Program in Haiti faces uncertainties

When Kathy Walmer arrived in earthquake-stricken Haiti at the end of January, a highway bypass functioned as a makeshift airstrip. 

Although atypical travel experiences like this may be familiar to Walmer, the executive director of Family Health Ministries, they may be unsettling for Duke undergraduates planning on going to the country for the first time.  

Family Health Ministries, a Durham-based nonprofit, partnered with the Duke Global Health Institute and DukeEngage to take eight students to Léogâne, Haiti last summer. But Sumi Ariely, student projects coordinator for DGHI, said concerns about available landing strips, student safety and the potential burden non-specialized volunteers may cause, could ground this year’s trip before takeoff.

“If it’s safe and they can use us, we want to be there,” said DukeEngage director Eric Mlyn. 

The International Travel Oversight Committee, of which Mlyn is a member, added Haiti to its restricted regions list for travel Jan. 23

Mlyn said the ITOC must consider travel safety, availability of medical facilities and housing stability in determining whether to remove Haiti from the restricted regions list. ITOC will also consider advice from organizations such as the U.S. State Department, the British Foreign Services and International SOS.

“We do not wish to inhibit good faith intentions of our students to contribute to the support and rehabilitation efforts in the country. For that reason the International Travel Committee will reassess the situation, and the restriction, on a daily basis as we receive word from colleagues on the ground in Haiti,” said Christy Parrish-Michels, manager of global administrative support for the Office of International Strategy.

Ariely said DGHI will have to decide by mid-March whether the joint DukeEngage and DGHI trip to Haiti will continue as planned. Any logistical issues, such as the time it takes to get travel visas, would become another obstacle.  

“We are working with the hopeful assumption that the program will continue,” Ariely said.

DukeEngage has already selected this summer’s eight participating students, and if the trip happens as planned, students will work to reduce the safety issues associated with pregnancy, said Dr. David Walmer, founder of Family Health Ministries and Kathy Walmer’s husband.

Freshman Julie Rivo, one of the eight participants, became interested in Haiti because her community in Miami has a large Haitian population. Her interest has increased while taking Haitian Creole for the Haitian Recovery this Spring.

Rivo said that when she was accepted to the trip, she set aside her summer to address women’s health care needs in Haiti.  

“Some people like me have not applied to other programs because they knew they were doing DukeEngage,” Rivo said. 

But program administrators have assured the DukeEngage students that officials will create another program for them if they cannot go to Haiti, Rivo said.

Even if this summer’s program cannot go forward, DGHI supplements its international work with Durham-based relief efforts, said Geelea Seaford, assistant director of communication at DGHI. She added that such efforts could include focusing the 2011 winter forum on Haiti. 

Ariely said these are just some examples of DGHI’s commitment to Haiti. 

“We’ve been there for the long haul, we’re going to be there for the long haul,” Ariely said.