, I told her that the only way that was going to happen was to organize her own team and mission and take command. That's what she did this year with a team of 5 other local women. They raised about 1/3rd the money they needed to fund the trip and paid the rest out-of-pocket (total is approx $1500/person).
