[Polycarp IV]

I have not been back for quite some time. My saintly wife told me that as long as our kids are still young, charity must begin at home.

Two of the docs I travelled with have returned from other trips with malaria, and one with bone break fever.

A friend who visited Haiti in the service several decades ago brought home a carving, a small statue of some sort.

His middle son developed some bizarre spiritual and emotional problems not long after. A priest assisting him asked if he owned any such items, and told him to get rid of it. He did, and with the priest's assistance the child's problems quickly resolved.

Apparently, voodoo practitioners ofter place "spells" on the goods sold to tourists.

[AnAmericanMother]

That dengue fever is very nasty stuff. I don't believe you ever really get rid of it. Charity DOES begin at home, it don't help the kids to be bringing home exotic tropical diseases . . . . :-D

When we last visited Haiti I had to get vaccinated for all kinds of stuff not found in developing countries . . . I'm probably one of the last people in the U.S. to get a smallpox vaccine for that reason . . . not to mention cholera, yellow fever, and a whole bunch of other stuff (including malaria prophylaxis, which isn't very good for you but better than the malaria.)