help inhabitants of a remote village in Haiti.

Rosamund Gibbons was one of the volunteers who formed the New York-based Overseas Medical Assistance Team, who, at least once a year, donate their time and talents to needy areas of the world.

Last August, the team travelled to the mountain village of Bonne Fin, Haiti where they provided much-needed health care to thousands there.

Dr. Gibbons, who has a Ph.D. in education, facilitated teamwork at both administrative and community levels while staying in the village. Her services ranged from office meetings and addressing health care staff to attending a workshop where she assisted scores of mothers and babies in maternal matters.

Her prior formal training as an international health professional and her exposure to the French language and culture have helped.

Mother-of-two Dr. Gibbons was especially moved by the typical peasant family's struggle to meet its children's most basic needs -- food, shoes and literary development.

She said the experiences had affected her philosophy towards life.

Haiti "Like the average Bermudian, I had no prior reference point for such over-extenuation of meagre resources,'' she said. "We have yet to endure seeing our families of the nineties live daily in total absence of all luxury.'' Dr. Gibbons added that life in Bonne Fin had had a "rare gentility, patience and song 'a la louange de Dieu' (in praise of God).

"It has led me to continuously ask myself, Who bears the greater light? Who teaches the greater lessons? Who is really taught? Such experience belittles personal monetary costs or temporary inconvenience, and it certainly helps me sort the mighty from the mundane.

"Providing children with books and a chance of improved literacy will go a long way to improving the quality of life,'' said Dr. Gibbons, who is the wife of Bermuda Government Health consultant Dr. Leonard Gibbons.

For more information on OMAT, call the New York office on 516-624-0960.