Mission Waco volunteers serve in Haiti

A 24-person team from Mission Waco recently spent eight days in Haiti, serving in the northeast region of the impoverished nation that suffered a devastating earthquake in January.

A medical team of two physicians, two nurses and several assistants treated more than 400 patients in three days at a clinic. They also distributed thousands of dollars of donated medicine and served everyone who visited the clinic a nutritious meal.

A small church-based clinic Mission Waco has used in its ongoing ministries to Haiti in recent years was being expanded while the Texas-based team was on hand to help.

“ Due to the generosity of a Christian foundation and several other matching donations of $15,900, over 30 Haitians were employed for two weeks to add six more rooms and two toilets to the former three-room clinic,” said Jimmy Dorrell, executive director of Mission Waco. “Baylor students—along with Haitian laborers—worked daily to carry rock, cement and blocks for the construction work.”

A church-based clinic was being expanded while a team from Mission Waco was on hand to help. The job provided two weeks of employment of 30 Haitians who added six rooms and two toilets to the former three-room clinic.

Haitian Pastor Zenas Pierre used salvaged materials, to build an additional three rooms for the 10 orphans he and his wife care for each day, Dorrell reported.

While the Mission Waco team was in Haiti, one water well was drilled and another was repaired.

“Several of the contaminated water wells from years past that were previously tested were now clean. Only two still needed purification,” Dorrell said.

While the Mission Waco team was in Haiti, one water well was drilled and another was repaired.

The team also was involved in shooting photographs of 80 unsponsored school children. Currently, Mission Waco has enlisted sponsors at $195 a year to enable 148 Haitian children to attend school.

Four $125 scholarships also were established to help high school students complete their last year of secondary education, Dorrell noted.

The Mission Waco team also met with 37 women to begin a micro-credit loan program to help them establish small businesses to lift them out of poverty.