Arielle's Story

There are no coincidences in Haiti

By Lauren Lyons, MSPT

I had the privilege of spending two weeks at HAS working with the staff of the Hanger Clinic and HAS's Rehabilitation Services Integration Initiative (which includes the Rehabilitation Technician Training Program). My time at HAS was preceded by a week teaching rehabilitation to nurses at the Justinian Hospital in Cap Haitian.

During our time in Cap, we met two journalists from an organization called Food for the Poor, who were staying at the same hotel. Upon hearing that we were therapists, they immediately brought out their cameras to show us a child they wanted us to meet.

Six-year-old Arielle both sustained an injury to her right hand and lost her left leg below the knee in the earthquake that struck Haiti on January 12, 2010. After the quake, her family was relocated to Cap Haitian for medical care and since their formal discharge had been living in a makeshift shack in a swamp. Her mother had been severely injured in a car accident eight years prior, and had also sustained a partial foot amputation.

Our new acquaintances wanted to know what we could do, if anything, to help. However, our time in Cap Haitian was limited, and so we did not have the chance to go meet Arielle. Even so, we took her name and contact information, as we were aware that there was no one in that area doing prosthetics.

In a short time, we left Cap Haïtien for Deschapelles and HAS Haiti, without having seen the little girl, and not sure whether we ever would. However, after the first two hours that I spent in the Hanger Clinic my first day at HAS, I knew it was the right place to bring her. Food for the Poor helped us contact her, and even arranged transportation to HAS. She arrived two days later. Our incredible prosthetists, Chris Blades and Eric Ramcharran, cast artificial limbs for both her and her mother, turning them around in less than twenty-four hours. Arielle and her mother lived in the LaScale housing community so that she could receive physical therapy and training with her new leg. She quickly made progress, building strength, and soon she was able to walk. Within a very short period of time she even started running and climbing the steps.

Although Arielle was experiencing having an artificial limb for the first time, this was not the case for her mother. This woman came in with an ancient prosthesis, which had been almost completely destroyed and was hardly usable. She was also fit with new bracing, and as a result she was able to get rid of her crutch and walk with an almost normal gait pattern.

And, what is more: Food for the Poor is in the process of building them new housing so that this small family has a home to return to. The amazing work being done by the Hanger staff, in partnership with HAS and this collaboration with Food for the Poor is truly putting people back on their feet again. It was my blessing to be a part of the amazing work being done there.

Tout moun gen you bwa dèyè bannan yo ~ Everyone has someone to support him.

About the Images:

Top Left: Arielle and her sister upon arrival

Middle Right: Arielle being fitted for a cast by Chris, Mom being cast by Eric.

Middle Left: Arielle's cast ready for socket fabrication.

Bottom Right: First steps with Lauren and Chris.

HTRIP: January Highlights

Dear Supporters,

HTRIP started the new year with both feet forward as it conducted another month of its revised agroforestry curriculum, completed data collection about promising tree-planting equipment, and finished purchasing and constructing equipment for its newest community nurseries.

The political disruptions in December set HTRIP's schedule behind, but with the hard work of our technicians and communities, we were able to get back on our feet in January, doubling up education session topics to make up for sessions that were missed. December's primary topic was seed collection and storage (communities collect the seeds for the trees they plant in their own nurseries, and HTRIP supplements these with seeds of rarer species). January's class sessions discussed soil conservation techniques, and we augmented the depth of the material in both.

Communities began putting this educational material to use this month, as they built their nurseries for the 2011 planting season, collecting soil, filling planting bags, gathering seeds, and cultivating seedlings in large germinating trays. HTRIP sponsors several large, central nurseries (in Deschapelles and Bastien, for instance), but the trees it produces there are only meant to supplement the production of each individual community's tree nursery; we consider it important that each community be able to function independently during each phase of the operation, from gathering seeds to pruning adult trees. We will finish distributing supplies to these community nurseries by the end of the week.

HTRIP director Starry Sprenkly planted seven replications of eleven thirty-six-tree plots in the summer of 2009. In the beginning of January, HTRIP staff visited each replication under Starry's guidance to measure tree growth, and collect soil samples and spatial data. The preliminary results from this experiment are excellent (some of the trees ghave grown more than three metres in sixteen months!), and may already provide us with tentative conclusions about the interaction of different tree species in Haiti's mountainous regions, a question that has never been adequately researched--but one that is very obviously tied to HTRIP's mission and goals.

We are looking forward to the next two months as we reach out to select the ten new communities we hope to take on for the 2011-2012 year and begin soil conservation work to lay the groundwork for the summer planting season. Thank you for your continuing support of these endeavors.

The HTRIP Staff
Including Starry Sprenkly and Dan Langfitt

About the images:

Top Right Deschapelles' central nursery: constructing equipment to distribute to communities for sifting soil.

Bottom Left The HTRIP staff atop the hydroelectric dam at Péligre, during a staff retreat last week.

See the RTTP Class in Action!

"I recently completed my first trip to Haiti as a Health Volunteer Overseas instructor in the Rehabilitation Technician Training Program. I found comfortable accommodations in Kay 7 on the HAS campus, and wonderful food cooked by Edith. I was privileged to begin the third class of RTTP students at HAS, and recognize that a lot of work preceded the first class session in selecting these students. The students expressed a desire to help others and recognized the need for rehabilitation services in Haiti. I found the students inquisitive and open to learning, so it was fun to work with them. I admire their spirit in traveling distances to get to class and learning new information through an interpreter. The needs of the people of Haiti are great, and I believe that the RTTP program meets some of these needs and improves the quality of life for many."

--Toni Sanders, Instructor
Rehabilitation Technician Training Program
HAS Haiti Rehabilitation Services Integration Initiative

HTRIP: A Year in Review

Dear Supporters,

December was a challenging month for HTRIP: the holidays at the end of the month have always put pressure on our monthly schedule of education sessions, and combined with disruptions following the elections a month ago, HTRIP was hard-pressed to accomplish the many things on its agenda.

Despite these challenges, we are pleased to say that we were able to make up many of the education sessions missed at the beginning of the month. We collected data on on of HTRIP Director Starry Sprenkle's ongoing experiments with tree growth, and began the daunting task of distributing hundreds of tools to communities for their 2011 nurseries (an important part of HTRIP's mission is to enable communities to practice agro-forestry on their own). We plan to conduct an inventory this month and finish purchasing and distributing nursery materials so that our communities can begin their nurseries earlier this year. We hope to improve on 2010's nurseries, which were delayed by last January's earthquake.

The year 2010 was full of many, many challenges, both for Haiti and for HTRIP. It started with the devastating earthquake of January 12, whose repercussions throughout Haiti were particularly felt in the Artionite Valley, where many people lost relatives and friends in the destruction of Port-au-Prince. The Artibonite received the highest numbers of refugees from the disaster, increasing the pressure on the land for agriculture as well as increasing the need for housing and the number of mouths to feed.

HTRIP and HAS were part of a large cash-for-work program that started after the earthquake, infusing cash into the local economy while improving infrastructure and the environment with public works projects. HTRIP was able to bring this prgram to all of its participating communities, and we supported improvement of mountain roads, the production of hundreds of thousands of trees, the construction of five water catchments, and the building of many kilometers of check dams to slow erosion in ravines.

We managed to function above average this year, in spite of flooding, hurricanes, a decastating cholera epidemic, and political unrest at the end of the year. HTRIP and HAS are still stoically soldiering on, drawing inspiration from the silent strength of the Haitian people. Thank you as always as we leave behind such a difficult year for Haiti, and we hope to continue our efforts with your support this year.

The HTRIP Staff, including Starry Sprenkle and Dan Langfitt

One Year Later: Remembering those lost, celebrating the resilience of the living

This Wednesday, January 12, 2011, marked the anniversary of the devastating earthquake that struck Haiti just one year ago. HAS and the Friends of HAS commemorated the event in a number of ways, which we'd like to share with you now.


In Haiti, at the Hanger Clinic at HAS, a special remembrance ceremony was held. Photographer Martha Rial uploaded a small album of photographs directly from Haiti that day. To view the photographs, click on the image above! More pictures from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette website can be seen here. For more media links relating to the earthquake anniversary, visit HAS's "In the News" page by clicking here.


In Pittsburgh on January 12th, an exhibition of artwork from the collection of the Friends of HAS Haiti went on display at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh. The show, titled UPSIDE DOWN: Haitian Art in the Aftermath of Chaos, included works from both before and after the earthquake. If you are in the Pittsburgh area and have the opportunity, this exhibition will be open to the public through the end of January. For visitor info at the Warhol, click here.

(Special thanks to Bill Bollendorf for lending some pieces from his own collection to the show, as well as to Miller Frames, and Caliban Bookshop!)

Work For Haiti: An Audio Slide Show by Martha Rial

Click above image to view audio slide show!

Friends Finds a New Friend: Intern Jillian Myers joins the Friends of HAS Haiti!

First, a little background on the program I am working on at Chatham University:

A Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) major at any accreditd university is required to master generalist practice. The Council on Social Work Education is Chatham's accrediting body, and insists that students who graduate from the university be able to demonstrate an ability to work in the field, act to professional standards, and really know what it means to be a social worker. Part of this process is completing some field work, including a 12-credit, 500 hour field placement that is completed over the course of a BSW's fourth year in college. This field placement allows students to complete the program at an accelerated rate, chiseling off as much as a year's worth of university study, while expanding that student's range of experience.

My long-term goal is to work in direct practice, that is, working directly with individuals, rather than in a more community-oriented setting. I am interested in gender equality, and would love someday to act as a therapist.

Why the Friends?

Like many Americans, the need in Haiti was brought dramatically to my attention with the earthquake of this past January. However, working with the Friends has been my more formal introduction to Haiti and Haitian issues, and I am learning a lot. I have long held great interest in helping others, especially those in great need. Haiti needs help, and I am so happy to be on board!
My work so far...

I feel like I have already done so much in my two weeks here! My time thus far has been spent researching possible energy sources that might be used at HAS, including solar ovens. I'm also researching water filtration systems and humanure, or the compost that is created from human waste matter. In addition, I'm helping find new members for the Friends' charity team for the Pittsburgh Marathon, and brainstorming new ideas for possible projects in collaboration with organizations like Chatham.

Oh! And, this Saturday, I will be selling Haitian crafts and metal pieces at the Kelly-Strayhorn Theatre, from 11 am to 5 pm, and will be doing the same on Tuesday the 14th at Chatham's library lobby from 10 am to 3 pm. Please come out and join us!