Haiti: Dr. Fr. Frechette and Our Little Brothers and Sisters

By Faith Chatham - January 16, 2010


A few years ago, I rode from the airport to a mission conference with Father /Dr. Frechette, who runs an orphanage and hospital in Port au Prince, Haiti. We learned that we had mutual friends. I felt that I was in the presence of one of the most brilliant, humble men I'd probably ever meet. Even though our encounter was brief, I've never forgotten it. This week I thought of the Haitian people and of Fr./Dr. Frechette whose life is linked in love and service with them. I'd been impressed when a mutual friend told me that Fr. Frechette, an Anglican priest, went to medical school and became a physician so that he could help take care of the medical needs of the orphans he served.

Many people are seeking ways to help the Haitians. Our hearts lead us to seek reliable, efficient, focused conduits which are reliable partners who can receive what little we have to give and magnifying it through their day-in and day-out service in Haiti in combination with the resources others have entrusted to them in behalf of the people of that devastated island nation.

Yesterday, while watching news coverage of the Haiti, I saw footage of a doctor who works at the medical clinic Dr. Frechette operates in Port au Prince. Amazingly, while most other buildings fell to the ground, the Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs, French for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters,” hospital is intact. The doctor said "We are serving everyone who comes as best we can with what we have." He said: "We have shared our supplies freely with others who need them. We are out of everything. We need everything."

The Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs orphanage, inspired and founded in conjunction with Mother Teresa, and the hospital makes a practice of serving everyone, whether they can pay for medical services or not. They do not turn anyone away. They have served thousands of children and adults this week since the earthquake, and although medical supplies were in short supply and new provisions are slow coming into the earthquake demolished country, as long as they had medical supplies and medicine, they shared freely with other doctors and clinics who needed them.

Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs Hospital, was undamaged and open and was serving the sick and injured. I've seen footage of other clinics and hospitals which tumbled to the ground during the earthquake and/or some of the many aftershocks.My sister and her seriously injured colleague were treated in a make-shift tent because Port au Prince's largest hospital was too unstable to shelter patients. Seeing that the clinic /hospital operated by Fr. Frechette, the priest/physician with whom I'd shared a long airport limo ride over a decade ago, was standing, was undamaged, still in operation, while other clinics and hospitals in Port au Prince and most other communities within the earthquake zone, were reduced to rubble, I began thinking about that incredible conversation that I'd had with Father Frechette years ago about the orphans and work there in Haiti. Fr. Frechette is a friend of my dear friend, Fr. John Park, Dean of the Anglican Cathedral in Lima, Peru. Fr. Park was Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Honduras during Hurricane Mitch. This week in Haiti we are seeing devastation as great as we saw in Honduras when an earthquake hit that country simultaneously with the most devastating hurricane (Mitch) of region in our lifetime.

What I learned during Hurricane Mitch in Honduras, is that most NGO's come in, collect a lot of money from the public, and while the news cycle and world's attention is on a disaster, they "set up shop" and help for a while. Then they seem move on to some other crisis when the news cycle shifts to another part of the world. Most relief NGO's philosophy is that their mission isn't to improve the situation of the people but merely to try to help return them to the same state they were in before the disaster.

It seems to me that to make a real difference for the betterment of the people of the country, usually it takes people (and organizations) with deep ties in the community. It requires people with resources partnering with people who were there serving in the community/country before the disaster and whose devotion to the people keeps them there long after the world's attention has shifted to another disaster in another quadrant of the world. For the world to successfully partner with a country and make long-lasting, systemic, deep-rooted changes, it requires dedicated, determined, reliable, in-country partners who can direct and receive the resources offered by those of us from other communities/countries. I suspect that Fr. Frechette and the staff of Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (French for “Our Little Brothers and Sisters”) are reliable in-country partners who can magnify the resources of donors /volunteers from around the world and utilize them for the good of the most vulnerable people in Haiti.

Fr. Frechette is a brilliant man who thinks outside the box. He thinks of simple, direct ways to deliver needed services to the poor, destitute, working poor and most vulnerable people in the region. Instead of saying "It can't be done" he seeks solutions and finds ways to bring them within reach of those who need them. Whether it preventing disease by fortifying cornmeal with vitamins or going to medical school himself so that he can fill one of the shortages in the hospital which serves the orphans, Fr. Frechette is direct and focused on connecting the missing links to save lives and restore people.

Our Little Brothers and Sisters is a reliable partner to receive your donations and to multiply "your loaves and fishes" in caring for the custodial and needs of hundreds of the orphans of Haiti and providing affordable (or free) medical care for thousands of adults and children each year in the clinic in Port au Prince.

The physician interviewed this week at Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs, said that they have depleted all their medicine and supplies. If you want to help the people of Haiti, and put your money where it will make a difference, I recommend that you consider donating to
Some of us go into a country for a short time and give what we can. We need those who are part of the fabric of the nation who have integrity, and comprehend the history and culture of the country, and are able to prioritize the needs of the people and critical steps in receiving resources and directing volunteers and permanent staff in filling the needs of the people.

Not everyone is called to be a missionary or to serve with NGO's in other countries. However, each of us has something we can share which will equip and enable others to serve. We need not do much. Together a little bit can make just the amount of difference needed by someone else to help save a life, to enable, inspire and/ or encourage another to extend a hand to bridge the gap between what is and what must be done in each incredible hour, whether crisis or "business as usual."