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Marcia Naber read “Mountains Beyond Mountains,” a nonfiction story about an American doctor working in Haiti and other developing nations.
“It’s one of those books,” said Naber, “that makes you think, ‘Hey, maybe we can do something to change the way things are.’”
On May 28, she and five others returned from a second trip to Pignon, Haiti, where they delivered computers and equipment to repair the city’s water system, and made plans for the future.
The seven-day trip was part of a joint project between the La Crosse Valley View Rotary Club, of which she is a member, and people from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. The UW-L group included a professor of community health, a professor of French and a nurse practitioner.
Naber works as the senior student services coordinator in the Enrollment and Career Services Department at UW-L.
“Pignon is only two hours south of Miami by air,” said Naber. “I think it’s important that Americans realize there are lots of resources in this world, but sometimes the distribution of these resources is skewed.”
The journey began last year.
After Naber had read the book, she got in touch with a Haitian doctor. In June 2005, she and others visited hospitals, schools and other places in Pignon to assess the community’s needs. The trip was in conjunction with the Rotary Club in Pignon.
After that trip, a nurse from the Pignon Hospital came to La Crosse to study at Franciscan Skemp Medical Center and UW-L for a year.
From the needs assessment report, the project received a $16,500 grant from Rotary International. The money helped purchase desks, buy equipment to repair the water system and improve cross-cultural communications. Students from Western Technical College restored
14 computers, which were delivered to eight schools on the most recent trip.
Hopes for the future include developing a distance education program to teach English to Haitians and bringing Pignon students to UW-L.
Joe Orso can be reached at (608) 791-8429 or jorso@lacrossetribune.com.
