St. Pierre parish,
Baradères, Haiti
Sister parish of St. John the Baptist, Silver
Spring, Md.
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Early on in our hike, we briefly stopped to visit the family of a child whom I had seen last year and had been critically ill. At that time, she was a very tiny, malnourished, weak one-year-old with a greatly enlarged liver and spleen, severe anemia, and an extensive, infected skin lesion on her back. We gave her some antibiotics and infant Tylenol and told the parents that if they could get her to the hospital we would pay for her care there (with funds we had from an anonymous donor.) They went to the hospital (a 2-3 hour walk) and she was diagnosed with a congenital infection and treated—we were told she stayed in the hospital for about a month! Much to my complete surprise, here she was a year later—still alive—a miracle itself. She is still very tiny and is not walking yet at two years old; yet she was alert and bright-eyed, her liver was only barely palpable, and her skin had healed well. Her mother thanked us and started talking about a gift for us. But what more gift could we have than that very moment? In Baradères, there are just tiny little victories—one little person a little bit healthier, one headache eased by some Tylenol, nothing earth-shaking. I’m grateful to be a part of these little things.
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