Blessed Are:

The pure in heart, for they will see God

The merciful, for they will be shown mercy

The poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven

Those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled

The meek, for they shall inherit the earth

Those who mourn, for they shall be comforted

More Snapshots

Young Men With a Vision for Haiti

I took these pictures while we were packing up tent camp clinic on Thursday. It is hard to express the blesssing these young people have been this week. We have heard their stories about the quake and how it has affected their lives and their families lives. Rebecca is a 2nd grade teacher and lost her mom in the quake. She is living with her aunt and is caring for her niece and nephews while their mom is recieving care in the states. She works from 8am-5 and has to take 3 tap taps (taxi buses) to get home. That gets her home at 7pm. For that long day she gets $20. From what we have heard, the pastor is very fair in what he pays tranlators. Some are miraculously alive today when buildings around them fell and they were spared. Most lay awake at night under a tarp in a camp on a blanket and think about friends and family that are gone and the uncertainty about their futures. They love their country and are working to try to rebuild. But many of their families will not have the ability to help them with their education and it is very expensive to go to school in Haiti.

For a while we were taking pictures and playing with kids. Then, we started giving out baby food and the people became demanding so we had to pack up in a hurry. We also took another baby to Maimi Dade. She was 7 days old and was very sick. She didn't have a name yet and the hospital said she had to have a name to be admitted. So mom named her after the doctor. A little Haitian girl with an american name.

My "Gift of Tongues"

One thing I was concerned about before I left was the difficulty communicating in Creole. Each day every team member was assigned a different translator. These young people were college students before the quake and now the schools are closed. Many are living in tent camps and not sleeping and eating well.
So I prayed that God would give me the gift of tongues or somehow help me to express His love to the people that I am serving. I found that touch is a great form of communication. I tried to always touch the patient I was seeing even if they were there for something simple. But the praimary way that God answered my prayer was through this young man, Mo. He worked with me all week and was such a great example of a servant. He asked the young women very personal questions in such a gentle way. He spoke to the older women with such respect. He played and held the children and was friendly and comforting to the young men his age. And he watched out for me. Making sure I was drinking enough water and didn't fall out of the truck.
I will miss him so much and will always remember him. His love for people and for God gives me hope for this Haiti and also for Lawrence North High School. It reminds me of the verse in
Acts 2:17 that says "in the last days, God says, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your young men will see visions and your old men will dream dreams. I will show wonders in the heaven above and signs on the earth below.. and everyone who calls on the Lord will be saved."

Our Last Day in Haiti

This picture was taken outside of the DPC we served at today. Half of the team went to Chambrun clinic and half went to the camp. After we were done at Chambrun we went to help at the camp. The first 2 pictures were taken at Chambrun and the one with the sign was taken at the camp.

One More Wednesday Story

There are 3 teenage girls who volunteer at the clinic. They hand out baby food and formula and children's vitamins to those who need them and organize supplies. They are given lunch for working. Today there were some tortillas missing and the pastor searched her backpack and they were there. He also found some soap and deodorant that she took from the clinic. We think she is not going to be allowed to work anymore. We have cell phones and cameras with us but she only thought of taking food.

IT is very sad to see how desperate the people are. And at the same time how generous they are to share with one another.

Cute Kids in the clinic

Here are some of the children that I saw today. We saw 200 people between the 3 of us. We have seen so much scabies that we are out of medication for tomorrow. There is no way for the families to wash sheets and dry them to get rid of the scabies, so it seems sort of futile.

We saw many girls this week who are pregnant. It would be a very difficult time to be pregnant in Haiti. IT is also very difficult to be old here. Many of the old people have tumors and health conditions that would be fixed if they lived in the states. They are sleeping on the ground when they are already hurting form just old age. I took care of a girl who is in the process of loosing a baby but cannot afford to go to the hospital. In Haiti, if you do not have money they will not treat you. We asked her to come back tomorrow and check in with us. We prescribed antibiotics for her but if she does not deliver completely she may die from infection. She said she has been pregnant since December. After I did her pregnancy test and it was negative, she began to cry. I just sat and held her hand for a while and told her I was so sorry.

I also saw a young man who has not been sleeping well since the earthquake. He looked very sad and said he is frightened all of the time. I asked him if I could pray with him and I prayed through the interpreter. I have been praying with a lot of the people throughout the day. It is such a blessing!

The camp team saw a woman who lost her husband in the quake. She has 6 children and was looking for a tarp for her and her children to sleep under. The doctor said that she has never seen anyone who looked more hopeless.

So one more day to try to bring hope to the hopeless.

Tent Cities

There are over 800,000 Haitians living in tent cities in the city of POP. Scabies and fungal infections are very common as well as bacterial infections. The kids are beautiful and very friendly.

Miami Dade Hospital

These are pictures from the hospital that was set up after the quake. There are lots of military officers from all over the world and relief organizations posts. Helicopters and crates of food and supplies. This is where we took both of the baby girls.

Clinic on Tuesday

Tuesday I was back at the clinic. I don't know if I will go to the camps or not. The people that come to the clinic are so sweet and beautiful. The people at the camps are from closer to the city. When you work at the camps, if you have to use the restroom, you have to just squat at the side of the bus and ask someone to hold up a sheet. It is hard to imagine living like that day after day.
What impressed me today was how generous the people are to each other. I gave one of our translators a small tangerine in the pickup truck on the way home and he peeled it, saved the peeling in his backpack and began to eat it slowly. Then (this happens frequently) he saw a few women he knows walking and yelled at our driver to stop. He helped them get in to the truck and then shared his tangerine with them. I see that over and over. They share food a lot.

Another fun thing. Since the clinic is right next to the church and school, the children hang out there most of the day. After we get in to the back of the pickup, the children start piling on. The translators help them on and tell them where to sit and make sure they are all in. Then they hop on to the truck. Yesterday I counted and there were about 20 kids in the truck. They sit on your lap and smile and laugh. Then, when we get to the village we help them out of the truck. It is so different from the states. The children are so affectionate and happy.

Clinic at Chambrun

This morning we arrived at the clinic and many poeple were lined up waiting. There were only 2 medical people (me and a doctor) and two people to run the pharmacy. We each had a translator. The boy that helped me today was wonderful. His name is Mo. He was a University student and loves God! He is living in a tent and says he is not sleeping. He lays in bed thinking about how his life has changed and worries about his family. I would love to take him home and send him to school. He knows French, Spanish, Croele and English. He helped ask the women questions all day about very personal problems and was so gentle and sweet.
After we were there for only 15 minutes all of the sudden everyone was screaming and running out. The translators said it was an aftershock. The kids were crying and scared to death. I couldn't help but cry with them. I have never seen such fear.
So...we were busy all day and had to turn people away at the end of the day. The hardest part is that many children have stomach aches and when you ask them when they ate last they say yesterday sometime. Because the school is closed right now, the kids do not get a meal every day. And there is nothing we can do about that. We cannot give out food because there would be a riot. We can only give worm medicine and Zantac for stomach aches. They really need food.
The school cannot open until the government says they can. The pastor thinks they can open March 15th. Then the kids will get one meal a day.
Then a woman came in with a baby. They had been waiting for 4 hours and when she unwrapped the baby I gasped. This baby was skin and bones. She was a month old and I didn't think she was alive. Her mom died at birth and her dad's girlfriend was caring for the baby. We think she was neglecting her on purpose. They rushed her to Miami Dade and they did not want to keep her. I cannot imagine that she wil live.
So we saw 120 people between the 2 of us.
I have been riding in the back of a pickup truck every day. The roads are very bumpy, but the breeze is great.
One day down. 3 to go.
Don't have the energy to post a picture tonight.