A Tribute To Rose

(November 14th) This morning I got the news that Rose passed away. You may remember Rose from my post of August 31, 2011 entitled “Perseverance”. Rose, an abandoned,  gravely ill 13 year old girl, was a patient a Hopital Albert Schweitzer in Haiti, while I was there shooting an assignment. Before reading further you might want to go back and read “Perseverance” in order to understand this story in the context of the bigger picture. Click here to read the prior post “Perseverance”

Over the years, while covering natural disasters like the 2004 Indian ocean tsunami and photographing things like HIV Aids and human trafficking for my NGO clients, I’ve seen my fair share of pain and suffering and have been “touched” by many individuals and their stories, and often times, I can’t keep them off of my mind. Rose was one of those people. For whatever reason, Rose really touched my heart. She seemed so lonely, with no family or friends visiting her. I could see that Rose struggled each time while trying to breath, she was so frail; yet I could see that she was determined to survive.

After finishing my photography for Hopital Albert Schweitzer, I left Haiti, but I couldn’t stop thinking about Rose, so I sent an email to a Physical therapist named Shiuan, who I had met during my stay at Alumni House at HAS. Shiuan was volunteering for Hopital Albert Schweitzer for a few weeks and so I knew that she was still there. On September 3rd, I sent Shiuan the following email…

“Hi Shiuan,

I hope your time at H.A.S is going well. Please say hi to Ben and Susan and Wiji and everyone else for me.

Shiuan, if you don’t mind, please ask Ben to send me an email, so that I have his email address, as I seem to have lost it.

And last but not least, if you could go check on Rose; the skeletal 13-year-old abandoned girl with TB and give me a status update, I would be very appreciative. I can’t stop thinking about her.

Thanks,

Karl”

On Sept 13th, Shiuan replied…

“I got to see Rose briefly today and got the update from Dr. Andreas and Dr. Tobias.  Apparently the story is that she only has a grandmother to care for her.  Dr. Andreas had seen her 5 times before.  Every time the hospital would help get rid of the excess edema/swelling from around her heart, she would go home and it would come back again due to lack of proper care.  Currently her abdomen is enlarged (from ascities, a form of liver failure) and she probably doesn’t look any better than when you last saw her.  I am sorry I don’t have better news for you Karl, I think you realized way back when that prognosis was poor.  I will keep an eye on her and try to visit with her when I can and for as long as I’m here. “

In early October Shiuan left Hoptial Albert Schweitzer to return home, on Oct 7 she emailed me…

“Hi Karl, hope you are doing well!  I just got home last night and I’m already missing Haiti and everybody I met!  I was able to get a last update on Rose before I left.  She is about the same, not worse, not better. Her heart and liver are still failing but you have to know that she is being well taken care of.  The PTs in the hospital have been keeping watch, taking her to the bathroom twice a day, and getting her food.”

I was in India when I received Shiuan’s next email. I guess that Shiuan was so touched by her experience of volunteering at HAS that she had arranged a local fund raising dinner party in Colorado. At that dinner party was Alan, another Physical Therapist who was volunteering at HAS. Alan had some news about Rose that she then shared with me in the following email.

“Hi Karl, I hope you are well! I can’t believe technology allows you to blog on a train in India! We had a successful Haiti Night to fundraise for HAS and thanks again for allowing us use your beautiful photos to drive the point home!

Do you remember Alain? PT from Monterey? He actually came to Colorado for the Haiti night. We got to talking and found out Rose had passed away the last week in September. I don’t know if you knew….sorry I don’t have better news to report…Shiuan”.

I also received this email from Mary, a Physical Therapist who was working at HAS while I was there. She wrote….

Hi Karl – you probably don’t remember me and you don’t really have to – just found your business card in my wallet while scrounging for something else. I am not even sure that i haven’t already told you this- but i think you won’t mind hearing it twice.

All the physical therapists and some of the doctors put in money to pay for a helper for rose her last three weeks – it was our cook Edit – she is fantastic and doesn”t take no for an answer – she also has 2 girls a little younger than Rose was – she visited each day – gave Rose a bath, brought her food she wanted and liked and had her girls and their friends visit her – she took her outside and generally made her life so much better – she is a wonderful lady – i thought you might like to know that she wasn’t alone and was well cared for till the end –

your new photos are lovely and strong and inspiring – glad someone is capable of this gift
take care – am hoping to get back to Haiti in a month or two – our teaching program has been suspended since so many people are being laid off,  the hospital didn’t feel they could train new people. there are always avenues there –
take care – it was good to spend some time with you there —Mary Christman PT

Shiuan’s email wasn’t a surprise to me; in fact, I had never really expected to hear that Rose would have survived a week after I left, much less almost a month.

Now, I’ve never told anyone this…not even Shiuan, and I’m not telling you in an attempt to be self-serving, but rather because I think it’s an important lesson…it was for me. If I hadn’t followed through on the gut reaction I had in Haiti, I would be kicking myself today.

It seemed obvious to me that Rose’s days were numbered. Seeing her struggling so hard, yet not having any family or friends visit her  made me think that I should do something nice for her; something to help lift her spirits; and that I should do it immediately.

So, after finishing my photography one afternoon at the hospital, with $20 in my hand, I walked down to the outdoor market which is haphazardly set up in a river-bed a few hundred meters from the hospital entrance. There, I purchased Rosa a second hand dress, three blouses, a skirt, 3 brand new pairs of underwear, some perfumed soap, a bottle of skin lotion and some shampoo. Then, I found some fruits, crackers, and candy and then, with the last two dollars, I bought 2 large plastic bowls.

I arranged everything in the two colorful baskets and brought them to Rose’s room. When I arrived to deliver everything, Rose was struggling to breathe and very lethargic, but she acknowledged the gifts and I think she even, almost smiled.

Later on that evening, I returned to the hospital to check on Rose. When I walked past her room, I saw that she had re-arranged all the items neatly around herself.

What I did for Rose was for the most part, “symbolic” and I don’t need praise or credit for it. The real praise and credit goes to the doctors, nurses, donors and volunteers like Shiuan who keep Hopital Albert Schweitzer going. Although Rose had no money, the staff and volunteers at Hopital Albert Schweitzer cared for her; in those, her final days. Hopital Albert Schweitzer has been taking care of patients like Rose, every day since 1956.

I shudder to think what Rose’s last days would have been like without Hopital Albert Schweitzer.

So, perhaps the moral of this story is… sometimes we think that our efforts or our donations might not make a difference…but, go with your gut, because they do…they really do….and for me, Rose, is only the most recent example of that fact.

If you’d like to help someone like Rose, donate to Hôpital Albert Schweitzer Haiti or to your favorite charity. You can make a difference in someone’s life.