Dear friends, 

Our free clinic is still there after almost nine year, in an average neighborhood of Port-au-Prince where 90% of the people cannot afford medical care, having offered free treatment to about 70,000 people!!!

This is more important than ever. Since the government hospitals continue to be on strike on and off during which the staff is not paid, most have left to work for expensive private hospitals. Until recently, most people could afford the small government hospital fees which have gone up a lot and have become unaffordable. This is why offering our free clinic remains a lifeline for tens of thousands every year.  And those patients who can continue to give donation in cash or kind to keep “their” clinic going.

Every year when the anniversary of the earthquake comes, we are reminded of why we started – people still go into states of panic as they remember what they went through, and the clinic fills with people who tremble uncontrollably and have racing hearts.

Jinpa is presently in New York City preparing to fly to further train the clinic staff. Unknown attackers opened gunfire onto the unpopular Haitian president last week, and while only his bodyguards were injured, this sparked riots anew. For safety, we chose not to have anyone who is not Haitian to go to Haiti. 

Jinpa and students at the fundraising retreat in Long Island organized by Megan

A Exploitation-Ridden Country

Many of you have asked about the current political situation in Haiti. Here is a little update: Haiti continues to be one of the planet’s poorest countries, named as being amongst those with the greatest levels of starvation. The north was hit by another devastating earthquake. Fuel prices recently increased by up to 51%, sparking days of violent protests and looting. While the local currency is rapidly losing value, there are many huge corruption scandals, such as that of Dominican Republic Senator Felix Bautista who embezzled millions of US dollars from the US destined to rebuild Haiti after the earthquake.

Photos such as this spread via social media spark riots: Where did the PetroCaribe money go?

Rampant corruption amongst local politicians is sparking more civil unrest in the PetroCaribe money corruption scandal, with millions more of public funds having gone missing. All of these crimes have majorly contributed to the unspeakable poverty of the common people.

Not Even the Most Basic Infrastructure

If we thought the water was dirty and causing widespread infectious disease last year, it became even worse and now is slimy. Thanks to the donated water filter, the clinic continues to give out clean water for free. Also, there is practically no public electricity in Haiti any more, and the clinic’s solar panel needed a charge controller and battery to be able to provide electricity also when there is no sun. The charge controller was kindly donated by Solar Energy International.  Thanks to lax French postal service not checking international safety rules, we were able to send a big bicycle battery to Haiti for the clinic – which is not allowed. Finally, our clinic ladies Camio and Marie-Lucie can recharge their phones in the long weeks when there is no electricity to stay in touch with us about treatment questions.

The Miracle Clinic

A few years ago, we were dubbed the “miracle doctors” – the neighborhood now calls us as the the “miracle clinic,” because they are amazed that the natural remedies can heal conditions which seem untreatable. We had many cases of first or second stage cancer which entirely disappeared with poke root tincture, both disease and cure diagnosed by a local medical doctor.

Children marked by chronic malnutrition

Here are a few other stories: A 6-year-old girl came to the clinic with eruptions on the scalp which itched so extremely, that she could no longer attend school. It has also caused all her hair to fall out. She received homeopathic Histaminium and Silica to heal itching and eruption and diluted Rosemary essential oil to help restore her hair. Her family was totally surprised when it regrew beautifully. She is now a happy little girl and back in school. The entire treatment probably cost about $1 USD.

Camio’s 88 year old mother fell walking and injured her hip. We treated her homeopathically first for a soft tissue inury, then for the swelling of her leg, and finally, once she received an x-ray 10 days after she fell, for a broken femur head (Arnica, Natrium mur., and Eupatorium perf., which is Boneset). She was x-rayed again a few days later in preparation for possible surgery at the hospital, when the examining doctor confronted Camio, “What did you do? She has no swelling, no pain, and the x-rays show that her that her bone set itself and is already starting to heal. She came into the hospital walking, yet people her age cannot with a broken femur head. What is going on?!?”

Camio explained that she is studying homeopathy and had treated her. The doctor then called all the interns to present them this case, saying “This is what I have been trying to teach you: this is what natural medicine can do!” Camio felt very proud for being asked to explain what she did in front of so many doctors, and we thought it was great that the x-rays showed that the Native American Indians were not wrong in calling Boneset a plant which sets bone. The natural treatment cost a few cents. This shows how naturopathic treatment is not only effective, but also economical.

The clinic’s dispensary shelf

The vitamin powder donated by Restorative Medicines have been very helpful for people with dizziness, anemia, general weakness, wasting, as well as amenorrhea from malnutrition. They come back saying that they are healed and — a nice bonus! — their sexual energy is back stronger than ever before. Well, that’s a nice measure of nutritional status… The side effect of this is that now, the clinic is flooded by young men wishing to receive the miracle medicine for sexual power! Of course we do not give the vitamins to them, but to those we think are the most malnourished and deprived. Such as the little girl on the photo above: She used to cry incessantly because her head was aching, so she could no longer attend school and ate cardboard, mud and stones off of the house walls, and pulled out her hair. This all can be the sign of extreme mineral deficiency. Since she received the multi-vitamin, all of those symptoms vanished and she is now back in school.

We have also managed to build up the clinic’s homeopathic remedies to a complete pharmacy. Special thanks to Hahnemann Labs in California for giving so generously to the clinic!

This clinic cannot continue without your help, so please donate via Paypal naturopathicreliefclinic@gmail.com or see http://haiti.citronica.com/help for an address to send remedies to.

Thank you once again for all of your support,
Love from Julia, Jinpa, and Michelle

With special thanks to our most recent donors:

• Ven. Irene Turner
• April Eya of Hahnemann Labs in California
• Karen Williams of Aromatics International
• Michael Friedman of Restorative Medicines
• Anna Doxie of the Institute of Holistic Phyto-Aromatherapy
• Julie Duffy of Cardiff Metropolitan University
• Solar Energy International (SEI)
• The students at Thupten Jinpa’s  fundraising retreat, Thupten Puntsok, Sandra Lory and friends, Megan Mook, Leigh Warre, Michelle LaDue, Heidi Whooler, Ben Parker, Inaya Ahmed, Ileana Diaz, Paul Green, Tracy Chiu, Lucienne Villeneuve, Noga Shefi, Eugene Massey, Ani Tenzin Palmo, Kyle, and anyone else who escaped our attention…