Haiti Medical Mission: Summer 2011

Dear family and friends,

Summer 2011 is promising to be both challenging and exciting. Once I finish summer school at LSU, I will be flying more than 2,000 miles to serve as a medical missionary from July 12^th to August 17^th at Canaan Christian Community’s clinic in Montrouis, Haiti, located about 50 miles north of Port Au Prince.

The clinic serves up to 70 patients each day, as well as many of the children at Canaan’s orphanage located on site. After a tremendous amount of prayer and months of correspondence with the head nurse and founders of Canaan, I’m looking forward to this amazing opportunity to share my love with one of the world’s poorest countries.

I am travelling alone without any support from any organization or group. Inspired by faith, I have planned this trip on my own, but cannot get there and back without the support of my family and friends. Anything from prayers to monetary support will help me on my journey! This is not a vacation or site-seeing trip. I will be spending all my time at the clinic, orphanage, or anywhere the clinic needs me helping the Haitian people. My main expenses will be for travel, food and shelter in the time I’m away: $2,950. Any extra money I raise will go towards the children living at the orphanage and clinic, but I still have a long way to go.

As a medical anthropology student and Christian woman, I am passionate about providing culturally competent health care. Canaan's medical clinic (in conjunction with the orphanage) is the type of cross-cultural setting I best serve.

I did quite a bit of research on organizations that pursue medical missions, and I learned about Canaan from my friend from LSU’s Tiger Band, Tommy Chapman, who served as a teacher at the orphanage last summer. Canaan feels like a good fit for my interests in medical missions, my skills in medical practice and childcare, and my desire to serve within a spiritually committed environment.

I previously travelled to Mexico for an orphanage-renovation project in 2005 and participated in inner city Houston ministry missions in 2006 with my home church, Crosspoint Community of Katy, TX.

Although I'm still a student, my professional background is in medicine: I work at both Baton Rouge General hospitals as an electrocardiogram technician and have also spent some time at Our Lady of the Lake Catholic hospital. I am comfortable working in a clinic, where I serve most often at the General hospitals, as well as in Emergency Room care. I’m saving all the extra money I make from my job as an electrocardiogram technician at Baton Rouge General Hospital, as well as babysitting on the side, to pay for as much of the trip as I can.

This trip embodies the work I want to do for the rest of my life.

I speak intermediate level French, and have always been drawn to Haiti because of its Francophone roots. The health clinic at Canaan no longer has any interpreters working at the clinic, and I'm thrilled to know that my enjoyment of speaking French can be used to help communicate with patients and clinic staff. Hopefully by breaking down the language barrier, Canaan can improve the degree of care provided to patients.

I’ll be documenting my journey (only when Internet is available) on my blog. My e-mail is bapiche@comcast.net, so please feel free to send me a message with any questions, concerns or words of wisdom. Please send me your e-mail addresses if you’re interested in receiving updates on how close I am to my monetary goal of $2,950. I will post expenditures on my blog and, if I surpass my goal, I will post the amount of your donations going directly to the clinic. If you're interested in donating, please e-mail me and I will send you my address!

For more information on Canaan Christian Community’s mission, please visit their Web site at http://www.canaanchristiancommunity.com/.

Thank you so much to supporting me in any way you’re comfortable with. I hope this letter catches you in good health and good spirits, and I look forward to hearing from you soon. I have approval from the clinic and they are expecting me, so I will need to purchase my plane ticket soon. Please be a part of this experience with me.

Love,

Brianna Piche