I'm Angry

There are three reasons I'm angry.

1. Kervens seems to be a little con artist. There are rumors his mom didn't die in the earthquake. I just couldn't bring myself to confront him on the subject. He did say goodbye to my on Friday when we left the clinic. I pray that Willem will be able to mentor the boy so he doesn't become a real con artist.

2. This is not water. Here's the story. Caitlyn and I were sitting outside on the front steps just talking. We had been there for probably more than an hour when Flash, one of the dumb dogs, came over and sniffed my back. The dogs are social and like affection, so I thought he was going to come around to my side. I was planning on talking to him and maybe even petting him. But instead of his head showing up at my shoulder I felt something warm on my back. The dumb dog was peeing on me! You can tell from the picture that it wasn't just a little marking. He was letting it all loose. I jumped up as soon as I knew what was going on, which caused Caitlyn to also jump up. We both started screaming and ran inside. Caitlyn made it to our room before me and shouted, "Mom, I have the funniest story for you!" Then I ran in and shouted, "I HATE THAT DOG!!" Then we had to tell them the story, and of course they felt the need to take a picture.


3. Any guesses as to what this is? You'll only need one! I couldn't believe my luck. We had a mama and a baby that needed to be weighed. We started with the little guy. He stood on the scale very reluctantly. Maybe "reluctantly" isn't the right term. He screamed the entire time and tried to get off the scale at all costs. When he was finished being weighed, I thought I would pick him up to hold him while mama was weighed. Well, he really didn't like that. I started to put him down and I thought my toes feel wet. Then I looked down and saw that my toes were not the only thing that were wet. Baby got me good.

I told Willem I changed my mind about coming back to Haiti. Urine reeks.

Scenes from the Clinic

Resiliency

The clinic went well today. Mostly I weighed people and directed traffic.



However, my life was altered when Kervens (pronounced like Kevin with an r) walked into the clinic. This 14 year old boy has a resiliency beyond anything I've ever witnessed. His story blew me away. He was at home when the earthquake struck on January 12. He happened to be standing by the door, so he quickly rushed outside. However, his little sister and was inside. He hasn’t seen his mom since the earthquake. He assumes she died, but he holds on to hope that she’ll show up some day. Kervens said when he got out the door, he turned around to see that his house looked like a pancake. At that point he started crying and stayed there until his dad found him.

His story at this point gets a little fuzzy for me. It seems like he’s living with his dad, but it sounds like he’s basically on his own for food, money, school, everything. This morning he came to the clinic, found Willem, and in one minute convinced him that he could work as an interpreter in the clinic. The boy is something else.

After convincing Willem that he could work as an interpreter, Kervens walked into the clinic and worked with strangers from another country as if he had been there all his life. The boy is amazing! He taught me words in Creole, shared about his life, and helped us communicate with the patients.

At lunch Kervens asked me questions like, “Can you give me your opinion on something. In Haiti life is very difficult. What can I do to succeed in life?” and “Why are earthquakes so dangerous?” He’s very preoccupied with how he will have a good life now that his mom is gone and what he should do if there is another earthquake. Thankfully Willem was there. After hearing Kervens' questions, he spent a good amount of time during lunch just speaking words of life into the young man.

Father God, you amaze me with the way you orchestrate our lives. Thank you for bringing me to Haiti and putting me in a place where I could meet Kervens. I am so blessed by how you have protected him and guided him to people who can mentor him and provide for his needs. Jesus, shine your light into his life in a way that is unmistakable, and please continue to guide and protect him.

This is how we roll

Here are some snapshots of how we travel from point A to point B here in Haiti.

Clinic Day 2

Wow. What a great day!

We started the morning knowing there would be a ton of people at the clinic today. We could see the line along the road to the clinic, and just after breakfast Joanne told us she had never seen so many people there before. I haven't heard official numbers from Marcia yet, but I think the medical clinic saw close to 200 people.

I started the day out counting pills and waiting for scabies patients. There were a few, but no one was any where near the level of yesterday's case. (The picture is of Lexi and me giving a little boy a treatment.) After a while I traded Chad places and became the bouncer. Basically I told people when it was there turn to get weighed, where to stand until it was their turn, and when they could go back to a table. I loved it because I got to see everyone coming in, play with the babies while they waited in line, and give out stickers to all the kids. The part I'm not really fond of is standing and staring at the people while they wait. I can't communicate with them, and there's not much to do. A lot of the time I felt like I was just standing around. I also liked that I didn't have to count pills though. :)

In the late morning a man came in holding a newborn baby. The baby was crying and moving it's mouth like it was hungry. Haylee was worried about the baby, so she pulled the guy out of line and snagged a translator. He told us the baby hadn't eaten anything all day and the mother wasn't breastfeeding because she had something wrong with her head. Finally the mom came, but she didn't want to breastfeed. The baby ended up eating part of a bottle, and we sent them home with some of those 3 oz Similac bottles for newborns.

The highlight of the day for me were the kids. There were some awesome little babies that came in who smiled and giggled and clapped for me. Our last patient was a tiny 7 month old who was super smiley. I got to hold her for a little while while her mom had some lab work done (aka peed in a cup). I know other people got pictures, so I'll post some when I get them.

Clinic's Opening Day

Today was AWESOME!! We opened the clinic around 10:30 am after organizing ourselves and all the new stuff we brought up the mountain. We saw 126 patients and the eye clinic saw roughly 80 people today. We had four clinic stations set up, with a vitals station that all the patients funneled through first. There was also a pharmacy and a scabies station. I manned the scabies station with Lexi, who is 16. Most of the time we counted pills and made 30 pill packs of Tylenol and vitamins. I think we had about 10-12 scabies patients today. About 60% of them were small children, but there were some adults. The scabies treatment consists of rubbing a special lotion all over an infected person. Here are the directions I was given.

1. For children under 4, rub the cream all over the scalp, behind the ears, between toes and every where in between. Make sure you get the tip of the penis and the butt crack. For kids older than four, the scalp is unnecessary.
2. Kids younger than 12 need to be lathered up by a "professional."
3. Watch the teens and adults to make sure they get everything.
4. Tell them to wash all clothing and bedding, and they can wash the lotion off in the morning.

Our first scabies patient was a 20 something male. Lexi and I quickly agreed that watching him put on the lotion was not necessary, so we just asked him to put his hand over the curtain when he needed more. Most of the scabies treatments were pretty simple, but we had one little girl who was heartbreaking. She had the worst case of scabies some of the medical people, who have been here frequently, and had open sores all over. She had a really nasty one on her leg, one on her crotch and several others. She was crying when she got to our station, but when we started putting on the lotion she lost it. With every screech my heart broke a little more, and by the end I was crying with her. It was traumatizing. I had to leave the building for a little bit after she left because I just couldn't handle it.

The rest of the day went fairly well. We are looking forward to tomorrow.

Organizing

This morning Beth took the three girls (Beth M., Hannah, and me) up to "36" to do some organizing. Originally 36 was a private home, but Beth and Willem are able to use it as a guest house. It sleeps 18 people in beds with more room for mattresses on the floors. They use it for groups that come to Port au Prince as volunteers with other organizations. Beth provides a cook for breakfast and dinner and household chores, so the people can focus on what they are here to do. It is a very nice facility, and a great service they are able to provide.

Beth and Hannah put some hygiene packs together.


I worked on sorting the various medical supplies. Some are going to the hospital. Some will go to other missionaries and the rest to the clinic.


The beautiful view from the porch we were working on.


After a couple of hours everything was sorted and packed.


Now the rest of the medical team is arriving. Hopefully we'll be busy working again soon.