Haiti Trip...Day #4 ....January 26, 2017

                                             Some of the medical team and translators

            The mission house on top of the mountain and the church building is in the lower right corner

 

                                                 The Pastor's home

                                      Hannah had to get some foreign object out of this kid's ear

 

                     
                                               The pharmacist and the urine specialist 😀

  

Debbie Lynn in her new position 

 

In case the words are hard to read.....this is the church/school building in Chota

Grandpa is presenting the Gospel to the children 

January 26, 2017
Thursday
Today is Chandler's 9th birthday. It's hard to believe that those nine years passed so quickly! I am missing him today and the opportunity to help him celebrate his special day, but this is where God planned for me to be. Maybe I'll be able to use someone's phone that has a SIM card in it to call home tonight.

It was an early morning for all of us. The Haitian cooks get up early to get started cooking, and I'm thankful for their willingness to cook. However, I'd love it if they didn't use garbage bags to put all their blankets in at the crack of dawn in the morning! Oh well! We were all up by 5:15 am whether we wanted to be or not! Emelie and I sat at the table using a flashlight to fix our hair and do makeup. (No, I don't have to put on makeup, but since I'm up, dressed, Bible read, and ready to go, I might as well have a few laughs to start the morning!) 😀

We ate breakfast, which was oatmeal and coffee. Haitian oatmeal is different from oatmeal in the U.S. It's more of a porridge that you can drink, but it's not bad. I ate a tortilla with peanut butter on it to help me stay fuller longer as I know the day will be crazy. Hannah brought peanut butter from the U.S., and I used that. I've tried the Haitian peanut butter which is homemade...obviously...but it's also spicy!

By 7:00 am., we were on the dump truck for our medical clinic in Chota. We rode along for about an hour on a road that would not be considered a road at home! We saw many people heading for the market in Seguin which is this morning. I just wonder how much they could possibly sell as everyone
seems to be selling the same things which are onions, cabbage, plantains, chickens, and other items from their gardens. Pastor Kevin says the culture does a lot of borrowing and owing things to one another. So, they work it out for whatever they need, or at least they hope they sell enough to provide
something for their families. These people out here are among the poorest, yet they would smile and wave as we bounced by in our dump truck. We tossed candy to the children, and they certainly
enjoyed that!

After about an hour of driving, we came to the end of the road. From here we would take a donkey to carry the heavy bags of medicine, and we walked for about 45 minutes. This walk was a trail right next to the mountain drop offs. It's definitely a walk to pay attention on! There were a few Haitian children that greeted us at the trail head, and it was clear that they were very comfortable with the trail. They scampered up the trail in their school uniforms and dress shoes, while we cautiously maneuvered up the trail. It was a scenic walk to the village though and I enjoyed the walk. As we continued walking towards the village, the children started to multiply. I'm not sure where they all came from, but we started with about four at the beginning of the trail.  By the time we arrived, we had about forty kids following us!


We arrived at about 9:00am., and we got ready to start the clinic. Again people were waiting for us, and the Gospel presentation was presented. Grandpa presented a message to the school kids, and he said tha he thought about 12 kids raised their hands in response to the salvation message. It's exciting to see the seeds planted!

Debbie Lynn moved to triage today. Basically the way we run the clinic is that everyone gets in a line, the ones working triage will take temperature, blood pressure, and heart rate. Once that is done, they get a band with a number on it. We take the numbers in order and it helps us know how many people we see in a clinic. We also take off the bands when they leave the clinic, as past experience
has taught the clinic personnel that they will often try to get the band off and give it to someone else so that they can go to the clinic. Debbie worked in the pharmacy yesterday, but our space is smaller today, and Hannah asked her if she would be willing to do triage instead. And Debbie has found her calling for this week. :) She is delighted to have more interactions with the people, and it will be a good fit for her.

I was the official pee dipper again today, and I am getting much faster at reading the results! I also do pregnancy tests if needed.

We had a very small space today for four medical staff, three translators, one pharmacist (Emelie) and one pee dipper. However, we made it work. The ground wasn't exactly level so it took a bit of creativity to find a spot where the pee samples wouldn't spill, and to try to find a spot to put out the medicine we brought along.


We had to be leaving Chota by 3:30pm., so we worked quickly for the hours we were there. We saw about two hundred and twenty people in the six hours we were there. We saw one teenage boy that had broken his femur about a year ago. It was never set, so it has now healed improperly. He still manages to walk on it fairly well, but I wonder what will happen as his body continues to grow. It really needs to be broken and reset, but the majority of these mountain people don't want to leave what little they have to get medical help for fear that someone will take what they have while they are away. We did offer him a ride down the mountain on Saturday when we leave to return to Jocmel. There are ministries that would help pay for proper care, but the people have to be willingly to take the first step and let us help them get down the mountain to the hospital. There was also a mama who had broken upper arm about a year ago when she fell down the mountain. Her arm just dangled about about the elbow down, and it too would require a surgery to break and reset  the bone. There was one other patient who stands out in my mind, and he is just a little boy of about threeyears old. He clearly has some serious struggles going on inside his body. The whole time he was at the clinic  he was vomiting. The grandma said that his mama had died, and that something is wrong with the boy as every time she gives him food he starts vomiting. He is so undernourished and his legs are like little toothpicks that just dangle. We offered them a ride down the mountain to the hospital on Saturday as well. We will see if they come for a ride. There are just so many needs that it is overwhelming at times, but God is just as much in control of life here as He is  at home. We treated many people for worms and stomach aches. The majority of stomach issues could just be that they are hungry, but again we do what we can.

We left Chota about three thirty and arrived back at the truck at about four pm.,. It was a little faster coming back as a lot of the trail is downhill, and we had less stuff. The road  was in such bad shape that more of the dump truck frame started to come apart. We were left with not very much to hang on too, as the sides were no longer secure...at all. We had to stop at one point and build a little ramp with rocks so that the truck could keep going. It is only of the Lord that we made it back safely.

We did get back to the church in Seguin at about five pm. The. We had to get all of the medicine
ready for the next day's clinic. Hannah and I ended up climbing the hill to the missions house to get some remaining medicine that was up there, while the rest of the team waited at the church building. Hannah found the medicine at we needed and I found two pairs of pants for some little boys at didn't have any pants. I brought a few articles of clothing from home, and one of the little boys could wear Travis's old pants if we rolled them up. The other little boy had to wear pink pants that had been Emma's, but he certainly didn't seem to mind. They didn't have any underwear, but they seemed thrilled to have pants to wear even if one pair was pink!

Hannah and I walked back down the mountain to help get the supplies ready for the next day. We discovered that two of the medicine totes we had left there today were now looked up in the pastor's house for safe keeping. Since we didn't know when the pastor would be  back to get the totes out for us, we decided to carry the supplies that we had back up the hill to the mission house! I put the fifty pound bag of medicine on my back and my smaller back pack on my front and thought about all the good exercise I was getting as I climbed up that mountain!

The construction team also had a busy day today working on the mission house. They should be ready to pour the cement for the roof next week. All that cement will be mixed and carried by hand, and they will probably have to pour through the night to get the job done. My dad also fell off a ladder today. He says that he is fine, but he is also not twenty four anymore! All in all, he will probably be fine, but it was rather scary to hear about.

Pastor Kevin is sleeping outside tonight as eight pieces of rebar walked off last night. My dad and Cory were both sleeping outside last night, but neither heard the rebar being carried off. My dad said that he thought he heard people unwrapping candy wrappers at about two thirty am, but he didn't realize that the rebar was being stolen!

It was a good day...and exhausting day, but a day filled with seeing God at work. We could use some more worm medicine for tomorrow's clinic, so it would be nice to see God provide that for tomorrow.

I was able to use Josh's phone to call home tonight. It was good to hear Chandler's voice and his excitement about his birthday. He told me how much he loves  me and is praying for me. I am so very thankful for my family.