Rite and Reason:It is 11 years since Mayo woman Gena Heraty began working in Haiti and still she comes close to despair at times. Below is a recent day-in-the-life account of what it can be like in the impoverished country.
Some days Haiti hits you right in the face and you feel the pain of the punch more than usual. Today was such a day. By mid-day I felt I had seen too much.
At 6.30am I headed down the mountain to our programme for special needs kids. When I got there I was told Fr Rick (an American) had brought in a homeless woman to the hospital. She was dying of cancer.
I got this awful smell. "It must be the lady," said a colleague. I looked into the room where Fr Rick and his team were attending to the woman who was sitting in a chair with her shirt pulled up.
Her flesh was rotting where once there had been a breast. If it was not for Fr Rick she would be dying on the streets, alone. I kept walking and was sick all the way down the next two flights of stairs. I later heard from Fr Rick that she was riddled with worms. I don't know how he does it but he inspires me.
I headed to an orphanage which is run by people I hardly know. A week ago one of them phoned me to say God told him to contact me. "Yeah, right," was my reaction.
It is a huge building which also serves as a school for 300 impoverished kids. It is basic and functional and 20 kids live there. They have been abandoned by their families. They were very serious, maybe because I am white.
One of the guys in charge got a phone call and was excited and happy. He has 30 kids in the orphanage section and someone had just found food for the day.
The kids showed me the small carpets they roll out at night to sleep on. A lot of them have scabies. There is no money to take them to a doctor. The guys running the project live from day to day, hoping God will provide - not just hoping, believing.
I was annoyed with them for taking on more than could be handled. Then, if you come across a kid on the street, how can you walk away? I always feel swamped in this country, with all the need and all the people coming for help. Where does it end?
Once I saw those kids, I knew I had to help them. I was thinking I would get money from Ireland. I said goodbye to the guys, promising to be in touch.
When I arrived back at base there was a letter from Ireland. It was a draft for over $1,000 - the refund for my ticket home last October. The girls who organised the trip said they would pay my way. They sent the draft.
I do not believe in coincidences. I do believe in guidance and for me there was no doubt about what I should do with the money. It would go towards food and medical care for the kids I saw that morning.
The guys helping those kids would, of course, once more have proof that God provides. They are right. God does provide. He just needs people to do his work.
Last week I was moved to tears by a young woman who has two very handicapped children - both are blind and seem to have hydrocephalus. She wondered how God could leave her like that, especially as she and her husband had no work. We loaned her money and she was so happy.
A young father here recently died of stomach cancer. How much he loved his little boy. The family believed it was a voodoo curse that was killing him and much money was spent on a witch doctor.
Haiti is often so brutal. The challenge is to take the pain and see what you can do to relieve it - your own pain and the pain of Haiti. We can't change Haiti. Fr Rick cannot save every dying woman, but he can give care, dignity, and ease the pain. Haiti is Haiti and the misery continues.
The year is still young. I pray for all of us here that during 2007 we will continue to have the conviction to do our work. I pray also that we will continue to have faith that God will provide.
• Gena Heraty (37), from near Westport, Co Mayo, works in Haiti with the French charity Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (Our Little Brothers and Sisters) at a home with 30 special needs children, all but three of whom were abandoned. Anyone wishing to help with her work may do so through the Gena Heraty Haiti Fund, account number 11108008 at AIB, Westport, sort code 92-71-69. Her e-mail address is gheragty@yahoo.com