Doctor on a mission for children of Haiti

Lake Ridge, Va. - Dr. Violet Nematollahy stands ready to show anyone all of the pictures she took on her her recent weeklong trip to Haiti.

The pictures of clinics housed in tents, and tents made of rags and pieces of tarpaulins where people live, tell the story of a country that remains devastated after the Jan. 21 earthquake.

"There's so much work to be done there," said Nematollahy, who practices pediatrics part-time at Nova Pediatrics Ltd. in Lake Ridge.

Nematollahy went to Haiti to work at St. Michael Hospital with a group called Community Coalition for Haiti, which brings doctors to the country for a week at a time to help.

Nematollahy described the situation in the town of Jacmel, which is 25 miles southwest of Port au-Prince, as miserable.

She said children have nowhere to play but in the mud, and they suffer from diseases not known to children in the developed world.

In her short trip Nematollahy treated children for malaria, typhoid fever, ringworm and the bacterial skin disease celulitis.

"You have to read developing country medicine before you go," she said. "The worst problem is there's not a good vaccination system."

Nematollahy's pictures show orphans with distended stomachs, but they also show children laughing over an open suitcase of toys she brought with her to the country.

"They laughed and they were so happy with very, very simple toys, and they started singing a song to me," she said.

Nematollahy said she asked one of the nurses what the children were singing and was told that they were singing a song of thanks.

"It broke my heart," she said.

Now that she's been to Haiti, Nematollahy wants people to know that things will not be well there for some time, and she fears that the world has moved on.

"They need so much help because they are not in the spotlight," Nematollahy said, "People have forgotten about it, but work needs to be done. They'll need lots of help for years to come."

Nematollahy fears most for the children who she saw have no future if not for those outside of the country who could help.

She said she learned that public school costs about $100 a year for one child and she hopes people will visit cchaiti.org to donate.

"If given a chance -- 30 cents a day -- one child can go to school," she said. "That's less than a Starbuck's coffee a day -- that would change a child's life forever."

Without the hope of school, the children have no hope at all, Nematollahy said.

"There's no future for them. there's no way out of misery for these kids," she said.

Nematollahy said she would be going back to help in Haiti.

"You leave your heart there," she said. "At the end of the day, they gave me more than I gave them."

Senior Reporter Keith Walker can be reached at 703-369-6751.