Locals Travel to Haiti

Story by Corinne Saunders

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Haiti may seem a world away from the northwestern mountains of North Carolina, but a number of High Country residents have taken up the cause of an already poor nation further devastated by the January 12, magnitude-7.0 earthquake whose epicenter was located not far from the country’s capital, Port-au-Prince.

High Country Press spoke to two of the many such locals who are packing their bags and taking a trip with the sole purpose of helping fellow human beings in need.

Dr. Jeff Sutton
Dr. Jeff Sutton, owner of Family Eye Care in Boone, left the Charlotte airport on Saturday, January 30, to fly into the Dominican Republic Saturday night because the airport in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, “is very nonfunctional at the moment,” he said on Thursday, January 28.

Sunday, January 30, would bring a “10-plus-hour bus ride across the border to the worksite,” which is located north of Port-au-Prince, he said.

Sutton is traveling with North Carolina Baptist Men (NCBM) Team No. 4, he said, with 10 others from across North Carolina and several others from surrounding states, and will return from the 10-day trip on February 8.

“I will be in an area known as Petionville [that] was established immediately after the earthquake,” Sutton said, explaining that the NCBM established the area through a local church connection with whom they were already in contact, and the area includes a 25-bed hospital, which is still “processing more than 250 people per day.”

“Here we are 17 days after the major quake and more than 50 aftershocks [and] even today, they’re having people coming in with broken bones [and other] major injuries from the quake that have not been able to receive care [until now].”

Sutton made plans to travel to Haiti because of the “huge need,” he said.

“When I heard about how much devastation there was, I wanted to go and help. I am a medical missionary. My family and I have served all over the country and all over the world.”

NCBM is “well-established in disaster relief” and has been sending teams to Haiti continually since the earthquake, Sutton said, adding that, despite the name, it is not strictly limited to North Carolina residents and also includes women.

The organization “was one of the first groups” to respond after Hurricane Katrina’s landfall, and set up portable units to help people, Sutton said.

The team of which Sutton is a part includes “two orthopedic surgeons, one general surgeon, respiratory therapists [and] the rest are nurses with various specialties, trained in various backgrounds,” he said.

Sutton is an optometrist but is also trained in emergency medicine, a certified mechanic and skilled in building maintenance—and he is prepared to use any and all of those skills as needed in Haiti, he said.

He feels that he is not doing enough if, “when I’m given the gift I am, to help and heal,” he remains in Boone and merely runs a business.

“We’re there to show the hope of Christ [and] introduce them to our friend Jesus,” he said.

The team will transport a lot of equipment and medical supplies—all donated from pharmaceutical companies, Samaritan’s Purse and other organizations—to the worksite. “We had more come in than we can take,” he said of donated supplies.

Sutton considers it “ a blessing to get to go and serve,” and is grateful for patients who understandingly reschedule their appointments with him, he said.

He also expressed thankfulness that a second eye doctor came on staff in September, who was able to take “a good bit of the patient load” during the Haiti trip dates, he said.

“This is not going to be a one-month thing or a six-month thing,” Sutton said of the “desperate situation” in Haiti. “People are hungry [and] low on fuel. A lot of people are resorting to eating ‘clay cookies’ [made] of mud, grass and water.

“People who have a heart to help” can do so in a number of ways, which include sponsoring someone on a trip or donating through organizations like Samaritan’s Purse or NCBM, he added.

For more information or to donate, click to www.samaritanspurse.org or www.baptistsonmission.org.

Lee Hyett of Hearts Hands and Hope for Haiti
“Haiti is one of those places where you either think it’s an interesting and unique place, or it grabs your heart and will not let go,” said Lee Hyett, cofounder and president of Hearts Hands and Hope for Haiti.

And in Hyett’s case, the latter happened. After accompanying friend Ricky Coffey to the nation that shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic five years ago, he became a passionate advocate for doing all he can to help the Haitian people.

Coffey has been traveling to Haiti six or seven times a year for about 23 years, and Hyett has spent one to two weeks in the Caribbean nation three to five times each year for the past five, he said.

The two Blowing Rock residents began Hearts Hands and Hope for Haiti more than a year and a half ago, Hyett said, explaining that the nonprofit, interdenominational, “Christian-based organization” is governed by a five-member board.

The group’s main contact in Haiti is Phyllis Newbey, who has “been down there about 40 years,” Hyett said, adding that the nonprofit regularly works with Reformed Church of God churches in Haiti.

“The main thing we do is build churches, schools,” he said, explaining that the buildings serve as schoolhouses during the week and churches on Sundays.

“We always go the first of December and take a semi-trailer full of food, clothes, building materials [and more].”

In December 2009, all five board members made the trip, along with a few other people, and in addition to the regular supplies, they took a four-wheel drive Kubota tractor, generators, two pickup trucks and hand tools, he said.

“Little did we know it would be so needed so soon,” Hyett said.

The earthquake and its aftershocks did not destroy any of the buildings on the 10-acre compound run by Hearts Hands and Hope for Haiti, which include a hospital/clinic, a pastor training center/mission house and an orphanage housing 56 children ages 8 months to 17 years.

That number of children is “pre-earthquake,” Hyett noted.

The organization is involved with food and clothing distribution in Haiti and also participates in community outreach through some of the local churches with which the group is affiliated.

Additionally, the nonprofit sponsors small, sustainable businesses, to “help [Haitians] help themselves,” he said, adding that past examples include helping a farmer lease a field for a banana farm and helping a lady start a pharmacy.

Hyett values developing a relationship with those who support Hearts Hands and Hope for Haiti financially, and sends donors regular newsletters, he said, because “we want people to know where their money is going.”

“Every dollar donated goes to Haiti,” he added. “The dispersal is overseen by at least one board member.”

The organization is focused on the “long-term situation” in Haiti, but Hyett is also acutely aware of the need for immediate relief aid right now, also, he said.

Hyett and Coffey, upon hearing about the earthquake, started making plans for a return trip to Haiti, but American Airlines has pushed the flight back three times already, and the men are now not scheduled to fly until February 19, Hyett said.

“We’re on the waiting list for three other groups,” he added. “We have great, great friends down there [and] I can’t wait to see them.”

Although they did have chances to go already, they waived the opportunities because they felt it was more important to let doctors get there.

“We’re not first responders,” he said.

Hyett ventured to say that the earthquake that rocked the nation might also bring a ray of sunshine for the country’s future.

The Haitian people in general are wonderful, warm-hearted and hardworking—a sharp contrast to the country’s government, he noted.

Governments from many nations “have poured tons of aid [into Haiti], but through the government,” Hyett said, adding that large percentages of the monies have been “siphoned off,” and it is “absolutely terrible how corrupt the government is.”

The devastation caused by the earthquake might actually provide “a chance to rebuild a better country than could have ever been patched,” he said.