Dear Ones,

Almost 1 year to the day after our international staff left Haiti, Education Director Daisy, Clinical Director Perrine, and I are back in Hinche! This morning I was able to sit on my balcony with a cup of tea and listen to the students below in the outdoor classroom sing and pray as they started their day. It did my heart good to see how life continues, and I could not be more proud of the way our students have remained committed to their educational journey.

The students are gearing up for Integration, that time in the curriculum when they are dispatched to external clinical sites around Haiti to increase their breadth of maternal health experiences. This year we have added University Hospital-Mirebalias to their rotations, the hospital built by Partners in Health. At 205,000 square feet of clinical space and 300 beds, this is widely regarded as one of the best hospitals in Haiti. We are so excited to be able to offer this rich experience to the licensed nurses in our program! We know they will learn so much.

We are so grateful to all of you who have contributed supplies, medications, or who have shared our work on social media. We send special thanks to the Dalton Foundation who contributed vital equipment, including fetal dopplers. Thank you! Every little bit helps as our students move towards becoming practicing skilled birth attendants. Look out, world, Class 11 is in the home stretch!

We are glad to have you both!

We are also delighted to welcome two US based volunteers to our team. Jennie Fofi is an Masters in Public Health student based in Richmond, who has already been so helpful to our Admin Director Brett coordinating supplies.

Ann Von Moritz is a doula and student midwife in Tacoma and has been able to help me with various administrative tasks from the Pacific Northwest.

We know how eager our field volunteers are to join us again. Please rest assured that we will let you know when we are re-opening our program as soon as possible. We are in the process of evaluating not only Covid 19, but also keeping a close watch on the security situation. As you may know, Haiti is very volatile at the moment, especially in Port Au Prince. Civil unrest, kidnappings and gang violence continues, and the safety of our staff and volunteers is our highest priority. We are just as eager as you are to see volunteers return!

The world is a strange place right now; vaccines have given us hope for a new normal, but things will never be quite the same. Look after each other, stand up for your sisters and brothers in need, and know that your love and support enables Midwives for Haiti to do the same here in the beautiful Central Plateau.

Love always,

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