Eight members of the Bishop O’Connell Medical Missionaries Club traveled in early July to Thomassique, Haiti to support the work of the Medical Missionaries organization at the St. Joseph's Clinic. The trip was the culmination of a year’s worth of planning, fundraising and collecting much-needed supplies for the operations of the clinic.
St. Joseph's Clinic serves the needs of this rural region that is home to more than 125,000 people. The O’Connell students lent a hand in the pharmacy, the maternity ward and the emergency room, taking vital readings, consulting with patients and even handling pharmacy tasks. They also helped set up a mobile clinic that served 80 patients in one day.
At the same time, the students worked with a local youth group that supports the clinic. They shared some of their personal skills in sewing, knitting, piano and guitar with their new friends, who shared their talents in crocheting, cooking and much more. Any language barrier was wiped away when each group taught the other their native language. Since the mission trip fell during the week of the Fourth of July, the Haitian youth insisted on hosting a joint party and celebrating the holiday together.
At the end of a long day, the O’Connell students often gathered to reflect on the day’s events and share the impact of the trip on their life journey.
“At school, our students regularly talk about serving the poor and marginalized, but an experience like this gives them a clearer and more personal perspective,” said chaperone and theology teacher John Allen.
“We had an unforgettable experience in Thomassique with the doctors, nurses and our new friends,” said club president, Alexa Dantzler. “We learned about the daily life and hardships in this rural region, and although we can’t solve all the problems in one short week, we did what we could to give people hope for themselves and their futures.”
For Dantzler and her classmate, Emily Lodge, this was their second trip to Thomassique and a unique opportunity to build on the mission work completed the previous year. The two were able to literally see the fruits of their earlier labor, as the fruit trees they had planted near the clinic the previous year were already thriving.
The O’Connell delegation was accompanied by Allen, as well as Dr. Peter Dirr and Gachard Jean-Pierre from the Medical Missionaries organization, and Dr. Trina Sensenig, the previous club moderator, who also traveled with this group in 2012.