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Bits ‘n’ Pieces: Lending a hand in Haiti

The Columbian
Published: March 23, 2012, 5:00pm
3 Photos
Mari Kay Evans-Smith
Mari Kay Evans-Smith Photo Gallery

Doctor continues her mission to help Haitians

Thirty years ago, Mari Kay Evans-Smith had a life-changing experience in Haiti and resolved to return one day as a doctor.

Now a pediatrician, Evans-Smith, 49, is leading her fourth medical team to Haiti in April. Last year, her daughter, Chelsea, then 19, volunteered. This time, her son, Isaiah, 17, is joining.

“You realize you can make a difference,” said the doctor, who has volunteered on 10 medical trips to developing countries in Asia, South America, Africa and the Caribbean.

On April 2, her team heads to Gromothe, Haiti, a remote mountain village 13 miles from Port-au-Prince. All but eight of the 26 volunteers live in Clark County.

Nonmedical volunteers include Scott Collier, 54, a Clark County Superior Court judge who also is an EMT with the Mount Hood Ski Patrol. Also volunteering are Collier’s wife, Terri Lufkin, 45, and their twins, daughter Addison Lufkin Collier andsonMichael Lufkin Collier.

The nine teenaged volunteers will teach kids’ soccer and run art camps in Gromothe.

In five days at the remote clinic, the medical team of Evans-Smith, three nurse practitioners, two nurses and a pharmacist expects to help from 600 to 1,000 people.

They are bringing medicine and donated hygiene kits, reading glasses, baby clothes and supplies for the kids’ camps. The Portland Timbers Army donated 50 soccer balls and gear. Dentists donated toothbrushes and toothpaste.

“If you give me a toothbrush, I will carry it to Haiti and give it to a Haitian,” Evans-Smith said.

— Susan Parrish

Eye for detail gets photographer noticed

Alan Bosse, 50, can’t help but express his gratitude and excitement for his first photography show hosted by the Second Story Gallery in Camas.

“I appreciated what Second Story Gallery is doing for me, I’m really thankful for that,” he said.

Bosse’s interest in capturing pictures began as a child growing up in Zimbabwe.

“I love nature, from when I was a child I’ve always been interested in insects and small things. I started photographing anything small that I think is beautiful,” Bosse said.

The exhibition “Designed by Nature” will feature 18 photographs, many that are macro pictures of flowers and insects taken during his various trips around the United States. The exhibit will include the photo, shown here, that won the Bing Earth Day photo contest two years ago.

Bosse, 50, and his wife, Sharon, are recent residents of Camas. They decided to settle in the area after staying in the Camas Hotel on a trip. They’ve traveled much of the lower 48 states while driving an 18-wheeler.

Though Bosse doesn’t consider himself a professional, he keeps his camera close. “It’s basically a hobby for me still,” he said.

The exhibition also gives a little nod to Bosse’s new graphic design business, and finds that incorporating his photography into website design is an added bonus. “I feel it’s added a great moment of pleasure to my work,” he said.

“Designed by Nature” will be unveiled at a reception during First Friday April 6 from 5 to 8 p.m. The exhibit will continue through April 28, in the gallery upstairs in the Camas Public Library, 625 N.E. Fourth Ave.

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— Ashley Swanson

Bits ’n’ Pieces appears Fridays and Saturdays. If you have a story you’d like to share, email bits@columbian.com.

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