Back home

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Hello,

We are all back home now. The last 4 of us made it back from Haiti late last night.
The travel blog was a great idea, but it turned out our hotel in Port au Prince did not have it's internet up an running! Other than a few hours every morning we were on the road and working hard everyday so had no time to look for other online options. Being -unplugged was particularly hard on one of our teens!

The trip was amazing. I find it hard to find the words to describe how well it went. Awesome, fantastic, wonderful....etc all seem to small to express the experience we had. The whole trip went better than I had imagined it would.
There was fewer problems and more fun, even working in the heat and humidity, than I had even hoped for. That is due to the really phenomenal hard working, dedicated people who went to Haiti to work and serve those in need.

The medical clinics saw 150 to 200 people a day for 3 days of clinic. Our oral surgeon saw over 150 children and adults in 2 days and extracted about 80 teeth. (Dental work is a very great need for most people, they can not afford any dental care at all).
Several children received antibiotics that were facing life threatening infections. We saved lives, changed lives and made lasting friendships.

As I wrote before, planning of this trip has been happening for at least a couple years. Despite that, and all the research we had done, there wasn't really any way to know, for sure, what would happen or how it would go once we arrived. What I get from my coworkers in Haiti for all most any humanitarian aid project is 'Come the people will be so grateful' and " Anything you can do or bring will be appreciated and more than they had before and help the people so much".
Which is all true, but also left allot to discover once we arrived with medical supplies and a team of folks ready to work.
I am happy to say that every single person on the medical team was okay with that and rolled along with whatever was happening with good nature, humor, an adventurous spirit and comradaree that meant we all had an excellent time.
In the end the best measure for the success of our trip is that everyone who went this time is looking forward to going on future medical trips. With what we learned from this trip, Sionofnds medical trips will only continue to improve.
I will write more in detail about each day in another post.
For now here are a few pictures of our trip.

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Comments

[jayne engle-warnick]

congratulations!
Dear Annie: congratulations to you and the whole team on what sounds like an amazing experience! How wonderful that you were able to connect with so many people and that you're all committed to more of this kind of very important work. thank you for sharing your travel blog with us! warmest wishes, jayne

[karen]

welcome home
Welcome home to you all. It sounds like you had a successful trip. I look forward to reading more about it. Get some rest first.... thanks to you all for all you are doing for the people of Haiti Karen

[AMber]

Yeah!!
Annie, I am so excited to hear of the sucess that you had on the trip!!! The pictures are amazing and I can't wait to hear all about each and every day.....I checked the blog every single day while you were gone and I have been holding my breath to hear all the details :) I am so glad that the trip was a success and I hope to be a part of your "crew" one day in the future! All my best, Amber

[Mandi]

Hey Annie, I just now finished reading up on your adventure and wishing that I could have been there with you all. It sounds like you had a very successful trip and I can't wait to go on the next one with you. Thanks again for keeping us updated on your trip and for all that you do. Hugs, Mandi