May 14-21 Trip

Submitted by Dr Jim Birong

The Carrollton Haitian Team was formed in 1997 after
I went to Haiti to join my son who was going to Pignon
with a group of students from Franciscan University.
I flew with the team to Miami where I met Paul Severson
and we flew in on MFI. Being a dentist, I spent a week
in the dental clinic working with Dr. Petite. I was working
long hours fixing teeth when Dr. Guy took me aside
and said, "You can't fix them all. Your goal needs to be
to teach my people modern dentistry.
You need to come to Pignon and do what you do
in Ohio."

So I went back to Carrollton, Ohio and asked
my lab technician, Don Montgomery to go to Haiti so we could
do crowns and bridges andeverything we do in Carrollton.
Don and I and many others have been
going to Pignon for fifteen years now. This year there were
six of us: Don and Mary Montgomery, Leroy VanHorne,
Jim and John Weyand and myself.

Our main objectives were to first check on the
mango project(a project to grow mango trees for
eventual shipment of fresh mangoes to the United States
and to slice and dry mangoes which we package for
sale in churches). A highlight of this trip was that our
mango manager, Odiel Saintilus. Greg Miller (one
of our team members who could not go this
time due to a medical problem) who designed our
mango dryer felt that Odiel was a huge asset..
his knowledge of all varieties of mangoes, his
meticulous cleanliness and hygiene, his honesty and
integrity and his discipline of keeping
the preparation building incredibly clean. His dedication
to the farm and our project made it seem like he had no
life outside his work. But then last year we heard he had
a girlfriend and this summer at age 32 he is getting married and seems so happy.

Secondly, we went to do some crown and
bridge and teach Dr. Wesley Joseph how to do bridges.
Dr. Joseph is the first dentist from Pignon. Dr. Joseph
was born and raised in Pignon and now has
come back to work in the clinic. I have found
his work to be excellent.
Dr. Petite from Cap Haitian was the first dentist
in Pignon and is now looking forward to retirement.
Our third objective was to install two new
x-ray units, some equipment
to develop x-rays and to set up a new
chair and light. We set up a regular dental
X-ray and a panelipse x-ray which takes a picture of the
whole jaw. Dr. Joseph said
he was only aware of two other panelipse x-rays in Haiti.
Fourth, the Weyand brothers went to LeJeune to
set up a dental clinic for Dr. Acene. One problem in Haiti is
that they graduate twenty-five dentists a year
but half of those end up in the States. I hope to encourage
more to stay byoffering to set up dental clinics in Haiti.
We stayed in the Minnesota Dorm which was
very pleasant. We enjoy sitting
on the roof contemplating the mysteries of the universe
in the evening, and praying
in the morning as the sun rises over Mt. Pignon.
The stars from the roof of the Minnesota
dorm are exceptional but since electricity arrived you
have to wait til the power shuts
down at 11:00 and all the lights go out to view them!
We usually fly through Miami to Port-au-Prince
and then up to Pignon on MAF. We used to do this in
one day but MAF now refuses to fly later
than noon so we are unable to get there from
Pittsburgh before noon, so we have to
stay overnight in Miami and take the early flight to PAP.
Coming back we usually get home
in one day---PAP to Miami and on to Pittsburgh.
Sometimes we go through JFK in New York.
This year we were going through JFK and our
flight out of Port-au-Prince was delayed
three hours so we had to stay overnight in Long Island.