“Blessed is he who has regard for the weak; the LORD delivers him in times of trouble. The LORD will protect him and preserve his life; He will bless him in the land and not surrender him to the desire of his foes.” Psalm 41:1,2
Hi! This week was a busy week running around. We got the list of the names of hydrocephalus children that are selected for surgery starting October 27th. The parents go for a meeting at Healing Hands on October 24th and the children will be admitted to the hospital on October 26th. In total there will be 22 children that will get the opportunity for surgery. Pray for the efforts of the medical team and health for the children. 6 of the 9 children we had made contacts with were selected for surgery and we give the Lord thanks for this. We will be providing breakfast and supper for each day while the children are hospitalized. For some they can expect to be there for 16 days. Depending on the availability of water at the hospital we may also be inviting the parents of the children to wash clothing and bathe here at Coram Deo. The hospital is close by on Delmas 33. My sister, Tanya will be arriving on October 30th with a team of 5 people to assist during the hospitalization process. They have collected things to help the hydrocephalus families.
This week a parent of a hydrocephalus child who lives in the Cabaret area came to the house. The woman’s name is Yolene and she lives in the region where the flooding was from the recent heavy rains. Her 3 children and herself managed to survive with the clothes on their backs but everything else was lost. Her sister is missing and probably dead. She has searched for her but hasn’t been able to locate her. Right now they are living with friends. Pray for comfort for her and her family.
A couple of weeks ago the father of David Marzelus came to the house one morning with the news that David was not doing well and was dying. He said he was going home to make a coffin for him. Later that day we visited the family expecting to find him dead but we were happy to find him alive. His father had already put him out of the house and into a small unfinished room in another building waiting for him to die. When we saw him he was sitting up and when I asked him how he was he responded by saying that he was fine. David has a history of uncontrollable seizures. We visited him this week and he was still alive and still in the unfinished room outside of the home but he looks a little stronger now. We’ll keep checking on him and making sure that the family keeps looking after him.
On Friday, I went along with Carole to see a doctor for Evans, a handicapped child who she is finding medical care for. Evans has clubbed feet and cerebral palsy. This Haitian doctor is the one we go to when we need a medical letter written. He is always eager to help and doesn’t charge us for this service. He is a Christian who has really grown in his faith especially after his recent visit to Moscow for an evangelism conference. He was excited about how the gospel is being presented in the former Soviet Union countries and he came back to Haiti eager to serve the Lord here in Haiti.
This past week the Security Council of the UN prolonged the mandate of the UN here in Haiti for another year. This will help to maintain better security here in Haiti. The Haitian police still are not able to provide the nation’s security needs on their own.
One of the priorities of the government is to improve the lives of handicapped people. A new government ministry, Ministry for the Integration of Handicapped People has been created to help integrate the handicapped into Haitian society. It is estimated that there are 800,000 handicapped people within Haiti. Here in Haiti, the handicapped have a history of being the victims of discrimination and social injustice. Their rights of work, housing, education, and mobility are being violated constantly (more so than the rest of the population). At the recent national forum that was held the minister stated that for a society to develop the rights of all sectors of society need to be taken into account. The minister is handicapped himself because he is blind but this doesn’t stop him from being an advocate for the handicapped. Pray for his efforts and pray that the handicapped will one day be fully accepted into Haitian society.
There have been a couple of protests recently. While we were downtown the other week and inside the US Consulate a group of around 200 protesters were in the large public area downtown protesting against the government and demanding the return of Aristide (the ex-president). Lukner remained behind keeping an eye on the pickup truck while we were inside the consulate. After a while the protest broke up and the people went their separate ways.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good evening!
Karen Bultje
Haiti-Coram Deo
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