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Loving hands provide nourishment Heading to the clinic Patients wait to be seen Drilling for water Nurses treat ruptured appendix Weighing an 11-month old child Waiting for the clinic to open Andrea Loether shows her pictures Medical team celebrates first day Nurse Jami Craig Premature child taken home Women from Verettes, Deschapelles Boy lies in quarantine Health agent on the front lines Dr. Vanderfaeillie examines a child Allegheny doctor carries patient Recycling gloves EXCLUSIVE WEB-ONLY PHOTOS Haitians crowd waiting room Older Haitian waits for results Dr. Theresa Murray holds a baby Elsie Hall shares a laugh Preparing syringes for TB test Giving a flu shot Compound at the mission Pastor Vaugelas Pierre Singing songs in Creole Keeping the class in line Dr. Murray performs minor surgery Heading back to Lacroix Trying to hop a ride Watchman dozes in the heat Jami Craig dances with her friend Premature baby carried by his aunt Day's end for Fisher, Craig MAPS AND GRAPHICS Map: Haiti Map: Lacroix and Deschapelles Making Briquettes IN PDF FORMAT Map: Haiti Map: Lacroix Map: Deschapelles

Local groups help struggling Haitians
Want and despair reign in this arid corner of Haiti. Half-naked children go hungry. Men and women suffer disease and death with resignation. They walk barefoot for hours in the searing heat across a rugged landscape to reach the only source of water available - a fetid, foul-smelling stream polluted with garbage, parasites and feces from ratty farm animals.

Without money, many Haitians left to die
Death lurks behind every headache, cough, pregnancy and tummyache in Haiti. Chedelaine Joseph's family knew that as they carried the sick child more than eight miles to the town's medical clinic. American doctors who treated Chedelaine at a clinic in Lacroix believed her appendix ruptured.

Impoverished children endure harsh reality
He's survived 12 birthdays, but Jonera Domenica does not want a 13th in Haiti. He wants to eat more than just seeds mashed with water every other day. He wants to drink water that isn't brown and reeking of sewage.

Nurse adopts unwanted babies
Andrea Loether just can't say no. When the chatty, high-energy nurse went to Haiti for the first time four years ago, she took boxes of medicine, cans of food and piles of clothes. She never thought she'd bring back two little Haitian girls.

Missionary group makes headway
What started as a modest effort by a South Hills doctor and his nurse to treat the sick and downtrodden in Lacroix has mushroomed into a full-time crusade by Pittsburgh-area churches, businesses, schools, hospitals and community groups.

Substandard equipment ties clinic doctors' hands
The medical clinic in Lacroix has all the anguish and chaos of an inner city emergency room, but without the hope. Here, everything except despair is in short supply.

Pastor's vision inspires real progress
Pastor Vaugelas Pierre has spent 25 years scraping and clawing to improve the lives of the 30,000 people languishing in the countryside. "We cannot do everything at once, but little by little, we do what we think we should do,'' said Pierre.

Albert Schweitzer Hospital comes to a crossroads
On a balmy afternoon early this spring, the head of the Albert Schweitzer hospital gathered his predominantly Haitian staff for a speech they probably would not have heard from the hospital's beloved founders. Shape up or you're fired, he told them. No one has a right to work here. Henry Perry felt he had little choice.

Roving team brings care to small villages
Figorot Jean rides his battered 10-speed Huffy over narrow dirt paths in the back woods of the Artibonite Valley, a baseball cap-and denim-clad soldier on a mission. His worn black and green backpack holds the weapons he wields when he finds his targets - a scale, a baby carrier, a three-ring loose-leaf binder.

Founders leave lasting legacy
The huge, leafy mango tree in the courtyard of the Albert Schweitzer hospital once protected Gwen Grant Mellon from the sweltering Haitian sun while she worked in her "office." Today, it stands alone.

A stark contrast for Pittsburgh doctors
The hot, cramped room in the Albert Schweitzer hospital where Dr. Paul Hergenroeder examined the never-ending line of patients was a long way from the modern hallways of Allegheny General Hospital where he usually works.

Pittsburgh group helps sell struggling Haitian artists' work
The phrase "starving artist" takes on new meaning in Haiti. In a region where the average person barely makes $250 a year, few can make a living painting or sculpting with the few supplies they scrounge. For a handful of Haitian artists, though, their work is paying off.

Haiti Facts
More information about Haiti and the social and medical problems that its people face.

About the writer	About the photographer
Marisol Bello is a special-projects reporter for the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, where she has worked for two years. She has won state awards for previous projects, including last year's "Pittsburgh in Crisis." She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism and Latin American studies from New York University. To reach Bello, call (412) 320-7994, or send e-mail to mbello@tribweb.com.	Joe Appel has been a photographer with the Tribune-Review for seven years. His photographs have won many state and local awards. He lives in Reserve Township with his wife, Emily, and 1-year-old daughter, Phoebe. He graduated from Indiana University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in business administration. To reach Appel, call (412) 320-7954, or send e-mail to jappel@tribweb.com.