J
anet Reeves, nurse practitioner at Dr.
Bawa and Associates, and Zhalman
Harris, photographer at VIP Destin
Magazine, made an impromptu
humanitarian mission trip to Liberia in
West Africa. The two met at a dinner party
in Destin where Janet became intrigued
by Zhalman. His accent and mild manner
prompted her to ask questions. When she
realized he was once a refugee and orphan
from a war torn country, she probed more to
get information on the current situation in
his homeland. After Zhalman had explained
in detail the plight the country in which he
was born was facing, and about his hope of
going to give back and also look into turning
the now public school his grandfather
opened in the 1960’s to a private nonprofi t
school to give kids a better education, Janet
became even more interested. “Deciding
to go to Monrovia came easy,” Janet said.
“After going to Nicaragua 12 times on
medical missions and working stateside with
Hispanics and underprivileged people it’s
like second nature to me to just go and do
something good for those who are not in the
position to do for themselves or just don’t
have their basic needs met.”
After three weeks of planning Janet
and Zhalman began shopping, taking
contributions, and procuring donated
items. For their mission trip to Africa, they
took over 250 pounds of items
including clothes, fl ip fl ops,
toys, books, vitamins, and most
importantly medications for the
kids who had some sort of illness.
The two-man team visited two
orphanages where Janet did
some wellness checks and also
saw kids with malnutrition, iron
and vitamin defi ciencies, coughs,
colds, ear infections, bronchitis,
skin rashes, and parasite
infections.
Janet was able to see and treat
over 60 kids. The two most serious cases
were an 8-month old baby who was born
without eyes and a 4-year old girl who
was getting fed with a feeding tube after
drinking poison, which had severely
damaged her esophagus and stomach.
The team left a 6-month supply of
vitamins and iron supplements, a year’s
supply of parasite treatment, antibiotics,
and antifungal meds.
Now, the pair are back home planning
another trip in 6 months to take back
more than what they gave on their fi rst
trip. Even though the trip in 2018 made
a difference for the recipients at those
orphanages, it is just a scratch on the surface
because there is a lot that needs to be done to
get those kids back on track.
For more information, to make a
donation, and to become a volunteer please
visit AlethasHope.org.
story & photos by
Zhalman Harris
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