Tuesday, December 1, 2009

haiti update - november 30, 2009

“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Ephesians 6:18

Hi! This week was a busy week with the medical program. We continued bringing food to the hydrocephalus children and their parents at Hopital La Paix. From Tuesday to Thursday the children were discharged in stages with the last 3 going home on Thursday morning. We give the Lord thanks for these surgeries. Pray for these children as they continue to recover at home. While bringing food to the hospital we also brought food to the pediatrics room where a few children were hospitalized. One of these children is an abandoned handicapped child. This boy looks to be around 3 years old and has cerebral palsy. He has been there for 2 months already. Other parents look after him. One of the women that I saw cleaning him up one day told me that her child is no longer hospitalized but when she went home she kept thinking of this abandoned child and decided to come every day to visit him and see how he was doing. This woman has a caring heart. This boy lies with his neck arched back and is very cross-eyed. Pray an orphanage can be found for him.
When the Miami neurosurgery team evaluates the children they sometimes come across cases that can’t be treated here in Haiti. One of these children is Magalie Toussaint. She was born with an encephalocele between her eyes, which caused her eyes to push to the side. Magalie is a child that Roberta was helping to find medical care for. One year has passed since the evaluation was made and Roberta has found care for her at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. Magalie celebrated Thanksgiving in Minnesota at the home of her host family and will see doctors this week that will be operating on her. To see the news story click on
http://kstp.com/news/stories/S1280263.shtml.
It is good to see missions come together to help children in need. One example is the upcoming Cure International orthopedic team that was scheduled to come to Hopital Justinien in Cap Haitian on November 30th. The children needed to be there early and it was necessary for them to travel the day before. We had 2 mothers and children that were going; Lucson Jean (3-year-old boy with a curved back caused by TB of the spine), and Islande Berlis (3-year-old girl with a congenital deformity of her hand). Sheri Fausey of Christian Light Mission has 2 children that she was sending as well; Lovely Nelson (4-year-old girl with a curved back caused by TB of the spine), and Ivona Dessalines who had surgery on her hand and wrist 3 months ago by the Cure team). She sent her driver with all the mothers and children and Amos in her vehicle to Gonaives. There Pastor Genada sent along a couple of other children to join the others with another Haitian pastor and this pastor arranged transportation for everyone to travel to Cap Haitian. Amos called in the evening to let us know that they arrived safely at the hospital. Unfortunately, we found out Monday morning that the Cure International team was delaying their visit until December 7th and everyone made the return travel back to Gonaives and Sheri’s driver Edmond picked everyone up in Gonaives. It is great to see people working together to help these children get medical care. Pray for the plans of the 2nd trip to Cap Haitian and for all those who will be helped by this orthopedic surgical team on December 7th.
The family of Fonise Cadeau came with her the other week to visit. We knew that Fonise had been sick and it was sad to see how much weight that she had lost. She had gone from a healthy strong young adult to a malnourished and weak young adult. All this was caused by an on-going undetermined illness. We brought her over to the Infectious Diseases Center and they did some lab work. This center provides free care. They help a lot of people. Over the week she got weaker and at her appointment on Friday she fainted. They don’t provide in-patient care and suggested that we take her to General Hospital. After seeing what happened to the premature baby the other week at General Hospital we didn’t want to bring her there and instead I sent a note with a family member to Adoration Christian School requesting their assistance for paying for the hospitalization of Fonise. Fonise is the sister of Jn. Raynold Cadeau, who is an employee of their mission. They agreed to do so and we transported Fonise to Bernard Mevs Hospital. The first thing that the nurse in the emergency room said was that she would need a blood transfusion. An IV was started. Further testing is being done. She will need an endoscopy and the doctors asked the family to go to the Red Cross to donate blood for her. Pray that a diagnosis can be found for Fonise’s problems and for strength for her.
In the voudou culture illnesses are considered being caused by what someone has done to another through a curse or attack of the spirits. People in the community especially say these things for illnesses of unknown origin. On Sunday afternoon when we were at the hospital Fonise told us that the people in the room told her that she should go to “jeune” (prayer services, for healing). Lesita Joseph is the woman who has the very large abdomen that has been growing since 2007. People in the community think that her large abdomen is caused by some sort of curse. On Monday we brought her to Kings Hospital for the interpretation of her sonogram results and they show that she has a large cyst growing from one of her ovaries. She will need surgery. We are planning to bring her to Cange where there is a hospital that provides free medical care. Pray that we can find surgical care for her.
Tim and Kim Bos returned back to Canada on Tuesday. It was great having their assistance while they were here. They brought with them tubes of antibiotic cream that people had donated for treating the pressure sores on Jonel’s head. This week we had finished the last tube of antibiotic cream and we now have a new supply! We give the Lord thanks for this timely provision. Thank you to all those who donated.
Darlene Milord is a young Haitian woman who is handicapped. She has hemiplegia. She recently came back from the “Federation Equestre Internationale” in Denmark where she received an award. This is a good witness for the handicapped here in Haiti and for the efforts of “Equitherapie d’Haiti” at the Chateaublond Equestrian Center in Port-au-Prince and for the Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs mission. Pray for those who work with the handicapped to integrate them into Haitian society and for Haitian society to change to accept the handicapped.
The student protests are continuing which affect the circulation of traffic in certain areas. The Agricultural students joined the movement last week. The state agricultural campus is in the Damier area and the students blocked Rte National #1 in front of their campus. They rolled a tree trunk across the road. Students threw bottles and rocks at police and the police responded with tear gas. The students are very determined. In September the Sociology campus held a voudou ceremony on the Champs Mars near their campus where they drew a “veve” (voudou symbol). They then held a voudou ceremony and walked around the Champ Mars seven times. They believe this ceremony gives their movement power from the spirits! The agricultural students are protesting for the liberation of the students arrested at the November 18th protests downtown, for the police to remove their presence from the Faculty of Medicine and Pharmacy campus (where the protests originally began several months ago) and for the departure of the UN forces from Haiti. Pray for a resolution to these protests. The new Prime Minister Jean Max Bellerive has a difficult task!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo

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