I Meet an Old Friend

My Haitian phone

I received my first phone call on my Haitian cell phone today. I missed the call. The phone was in my pocket and I heard the ringing but did not realize it was coming from my phone. I did not even know what my ring tone was. I was working on my laptop in the malaria room and I looked around to see where the sound was coming from. It stopped. Then I pulled out my phone and turned it on. Missed call. I put the phone down? Who could be calling me?

A couple of minutes later, I heard the ringing sound again. It was my phone ringing. I grabbed the phone. Now how do I answer the call? Too late! The ringing stopped. Another missed call. I looked up the number. I saw with relief that it was a Haitian number and not an emergency call from the States. I had given my Haitian number out to just a few people. So I checked the missed call number against the short list of Haitian phone numbers I have in a document on my laptop. Now I recognized the phone number. It was Lamothe Lormier, the Haitian liaison for Gift of Water (GOW).

I first met Lamothe when he came to Baradères in 2012 to demonstrate the GOW household water treatment system to the community leaders. I had been trying for four years to put together a water treatment project for our Sister Parish in Baradères. Some of you may know that my parish, St. John the Baptist in Silver Spring, has a Sister Parish relationship with the people of Baradères (http://baraderes.org/). I first visited Baradères in 2008 on a medical mission with other members of our church. My son, Pierre, came with me. I have been back to Baradères four times since then, once more with Pierre and twice with my youngest daughter, Odile.  I promised my other daughter, Cecile, that she will come with me to Baradères next year. Our church partnered with Lamothe and GOW and the first 300 household water treatment systems we purchased were distributed in Baradères earlier this year. Lamothe is a remarkable man. I wrote my impressions of Lamothe after that 2012 meeting in our church bulletin. GOW reproduced that article on their web site. You can find it under the Blog tab on the home page (http://www.giftofwater.org/). 

Lamothe Lormier in Baradères, January 2012

I called back the number. Lamothe had just arrived in Port-au-Prince and asked if he could stop by Christianville to visit me on his way to Petit Riviere. What a terrific surprise! I passed the phone to one of the lab techs who gave Lamothe directions on how to get here and two hours later Lamothe pulled up in his truck with his assistant, Junior (Junior is a very common Haitian name). It was great to see Lamothe again. Meer and I gave Lamothe and Junior a tour of the lab and the Christianville grounds and talked about the scientific and economic development projects going on around us.  Lamothe, in turn, explained the GOW water treatment system to Meer. Meer asked if Lamothe had a GOW system with him in the truck. Sue, at the orphanage, has been asking for something to treat their water ever since Meer found Vibrio cholerae in the nearby stream. Lamothe said he did not have one but promised to try and bring one back with him when he returns to Port-au-Prince next week.

Lamothe Lormier at Christianville

We invited Lamothe and Junior to stay for lunch and we introduce them to the Christianville family. Lamothe mentions that this is not his first visit to Christianville. He was last here 25 years ago! A lot has changed since then. We get some food and join Peter at the table. Lamothe and Peter exchange stories about Kenya. Peter is Kenyan and Lamothe had a Kenyan roommate when he did his studies in California. We talk. It’s almost like the group of us had been friends from long ago. But Lamothe still has a two hour drive to Petit Riviere so it is time to say goodbye. “Bonne route, bon travail, mon ami. A la prochaine.”

Lamothe and Junior

Meer, Lamothe, Tony, and Junior

I only arrived here eight days ago and I already feel like I am making connections. That is so important in Haiti. You need to know people to get things done. I think I am getting there. Before he left, I gave Lamothe a few of my business cards. Lamothe said he would put me in touch with the Parish Twinning people at Petit Riviere. We may be able to do something with them. I spend a lot of time sending out emails and trying to build my network of Haitians and foreigners working in Haiti. Yesterday I got a response from someone at the CDC who is a friend of a guy I know at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.  I had contacted Ezra Barzilay as a friend of a friend. Ezra apologized for the late rely and explained that he had to leave Haiti when the Federal Government shut down. He promised he will try to get together with me once the shutdown is over and he returns to Port-au-Prince.

I finished off the day by joining the Christianville family for dinner at Maca’s, a restaurant about five minutes from here. I order chicken and rice with piklis and a Prestige. Not a bad day today. Hey, I got a call on my Haitian phone. And now I know how to answer the phone.

Chicken, rice, piklis, plantane and a slice of tomato