Dr. Lee’s Dental Mission Story #1 - Haiti 2012
On January 12, 2010, a devastating 7.0 earthquake struck the Haitian capital city of Port-au-Prince, leaving an estimated 300,000 people dead. Like many around the world, I desperately wanted to help Haiti cope with one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. But donating a few hundred dollars to the Red Cross didn't seem like enough. I was motivated to personally go to Haiti and do something to help the country heal and rebuild.
After connecting with a New York-based medical doctor who had led a medical mission team to Haiti in the summer of 2011, and was planning a return trip in August 2012, I decided to join her team to provide emergency dental care.
The Dangers of Cite Soleil
As this was my first-ever overseas dental mission project, I hadn't done my due diligence to determine the safety level of the community where we would be providing our medical and dental treatment.
It was only after I had arrived that I realized we were going to spend three days treating patients in an area called Cite Soleil—the poorest and most dangerous slum community of Port-au-Prince.
Due to the unmanageable level of crime and violence, local police only patrol this area between 8:00 a.m. and 4:00 p.m. Outside of these hours, local gangs take over Cite Soleil with rampant violence and crime, including rape and murder.
Our Mission Encounters Danger
Unfortunately, our mission experienced the danger of Cite Soleil firsthand. At about 4:15 p.m. on the main road on the outskirts of Cite Soleil, a group of about seven or eight teenage boys swarmed our Ford Expedition. A couple of these kids came up to my side of the vehicle, banging on my window and screaming something at me in Creole. I turned my head to the driver’s side to see that two of the gang members had guns pointed at the heads of our missionary driver and our mission team lead doctor.
With no police in the area to protect us and our truck stuck in a traffic jam with no place to escape, I felt that this was going to be my last moment. Seconds later, I heard the front passenger-side door open and the gang leader was trying to kidnap our Haitian-American translator, Marie-Flore!
During the melee, Marie-Flore had calmly told one of the medical doctors seated next to her that the gang was wanting the big backpack on her lap. Although this doctor initially did not want to part with her backpack (because inside was a $5,000 professional camera!), Marie-Flore convinced her to give up the bag to the gang, who took it and immediately fled the scene.
The Shocking Truth
All of us were in a state of shock after what had just happened. Fear and worry set in for me—as this incident had happened on the first day of a week-long mission. When we got back to our mission base quarters, I asked Marie-Flore what had happened to the vehicle door to allow the gang leader inside. Was the door lock broken? How did he break in?
Her answer was incredible: “I opened the door to let him in.”
Please wait for next week’s blog post for the conclusion of this dialogue between Dr. Lee and Marie-Flore!