Veterinarians, Cholera and a Hurricane

I have long been fond of saying that Bohoc, Haiti, like State College, Pennsylvania, is equally inaccessible from all directions. With Interstate 99 coming through, that is changing somewhat for State College. And with the National Route 3 paving project getting closer to Hinche, it is on the verge of changing for Bohoc as well.
But thankfully, our inaccessibility to hurricanes will not change due to a paving project. The mountains that have protected this area from the ill effects of hurricanes for generations have done so again the last couple of days. By the grace of God Hurricane Tomas did not make landfall at all in Haiti, but passing Haiti closely, it did create flooding problems along the south coast. Here on the Central Plateau we just got several days of nice rain that we needed to keep the sugar cane, sweet potatoes, manioc, plantains, beans and peanuts growing. Thanks for your prayers for us and please pray for those who were hard hit by the hurricane.

The cholera epidemic has moved a bit closer. We have heard of cases in St Michel northwest of us and in Hinche to the south. So far there have been no cases here in the Pignon area, that I know of. Our personal water supply here at HAFF is a deep well on the HAFF property. We all either boil or filter our drinking water. The community has several wells as well as a couple of springs from which they can get their water. And, as of a couple weeks ago, 60 families in the area have the same water filter that HAFF uses at the dorm and that some of the HAFF staff use in their homes. Please pray that the epidemic would be stopped and no more people would die or be infected.

One of the best parts of the last two weeks or so was the Veterinary team from Atlantic Veterinary College at the University of Prince Edward Island. Three Veterinarians, three veterinary students and a vet agent came and spent 8 days at HAFF working with 12 local veterinary agents.

It was an intense 8 days.

There were two days of seminars where the Canadian team taught the Haitians about the anatomy and physiology of the digestive and respiratory systems in horses and cattle, how to tell the age of animals from their teeth, how to estimate the weight of animals and then how to calculate dosages of medication, and how to safely restrain and move animals. If you right click on the photo montage at the left (and any of the ones following), you can open it in a new window and better see the details.

There were also two days of clinics. In Bohoc and in the mountains of Cercady the combined team of Haitian and Canadian clinicians vaccinated and de-wormed 1028 animals – cattle, horses, donkeys, mules, pigs, goats, dogs, cats and a few chickens – for 173 farmers. Some of those animals also had illnesses treated or wounds dressed.A fifth morning was spent doing labs for the students at Bohoc Training Institute – HAFF's secondary school. The Haitian veterinary agents who had attended the seminars shared with the students about safe animal restraint, telling the age of animals from their teeth, estimating the weight of animals, the respiratory and digestive systems of cattle and horses and discussing humane treatment of animals.
A fifth morning was spent doing labs for the students at Bohoc Training Institute – HAFF's secondary school. The Haitian veterinary agents who had attended the seminars shared with the students about safe animal restraint, telling the age of animals from their teeth, estimating the weight of animals, the respiratory and digestive systems of cattle and horses and discussing humane treatment of animals.
The afternoon of the day of the labs was spent training a group of 50 young people and their parents about goat care. Young people from 5 communities were chosen by the Community Relief Committee to receive goats to raise. 5 goats were given to each community group of 10 youth. Each goat was given a collar and each group of young goat owners received a pair of hoof trimmers and a tape for estimating the weight of goats so the group could keep track of the condition and growth of their goats. The goats were vaccinated and de-wormed before they were taken to their new homes.
Saturday morning that the team was at HAFF was spent at the Pignon market. After lunch in town, the team helped assemble the above mentioned water filters before they were distributed to the families.