Article published Mar 25, 2010
Mission of mercy Pastor's slaying doesn't stop team's work in Haiti By LOU MUMFORD Tribune Staff Writer
NILES -- Unstable? Yes, that would apply to many of the buildings left standing in Haiti from the earthquakes that began Jan. 12.
But perhaps more fragile is what passes for law and order among the people who survived. A Niles physician, Dr. Mark Priebe, saw first-hand evidence of that shortly after he arrived in the impoverished nation on a recent mission sponsored by the Lutheran Church.
"Pastor Louis (the Rev. Doris Jean Louis), the head Lutheran minister there, met us at the border. We had to go through the Dominican Republic, because flights into Port-au-Prince are still limited," Priebe said. "We were going to our driver's house for dinner that night. We found out later Pastor Louis had been killed by robbers when he returned home.
"That was the sixth time he'd been attacked over the years. He was shot in the head once. That showed you his dedication to his people."Familiar with the "father of Lutheranism in Haiti," as the 65-year-old Louis was known, through previous missions, Priebe's group of 14 was so distraught it considered calling off the following day's clinic. But Louis' wife, Elucie, who also was attacked and injured by the men who killed her husband, wouldn't allow it.
"She said we should keep going, do what we normally would do. That was what he (Louis) would have wanted," Priebe said.
A member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Niles, the 44-year-old Priebe said the danger in Haiti is such that those who can afford them routinely have locked gates surrounding their homes. Often, though, not even those can protect middle class citizens from the desperate poor, thousands of whom have now taken up residence in tent cities that have popped up throughout Port-au-Prince.
"I'm fearful of what will happen with the rainy season coming in. Infectious diseases are bound to spread," Priebe said.He said his group did what it could, dispensing not only medicine but three tons of food over a three-day period. Hygiene kits also were distributed.
Of the patients who stood out, Priebe said one girl had lost her entire family in the Jan. 12 quake. Wearing a makeshift splint on a broken arm suffered when she was trapped in rubble, the child was dispatched to an orthopedic group that had set up another clinic nearby.
Priebe said his group also treated a 15-day-old infant who had eye drainage that turned out to be gonorrhea.
"If we hadn't treated him, he'd have gone blind. It was transmitted through the birth canal," he said.
Priebe said he's hopeful worldwide attention to the disaster will make a difference but there's so much poverty and destruction it's difficult to imagine any significant improvement. He pointed out, too, that despite the recent uproar about health care reform in the United States, it has one thing Haiti doesn't."In Haiti, if you go to a clinic and you don't have money, you don't get treated," he said.
Employed at University Park Family Medicine in South Bend, Priebe and his wife, Angie, are the parents of two boys. He was accompanied on the trip by his brother, Dr. Michael Priebe, a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Clair, Mich., which sponsored the mission.
"We had five clinic days and saw over 1,000 people," Mark Priebe said.
"People say, 'Why do you do it, what difference does it make?' If you can make people's lives better, even for just a day or two, that's better than not at all."
"Pastor Louis (the Rev. Doris Jean Louis), the head Lutheran minister there, met us at the border. We had to go through the Dominican Republic, because flights into Port-au-Prince are still limited," Priebe said. "We were going to our driver's house for dinner that night. We found out later Pastor Louis had been killed by robbers when he returned home.
"That was the sixth time he'd been attacked over the years. He was shot in the head once. That showed you his dedication to his people."Familiar with the "father of Lutheranism in Haiti," as the 65-year-old Louis was known, through previous missions, Priebe's group of 14 was so distraught it considered calling off the following day's clinic. But Louis' wife, Elucie, who also was attacked and injured by the men who killed her husband, wouldn't allow it.
"She said we should keep going, do what we normally would do. That was what he (Louis) would have wanted," Priebe said.
A member of St. Paul's Lutheran Church in Niles, the 44-year-old Priebe said the danger in Haiti is such that those who can afford them routinely have locked gates surrounding their homes. Often, though, not even those can protect middle class citizens from the desperate poor, thousands of whom have now taken up residence in tent cities that have popped up throughout Port-au-Prince.
"I'm fearful of what will happen with the rainy season coming in. Infectious diseases are bound to spread," Priebe said.He said his group did what it could, dispensing not only medicine but three tons of food over a three-day period. Hygiene kits also were distributed.
Of the patients who stood out, Priebe said one girl had lost her entire family in the Jan. 12 quake. Wearing a makeshift splint on a broken arm suffered when she was trapped in rubble, the child was dispatched to an orthopedic group that had set up another clinic nearby.
Priebe said his group also treated a 15-day-old infant who had eye drainage that turned out to be gonorrhea.
"If we hadn't treated him, he'd have gone blind. It was transmitted through the birth canal," he said.
Priebe said he's hopeful worldwide attention to the disaster will make a difference but there's so much poverty and destruction it's difficult to imagine any significant improvement. He pointed out, too, that despite the recent uproar about health care reform in the United States, it has one thing Haiti doesn't."In Haiti, if you go to a clinic and you don't have money, you don't get treated," he said.
Employed at University Park Family Medicine in South Bend, Priebe and his wife, Angie, are the parents of two boys. He was accompanied on the trip by his brother, Dr. Michael Priebe, a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Clair, Mich., which sponsored the mission.
"We had five clinic days and saw over 1,000 people," Mark Priebe said.
"People say, 'Why do you do it, what difference does it make?' If you can make people's lives better, even for just a day or two, that's better than not at all."
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