Dunedin, Florida, City Commissioner
Jack St. Arnold (now a Pinellas County
Judge), City Manager John Lawrence, and
this reporter, Patricia Lieb, crossed over
South Florida, Alantic waters, and miles and
miles of lands of the Bahama Islands before
arriving in Cap Haitien, Haiti, on a hot
November day. We were welcomed by
anxious hands willing to unload food, medical
supplies and Christmas gifts we had brought.
Jack St. Arnold (now a Pinellas County
Judge), City Manager John Lawrence, and
this reporter, Patricia Lieb, crossed over
South Florida, Alantic waters, and miles and
miles of lands of the Bahama Islands before
arriving in Cap Haitien, Haiti, on a hot
November day. We were welcomed by
anxious hands willing to unload food, medical
supplies and Christmas gifts we had brought.
It was before dawn in late November
that Don DeHart and I sat at a patio table on
the varandah and talked about the For Haiti
With Love Mission and the work he was doing
for the people.
"I feel I'm on the hot bed of need.
Nobody picks Haiti. Haiti picks you," he said
soberly.
Don, who has been involved in helping
the very poor people of Haiti for 30 years, is
the founder and chairman of For Haiti With
Love.
The Palm Harbor, Florida, resident
spends most of his time at the mission, a
former part of a pink hotel on a picturesque
mountain side scattered with tiny huts and
poor and sick people. Don leases the facility
from the hotel owner.
"God said, feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, provide healing for the sick and
shelter for those who have nowhere to stay,"
said Don.
And Don does just that for as many
people as his funds will allow.
that Don DeHart and I sat at a patio table on
the varandah and talked about the For Haiti
With Love Mission and the work he was doing
for the people.
"I feel I'm on the hot bed of need.
Nobody picks Haiti. Haiti picks you," he said
soberly.
Don, who has been involved in helping
the very poor people of Haiti for 30 years, is
the founder and chairman of For Haiti With
Love.
The Palm Harbor, Florida, resident
spends most of his time at the mission, a
former part of a pink hotel on a picturesque
mountain side scattered with tiny huts and
poor and sick people. Don leases the facility
from the hotel owner.
"God said, feed the hungry, clothe the
naked, provide healing for the sick and
shelter for those who have nowhere to stay,"
said Don.
And Don does just that for as many
people as his funds will allow.
Inside the mission there is a long room
just off the tiny kitchen, used as a family or
gathering room and a dining room,
depending on whether guests are elbow to
elbow at a kitchenette-styled table over an
evening meal prepared from left-over
spaghetti sauce (as we were), or, just sitting
around gabbing about the deplorable
situation in this backward country or
listening to the chants of a voodoo
ceremony spiraling up the mountain from
the primitive, filthy city below (as we did on
Saturday evening).
just off the tiny kitchen, used as a family or
gathering room and a dining room,
depending on whether guests are elbow to
elbow at a kitchenette-styled table over an
evening meal prepared from left-over
spaghetti sauce (as we were), or, just sitting
around gabbing about the deplorable
situation in this backward country or
listening to the chants of a voodoo
ceremony spiraling up the mountain from
the primitive, filthy city below (as we did on
Saturday evening).
Walking, just the natives and me
Early one morning I slipped from the mission to walk
along a couple roads on the mountain where houses Don
DeHart built several years prior are occupied by proud
homeowners. I found the people so friendly. I met one young
man who spoke excellent English. He had a beautiful
crystal-looking rock and traded it to me for my tennis shoes.
Said the rock was quite rare in Haiti and that the shoes would
fit his sister. When I returned barefoot to the mission (we will
not even mention the lecture I got for venturing off alone
without telling anyone where I was going) and showed the
jewel I had obtained from the Haitian, Don laughed and noted
that the mountains were made of such.
Early one morning I slipped from the mission to walk
along a couple roads on the mountain where houses Don
DeHart built several years prior are occupied by proud
homeowners. I found the people so friendly. I met one young
man who spoke excellent English. He had a beautiful
crystal-looking rock and traded it to me for my tennis shoes.
Said the rock was quite rare in Haiti and that the shoes would
fit his sister. When I returned barefoot to the mission (we will
not even mention the lecture I got for venturing off alone
without telling anyone where I was going) and showed the
jewel I had obtained from the Haitian, Don laughed and noted
that the mountains were made of such.
I met this woman while on
a walk along the mountain
side. She couldn't speak
English, but she knew what I
wanted when I showed her my
camera. She laughed and
posed.
a walk along the mountain
side. She couldn't speak
English, but she knew what I
wanted when I showed her my
camera. She laughed and
posed.
"When I go back home, I get very
distrubed. I get very hostile with people
crying and complaining," Don said of his
returns to Palm Harbor where his wife, Eva,
collects funds and supplies to support the
mission.
"The real problems are in Haiti," he
said. "A mother doesn't have breast milk. If I
put a new baby on formula I have to take
another baby off."
With some 80 infants obtaining
formula provided by the For Haiti With Love,
there just isn't enough to serve all the
infants brought to the mission for help.
"It's like I have to decide which baby
lives or dies. That's a horrible situation. It's
a trying and emotional life when you have to
say no."
"Just a few weeks ago, a mother
brought in a two-week-old baby who had
never been fed," Don said. He used a
spoon to put formula in the infant's mouth.
A short time later, the child "died in my
arms."
Don, along with two Haitians, Joe
and Linda, whom Don has taught to treat
burned victims, do what they can to help
people. Volunteer doctors also come
periodically to treat more serious illnesses.
Each team of doctors usually stays for
about a week at a time. None receive
payment.
Recently on Sunday, two young
women came to the clinic with a
two-year-old patient Don had been treating
for a couple of weeks. The little girl had
received serious second-degree burns on
her side and hip. Don removed the old
dressing, pulled off dead skin, treated the
burn with medication and then dressed it
with a fresh bandage. The wound would
heal up without leaving a scar, Don said.
distrubed. I get very hostile with people
crying and complaining," Don said of his
returns to Palm Harbor where his wife, Eva,
collects funds and supplies to support the
mission.
"The real problems are in Haiti," he
said. "A mother doesn't have breast milk. If I
put a new baby on formula I have to take
another baby off."
With some 80 infants obtaining
formula provided by the For Haiti With Love,
there just isn't enough to serve all the
infants brought to the mission for help.
"It's like I have to decide which baby
lives or dies. That's a horrible situation. It's
a trying and emotional life when you have to
say no."
"Just a few weeks ago, a mother
brought in a two-week-old baby who had
never been fed," Don said. He used a
spoon to put formula in the infant's mouth.
A short time later, the child "died in my
arms."
Don, along with two Haitians, Joe
and Linda, whom Don has taught to treat
burned victims, do what they can to help
people. Volunteer doctors also come
periodically to treat more serious illnesses.
Each team of doctors usually stays for
about a week at a time. None receive
payment.
Recently on Sunday, two young
women came to the clinic with a
two-year-old patient Don had been treating
for a couple of weeks. The little girl had
received serious second-degree burns on
her side and hip. Don removed the old
dressing, pulled off dead skin, treated the
burn with medication and then dressed it
with a fresh bandage. The wound would
heal up without leaving a scar, Don said.
| Cap Haitien, Haiti A Mid-November Day In the City |
The gift of a
house is more than
most of us would
ever expect... but
Don DeHart built one
for this woman. Now,
he promises her a
door for the facility's
opening.
house is more than
most of us would
ever expect... but
Don DeHart built one
for this woman. Now,
he promises her a
door for the facility's
opening.
Helping the Children
There is never a charge for anybody who comes to the
clinic. They are never asked questions. They are treated for
whatever the problem is ~ the best they can be treated with
the staff and supplies there ~ then they are sent on their way.
The medical part of Don's work began a few years ago
during the Haiti embargo when the little amount of industry in
the country left and went to other islands in the Caribbean.
At the time, Don, a construction engineer, was in Haiti to help
teach the native people to build concrete-block homes. Don
discovered so many people were sick and in need of medical
attention that the former Korean War medic decided to help
restore heath to the people.
Don devotes a lot of time to patching up burns. Still a
builder at heart, he has built oodles of block houses on the
mountain sides in Cap Haitien and given them to poor people.
"I get more joy out of building a home for somebody
who never had a home. To build it and say, 'here, this is
yours for as long as you live.'"
"Our people got appreciation for Mister Don. I got lots
of appreciation for Mister Don. He's president of poor
people, works by the side of poor people," said Joe.
Joe, who has taught himself to speak English, is Don's
right-hand man. When Don is away, Joe is in charge of the
clinic. He treats and wraps burns and can stitch abrasions.
There is never a charge for anybody who comes to the
clinic. They are never asked questions. They are treated for
whatever the problem is ~ the best they can be treated with
the staff and supplies there ~ then they are sent on their way.
The medical part of Don's work began a few years ago
during the Haiti embargo when the little amount of industry in
the country left and went to other islands in the Caribbean.
At the time, Don, a construction engineer, was in Haiti to help
teach the native people to build concrete-block homes. Don
discovered so many people were sick and in need of medical
attention that the former Korean War medic decided to help
restore heath to the people.
Don devotes a lot of time to patching up burns. Still a
builder at heart, he has built oodles of block houses on the
mountain sides in Cap Haitien and given them to poor people.
"I get more joy out of building a home for somebody
who never had a home. To build it and say, 'here, this is
yours for as long as you live.'"
"Our people got appreciation for Mister Don. I got lots
of appreciation for Mister Don. He's president of poor
people, works by the side of poor people," said Joe.
Joe, who has taught himself to speak English, is Don's
right-hand man. When Don is away, Joe is in charge of the
clinic. He treats and wraps burns and can stitch abrasions.
The sole person in his family with a job, Joe supports his
wife and children, his mother, his wife's parents and all his
many aunts, uncles and cousins.
For Haiti With Love couldn't operater without the support
it gets from "people who love God and want to help," noted
Don.
"There's a lot of hope there," Don said with a smile. "It's
not all hopeless. I get a lot of satisfaction to see success."
It is the many contributors from the United States,
Canada, England and Germany, many sending as little as $10
a month. That supports the clinic and provides food for the
hungry, said Don.
The address of For Haiti With Love is P.O. Box 1017,
Palm Harbor, Florida, 34682-1017. Or you can e-mail the
mission from the For Haiti With Love Website.
wife and children, his mother, his wife's parents and all his
many aunts, uncles and cousins.
For Haiti With Love couldn't operater without the support
it gets from "people who love God and want to help," noted
Don.
"There's a lot of hope there," Don said with a smile. "It's
not all hopeless. I get a lot of satisfaction to see success."
It is the many contributors from the United States,
Canada, England and Germany, many sending as little as $10
a month. That supports the clinic and provides food for the
hungry, said Don.
The address of For Haiti With Love is P.O. Box 1017,
Palm Harbor, Florida, 34682-1017. Or you can e-mail the
mission from the For Haiti With Love Website.
A child Don has been
treating for a serious burn is
somewhat better, he
determines during her visit to
the mission clinic.
treating for a serious burn is
somewhat better, he
determines during her visit to
the mission clinic.
Visiting Haiti |