WFWP-USA Supports Haiti Medical Mission Trip

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Women’s Federation for World Peace (WFWP) USA recently sent its Senior Vice President Rev. Juanita Pierre-Louis to support a medical mission trip to Haiti. The trip is part of ongoing poverty relief efforts made by the nonprofit-organization Stand Up To Poverty. Rev. Juanita shared about her 10-day experience on the Caribbean island nation.

This is the third time I have been to Haiti. The last time was about 20 years ago. But this time, I was there for a special medical mission trip from March 14 to 24. Another WFWP member from Minnesota also came with me and WFWP-USA fundraised to cover all of our expenses. We were bringing God’s Word—and medicine. 

Representing WFWP-USA, I arrived to help Astrid Fidelia, who is the founder and CEO of Stand Up To Poverty. WFWP supports her organization and its poverty relief efforts in Haiti and other places like Jamaica and The Bahamas. Even though we were set up in a clinic near the U.S. Embassy in Port-au-Prince, I was taken from one end of Haiti to the other. I went to the city hall and government district, as well as throughout the country, which was just remarkable! The island is unreal and I felt so much heart there. 

However, healthcare is still very bad in Haiti because of the 2010 earthquake and all of the hurricanes and flooding over the past several years. Infrastructure is almost nonexistent, too. But the spirit of Haiti is beautiful. The trees are growing back, and all the merchants were outside selling things. The dichotomy of people and businesses was almost surreal to me. While Astrid focused on the medical aspect of the mission, I focused on the healing. Haiti needs spiritual healing in addition to physical healing. I gave lectures on how to heal ourselves, and how God has given us everything we need in order to do this—we just need to know how to cultivate and develop this ability. 

We had all kinds of medical supplies that were donated for the mission trip. One clinic in the U.S. had closed up and donated all of their hospital beds and medical equipment, including respirators and ventilators. We had everything from eye medicine and eyeglasses, to even sneakers and sandals! The amount of medicine we had was like a drug store, and there was a doctor in every field there and they were just giving 100 percent—it was really miraculous.

I can really say this was a ‘medical mission’ because there were also surgeries. There was a little girl who was operated on for a severe birth defect that affected her whole digestive system. She looked so happy to finally get the medical help she needed. All of the people who received care were so grateful, and all of the children’s faces just lit up. It was such a beautiful experience and I had such a good feeling being there. It’s amazing how God comes in and intervenes. There was incredible unity, both internally and externally. 

I would have to say this was the most successful humanitarian mission I’ve been on. All of the things that were happening were just incredible. I was simply blown away by the number of medical beds that were sent to the clinic and all of the medicine and supplies that were donated. Haiti has a population of young professionals that is growing, and from what I saw, it looks like Haiti is on the rise. I’m hoping that the young spirit of Haiti can continue to grow and take charge. We ministered to the people there until we flew out. This is the age of the mother, and I believe we can absolutely change the world with that kind of heart. With love, poverty will become history.