| This article was originally
published in
Haitian boy touches lives,
hearts during stay in Carmel
By Brigid Curtis Ayer
CARMEL — What began as a medical mission by one Carmel doctor evolved
into a parish twinning project, and a situation in which one Haitian
boy, Wilken Edouard, left a lasting mark on those with whom he came into
contact.
Dr. Pat DeHeer, a podiatrist and
parishioner of Our Lady Mt. Carmel, had initiated a medical mission trip
to Haiti to seek patients who could benefit from foot surgery. Since Dr.
DeHeer and others from the Haiti committee were already making the trip
to Haiti, they also investigated the possibility of a parish twinning
project with St. Antoine in Petite Riviere de Nippes, which is located
about four to five hours west of Port-au-Prince.
It was on this initial trip that
Wilken, who had club feet from birth, came to the foot clinic held by
Dr. DeHeer for surgery.
Dr. DeHeer performed surgery on
Wilken’s left foot with the intention of fixing the other foot on a
return trip. Several weeks after the group returned to the United
States, Dr. DeHeer learned, after a phone call to a Haitian orthopedic
doctor to follow up on Wilken’s progress, that Wilken’s foot was badly
infected and the doctor was planning on amputating Wilken’s foot.
“After praying through a sleepless
night, Pat phoned me and Tom Penno, a member of the mission team who had
taken Wilken under his wing through his surgery and recovery in Haiti,”
said Rex Rund, also a member of the parishes Haiti committee. “We all
got on the phone to U.S. senators, congressmen, and officials at the
Haitian Embassy in Washington and the American Consulate in Haiti,” he
said. “Within a week, Wilken had a passport, a visa, and a flight to
Indianapolis with a team of American missionaries, including Dr. Chuck
Dietzen, a prominent Indianapolis pediatric rehab doctor who happened to
be in Haiti at the time, who were returning to the U.S.,” Mr. Rund said.
“To me, that chain of events was probably the most miraculous part of
this whole odyssey. It’s simply unheard of to get travel documents that
quickly in Haiti — for any reason!”
Wilken arrived in the United States in
early November 2003 and was taken immediately to Winona Hospital, where
he stayed for the next three months. After clearing up the infection
with an aggressive treatment of antibiotics and several surgeries to fix
both feet, Wilken began his road to recovery.
When Wilken left the hospital in
February 2004, he went to live with the Penno family and started
attending Our Lady of Mt. Carmel School. Mr. Rund, who learned the
Haitian language of Creole while serving as a volunteer in the Peace
Corps in the mid-1980s, helped translate for Wilken while he was being
tutored.
Tom and Cathy Penno and their two
sons, Danny and Michael, were Wilken’s host family.
“From the first time I set my eyes on
Wilken during that first trip to Haiti, I knew that I wanted to take
care of Wilken,” Mr. Penno said. “When I learned six weeks later that he
wasn’t doing well, I told Rex Rund and Pat DeHeer that Wilken could stay
with us.”
With two older teen-age boys, Mr.
Penno admitted he wasn’t quite sure how they would react to having a
12-year-old Haitian boy who was going to be recovering from surgery
living in their home. “While it was an adjustment for everyone,” Mr.
Penno said, “Wilken transformed my whole family and all those with whom
he has come into contact. It is an experience we will not forget, and a
relationship we do not wish to end.”
Sister Clarine Young, principal of Our
Lady of Mt. Carmel School, said that Wilken came to school not knowing
much English. All that changed as he listened in the classroom, ate
lunch with the students, played with them at recess and spent time with
many different families after school. Wilken had his own tutor with him
every day; “Amy McHaffie, Denise Lunsford and Susan Dean were absolutely
awesome,” Sister Clarine said.
When Sister Clarine asked her
third-grade class how they were affected by Wilken, their general
response was “because Wilken was happy, it made everyone else happy.”
The students joined in efforts to help the people of Haiti, and Wilken’s
classmates raised $500 in an aluminum can drive to help fund his
education back in Haiti.
Sister Clarine said she believes the
third-graders learned a lot from Wilken. “They learned that one can be
very happy even when one is materially poor. They also learned that
people of other nationalities and color are very much like us.”
Wilken participated in the school’s
spring musical on heroes of the Old Testament. He learned songs and did
all the motions. Sister Clarine said the Haitian youth also ended up
playing the bongos at all-school Masses.
“Wilken has taught us the joy that
simplicity brings. Most of all, Wilken has given a face to our parish
twinning mission in Haiti, and has shown us our responsibility to share
the many gifts and resources God has given us,” Sister Clarine said.
Wilken returned to Haiti and his
family in May. While Wilken is not Catholic, the Penno family and other
Haiti mission committee members plan to continue their contact with him
as part of the St. Antoine parish twinning project.
Brigid Curtis Ayer is a
correspondent for The Catholic Moment based in Carmel.
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Wilken
is shown a few weeks after surgery with nurse Joyce Miller at
Winona Hospital in Indianapolis.
Wilken
sits with his two host brothers, Mike and Danny Penno, at their
Carmel home.