HOPE FOR HAITI'S DISABLED: Volunteer Voices

Thanks to your generous contributions to our Walking Free program in Haiti, our volunteers have returned with heartfelt stories of the hard work, sorrows, joys and triumphs of working at the Hanger Clinic in Deschapelles.

“Chaos for days. A sea of pain. These are survivors in the most visceral way. I am in awe every day… Many people have travelled for hours and hours to get here. Some have nowhere to go once they get their prosthesis. I do the best that I can every minute of every day in giving the gift of my service and knowledge.”

- Mary Anne Kramer-Urner, Physicians for Peace volunteer physical therapist in Haiti (March 2010)

“The word we all used was resilience. After all the devastation and personal struggles, I was amazed at how grateful and motivated the patients were. One boy had been buried under the rubble for four days. They brought him to the clinic to receive a prosthetic limb. I only worked with him a short time before he was walking everywhere with his mother, chasing goats, kicking a ball.”

- Nancy Avena, Physicians for Peace volunteer physical therapist in Haiti (April 2010)

“I really feel like I was here for a reason. I was able to help people and see the results of all the hard work, theirs and mine. I am so happy that I came. I know there is so much more work to be done.”

- Tom Meenzhuber, Physicians for Peace volunteer physical therapist in Haiti (May 2010 and January 2011)

“The work Physicians for Peace is doing is pretty incredible. Everyone brings their gifts and talents to the clinic for the benefit of the patient. I’m blessed to be able to work here, with so many gifted people from all over the world. We have this connection. There’s more that connects us together than separates us.”

- Sue Klappa, Physicians for Peace volunteer physical therapist in Haiti (October 2010)