This Lent we will commit to build a Dental Clinic for St. Jean de Sud Parish in Haiti.  It can be done for about $25,000-$35,000.

Holy Redeemer Parish in Webster Groves has been sponsoring this parish in the small countryside town of St. Jean, Haiti for 26 years.  It is located in a very rural area five hours west of the capital of Port au Prince.  St. Jean de Sud Parish is hoping to build a small building for a Dental Clinic. 

Poor dental health is a chronic condition of the impoverished people of Haiti whose infrastructure was nearly all destroyed by the gargantuan earthquake a couple of years ago.  Over the past eight years, Holy Redeemer has sent American dentists, including our own MQP parishioner, Dr. Steve Fleischut, as part of a medical mission.  Over that time the dentists have seen hundreds of patients and treated thousands of teeth.  They have done this out of a borrowed government building or in the church sacristy. 

A permanent building on the parish grounds would be used by American missionaries on annual mission trips and as a place for Haitian dentists to deliver care two to four days per month.  A simple, secure, single use building could be built with a donation of $25,000 - $30,000. 

The structure would be built on a concrete slab with cinderblock walls, a sheetmetal roof, and windows with wrought iron bars - a standard approach in Haiti.  The construction would be completed under the direction of the local pastor using Haitian construction methods and labor.  This is a one-time tunding request.  The future cost of maintenance would be incurred by the parish of St. Jean de Sud (St. John of the South).

We will have special envelopes for contributions as we did last Lent for Father Joseph Kaberia's truck in Kenya.

View photos taken by Dr. Fleischut on one of his medical mission trips.