Cure International does orthopedic surgeries in Haiti at Hopital Justinien in Cap Haitian 4 times a year. The surgery team is used to operating conditions here in Haiti. They can even operate during a black out. This video shows this. To watch this video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tf_1mzu3zbU
This second video is about children that Cure International has helped with surgeries. Wilke is one of these children. To watch this video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=x67t2pl0U44
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
VIDEO - THE ANCHOR HOLDS
Faith in the Lord is an anchor that holds in any storm. Ray Boltz recorded the song "The Anchor Holds". To see the video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL112E3NjqU
www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL112E3NjqU
haiti update - september 26, 2009
“Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, he confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek.” Hebrews 6:16-20
Hi! This week we caught up with our electrical repairs due to the 220 power surge several weeks ago. The invertor was repaired and now we don’t have to worry about power outages. The washing machine was repaired and the children jumped for joy! We contacted the guy who hooked up our “prise” and had him move it back to the area where it should be. Now we can play basketball again without the line interfering with the trajectory of the ball! EDH has been providing a lot of electricity during the day here in our area lately; more than usual. Part of the $5 million US$ grant that Haiti/EDH got from the World Bank is being used to hire a Spanish organization, Indra to modernize EDH. This project will cost 2.4 million euros. Holland is also helping out with the electricity problems. The Dutch government is providing $20.5 million to E-Power in Cite Soleil. This power generating station will provide 30 megawatts of electricity, which is about 15% of the demand for Port-au-Prince. EDH has a capacity of generating 233 megawatts but only 133 megawatts are used. Of the electricity that is generated 35% is stolen. At the present time only 1 in 5 Haitians have access to electric services. More stable electricity will also encourage investment in the country as well. Maybe one day we won’t even need an invertor anymore!
The Smile Train plastic surgery team performed 50 cleft lip/palate surgeries while at the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe. We give the Lord thanks that these people will no longer have to live with this problem. Cure International came with an orthopedic surgery team led by an American orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Nelson to Hopital Justinien in Cap Haitian. Two children from Christian Light Ministries were able to be seen and Ivona Dessalines had surgery on her wrist to release the ligament. Pray for her recovery and that she will now have more use of her hand and wrist. Pastor Genada of Gonaives brought a clubbed foot child and he had surgery as well. Lovely Nelson who has Potts Disease (caused by tuberculosis of the spine) was seen as well and she may get surgery in November. Dr. Nelson comes 4 times a year to Haiti from the Cure International Hospital in the Dominican Republic and performs the surgeries for free. The only costs are to get up to Cap Haitian and for tests, lab work and medicines. I put a video of one of their surgical visits to Haiti on my blog and it shows them performing surgery in a blackout! We hope to send a few children up to the next surgical process. Pray for the work of this organization and we give thanks for another “open door” to getting help for children with orthopedic problems!
There has been quite a few fevers and sickness going around. Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny all had fevers, colds and coughs that weren’t getting better and they were all put on antibiotics to help them get over whatever caused the sickness. At the end of the week Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny were getting over their bug and three more people here at Coram Deo got sick. Veline, Paulna and Herold are now dealing with this bug. We have also been handing out fever medicines to some people in the community who come to our gate. Pray this sickness goes away.
My sister Tanya and my parents went with John to the Shriners Hospital in Montreal for surgery on his other clubbed foot. Unfortunately when he was being registered pre-op at the hospital he had a seizure and the surgery needed to be canceled. His other foot has healed from the surgery well and is straight. Tanya is excited about the possibilities of John being able to stand! Pray for another surgical date for John and that he will one day be able to stand God willing.
An older boy who is mentally handicapped was registered this week into our school program. Steve Auguste looks around 16 years old and is a big kid! He lives with his aunt. He came with his backpack ready to go to school and enjoys the opportunity of attending school for the first time in his life.
We received another donation of Feed My Starving Children rice meals from Love a Child as being a member of OdesO. This helps us in providing meals for the children in our school program. We share this food also with some of the poorer people that we know in the community. A lady from Cite Soleil comes by from time to time when she is not able to provide food for her family. They live in a shack with no mattresses. They spread clothes out on the ground to sleep on. We have had some large downpours lately and when it rains at night the family can’t sleep as the water enters their home. Pray for those who are living in terrible living conditions here in Haiti.
During one of the heavy downpours someone walking downtown here in Port-au-Prince stepped into an open manhole that had the cover missing. With all the water on the street he didn’t see the opening. This man drowned. A father went from his home last weekend to sell bags of water by the soccer stadium downtown. He never came back home. His family looked for him at the police stations, hospitals and morgue and couldn’t find him. They heard about a body that was found in all the garbage that was pushed by the rain waters on Rue Pavee and went down there. They were saddened to find that the body was their father. September is almost finished with no tropical storms or hurricanes hitting Haiti but whenever there is a downpour you usually hear of a couple of people who lose their lives in the rains.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! This week we caught up with our electrical repairs due to the 220 power surge several weeks ago. The invertor was repaired and now we don’t have to worry about power outages. The washing machine was repaired and the children jumped for joy! We contacted the guy who hooked up our “prise” and had him move it back to the area where it should be. Now we can play basketball again without the line interfering with the trajectory of the ball! EDH has been providing a lot of electricity during the day here in our area lately; more than usual. Part of the $5 million US$ grant that Haiti/EDH got from the World Bank is being used to hire a Spanish organization, Indra to modernize EDH. This project will cost 2.4 million euros. Holland is also helping out with the electricity problems. The Dutch government is providing $20.5 million to E-Power in Cite Soleil. This power generating station will provide 30 megawatts of electricity, which is about 15% of the demand for Port-au-Prince. EDH has a capacity of generating 233 megawatts but only 133 megawatts are used. Of the electricity that is generated 35% is stolen. At the present time only 1 in 5 Haitians have access to electric services. More stable electricity will also encourage investment in the country as well. Maybe one day we won’t even need an invertor anymore!
The Smile Train plastic surgery team performed 50 cleft lip/palate surgeries while at the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe. We give the Lord thanks that these people will no longer have to live with this problem. Cure International came with an orthopedic surgery team led by an American orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Nelson to Hopital Justinien in Cap Haitian. Two children from Christian Light Ministries were able to be seen and Ivona Dessalines had surgery on her wrist to release the ligament. Pray for her recovery and that she will now have more use of her hand and wrist. Pastor Genada of Gonaives brought a clubbed foot child and he had surgery as well. Lovely Nelson who has Potts Disease (caused by tuberculosis of the spine) was seen as well and she may get surgery in November. Dr. Nelson comes 4 times a year to Haiti from the Cure International Hospital in the Dominican Republic and performs the surgeries for free. The only costs are to get up to Cap Haitian and for tests, lab work and medicines. I put a video of one of their surgical visits to Haiti on my blog and it shows them performing surgery in a blackout! We hope to send a few children up to the next surgical process. Pray for the work of this organization and we give thanks for another “open door” to getting help for children with orthopedic problems!
There has been quite a few fevers and sickness going around. Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny all had fevers, colds and coughs that weren’t getting better and they were all put on antibiotics to help them get over whatever caused the sickness. At the end of the week Manu, Benson and Cousin Johnny were getting over their bug and three more people here at Coram Deo got sick. Veline, Paulna and Herold are now dealing with this bug. We have also been handing out fever medicines to some people in the community who come to our gate. Pray this sickness goes away.
My sister Tanya and my parents went with John to the Shriners Hospital in Montreal for surgery on his other clubbed foot. Unfortunately when he was being registered pre-op at the hospital he had a seizure and the surgery needed to be canceled. His other foot has healed from the surgery well and is straight. Tanya is excited about the possibilities of John being able to stand! Pray for another surgical date for John and that he will one day be able to stand God willing.
An older boy who is mentally handicapped was registered this week into our school program. Steve Auguste looks around 16 years old and is a big kid! He lives with his aunt. He came with his backpack ready to go to school and enjoys the opportunity of attending school for the first time in his life.
We received another donation of Feed My Starving Children rice meals from Love a Child as being a member of OdesO. This helps us in providing meals for the children in our school program. We share this food also with some of the poorer people that we know in the community. A lady from Cite Soleil comes by from time to time when she is not able to provide food for her family. They live in a shack with no mattresses. They spread clothes out on the ground to sleep on. We have had some large downpours lately and when it rains at night the family can’t sleep as the water enters their home. Pray for those who are living in terrible living conditions here in Haiti.
During one of the heavy downpours someone walking downtown here in Port-au-Prince stepped into an open manhole that had the cover missing. With all the water on the street he didn’t see the opening. This man drowned. A father went from his home last weekend to sell bags of water by the soccer stadium downtown. He never came back home. His family looked for him at the police stations, hospitals and morgue and couldn’t find him. They heard about a body that was found in all the garbage that was pushed by the rain waters on Rue Pavee and went down there. They were saddened to find that the body was their father. September is almost finished with no tropical storms or hurricanes hitting Haiti but whenever there is a downpour you usually hear of a couple of people who lose their lives in the rains.
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Sunday, September 20, 2009
VIDEO - SMILE TRAIN
A Smile Train surgical team was working at the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe performing free cleft lip and palate surgeries. Smile Train is a large organization that works throughout the world. Chris Meloni, an actor in Law and Order SVU was in Haiti recently and this video was made about Smile Train and their surgeries here in Haiti. To see this video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=015vDY6Abas
www.youtube.com/watch?v=015vDY6Abas
photos - school - part 1
Monday was the first day of classes here at Coram Deo. Schools across the city opened on Monday.
There are several new faces this year. I'll try to do profiles on students throughout the year.
Jn. Eddy Alexandre has grades 1 and 2. Students advance quicker than others and we try to accommodate the different paces.
Here are some more new faces. How do you like our freshly painted tables and benches?
These are 2 of the younger students.photos - school - part 2
These children are waiting while the parent meeting is going on.
The children enjoy the playground.
These 2 parents came for the meeting. Yonel Glezile is the father of Jameson Glezile, a boy who had a cleft lip and palate. Jameson still has some speech difficulties. His father always attends the parent/teacher meetings. He is also our Sunday guardian for the yard. The woman behind him is also a parent of one of the childrens. Shilo, our dog was nearby and she was scared of him.
There was a good turnout for the meeting. Parents were told about the program for the year and were given the book list. We aren't able to buy books for the students but maybe next year we will be able too. That won't stop the children from learning though. Notes will be taken from the chalkboard and most of the parents will find a way to get the books.
Loudison Pierre and his father came to the house this week. Loudison had surgery for his hydrocephalus in May 2009. His head circumference is starting to increase again and it looks like he will need further surgery during the next hydrocephalus surgeries scheduled for November 2009. His father cares for him well. So many fathers abandon their families when they have a hydrocephalus baby.photos - various
Every morning I like to walk the children to school. Benson attends the Christian Light Ministries School which is located in the Cite Aux Cayes area of Delmas 31
Manu too goes to the same school.
This woman came to Coram Deo looking for help for her twin baby girls. The father of the babies died in an accident in Fond Parisien while he was digging in the sand/gravel pit there. Since his death the mother has struggled. Please keep this woman in prayer.
Saturday, we piled 17 people into Kimosabee and traveled to Archaie to visit Jacob. He is now re-integrating back with his family. He is doing well.
This home is where Jacob's uncle and family live.photos - archaie - part 1
Jacob's uncle is the caretaker of the church and mission school which is across the street where his home is. The children were enjoying the playground equipment.
This is the street corner of Independance square and also the entrance to the street where Jacob now lives. This older home has a unique haitian architectural style.
In the center of Independance square is a statue to Jean Jacques Dessaline, who was the leader of the haitians fighting for their freedom against the French.
The birthplace of the Haitian flag is in Archaie and every May 18th the president speaks from this square. On the monument are the words of the national anthem as well as photos of the flag.
These women are taking shelter from the sun in this grotto. They blend well into the mural and the figure of a woman in it.photos - archaie - part 2
This stage area has a painted mural as a background. This group of children is playing in front of the mural and they sort of blend into the mural too.
Manu and Benson found the playground equipment at the back of the square.
This building is the municipal office for Archaie. The square also has a basketball court. It is not marked as the NBA but "NBH".
This is the view from the back of the square looking down the market street to the sea. In Haiti taptaps are often marked with christian expressions or bible verses. The front taptap is marked "Dieu Seul Sait" (Only God Knows). The one behind it is marked "Respe Pour Christ" (Respect For Christ.
On the way back we stopped in the Cabaret area. Last year this is one of the areas of the country that were heavily affected by storm damage.Saturday, September 19, 2009
photos - cabaret
The damages from last year's hurricane season still are visible. This house was destroyed by the overflowing river as well as all the land around it washed away.
This house remains damaged as well.
The countryside is beautiful but water sure is powerful.
Here are some damaged houses seen from a distance
Flood waters can change a landscape.VIDEO - VOICE OF TRUTH
Casting Crowns has a song entitled "Voice of Truth". In our lives with all the other voices around saying otherwise we need to listen to the "Voice of Truth". Follow the link to watch this video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsvqVmFV6Y
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwsvqVmFV6Y
haiti update - september 19, 2009
“Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with him, and he with me.” Revelation 3:20
Hi! Friday was a violent day. First thing in the morning the guys told me that somebody had been killed during the evening in the Delmas 31 neighborhood. It happened at a home near the soccer field. I went over to find out if it was anyone I knew. Jude, a Haitian man I have known for years came up to me and greeted me. The person killed was his friend. He had been hacked to death with a machete during the evening inside his home. The killer(s) had left the machete inside the home. Jude had spoken with him the prior afternoon by telephone and there was no indication of any problems. The strange thing is that the people who live in the house with him said that they didn’t know that anything was going on. The area where the house is located is down a narrow corridor with houses connected together down the corridor. People living there said they didn’t hear anything. They heard no signs of a struggle while this man was being killed. The police were there conducting an investigation and a man was handcuffed in the back of the police truck. The police were angry with him. He was one of the people inside the house during the evening. A policeman from the DCPJ (unit which conducts investigations) came out with a bag holding a pair of tennis shoes. The guys here at Coram Deo couldn’t understand either how he could die like that without anyone knowing. They saw this man at a soccer match the prior afternoon. The body was found on the second story of the home. On the first floor was the family business. They had a boutique and he also lent money to those who needed it along with charging interest. He has a daughter living in New York. Later in the afternoon after the police questioned the man that was in handcuffs it was determined that this man let the killers into the house. The killers were part of a gang located in the Delmas 19/ Cite Aux Cayes area called Tete Mur (Top of the Wall). Police arrested members of this gang. Pray for the family of this man and for Jude as he has lost his friend and for the police investigation; that those who did this act will be caught and punished.
Around noon Jn. Eddy came to me upset after receiving a phone call to come downtown as his mother was having problems. They didn’t say what problems she was having. I drove Jn. Eddy to the cathedral area downtown. There is a large market around the front street of the cathedral. Many people in Haiti try to make a living selling things on the streets in the downtown area and on other streets of Port-au-Prince. Jn. Eddy’s mother has sold in this market for several years already. Last week his mother was sick and Jn. Eddy’s sister was opening up the family stand hoping to make some sales during the day. As she was setting everything up on display, a man came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. He asked her why was she selling there and informed her that there would be consequences for selling in that location. He stepped back, and took a gun out of his knapsack. Jn. Eddy’s sister reacted quickly and started to run. The people in the area noticed the gun and started screaming. The man did not pursue after Jn. Eddy’s sister and he left after noticing a police patrol in the area. Jn. Eddy was concerned that the phone call he got was related to last weeks’ incident and he was concerned for his mother’s safety. In the incident that took place today another market seller came with her supporters and was angry with Jn. Eddy’s mother. His mother ended up getting knocked to the ground with a blow from a rock. Because many people try to make a living selling, other people try to take other vendor’s positions in the marketplace. People are trying to force out Jn. Eddy’s mother from selling there. He told his mother not to sell there anymore but she keeps telling him that she has been selling there for years and that she needs to support the family. Pray for protection for this woman as she struggles to provide for her family and that she can find another location to sell that is safer.
The school program started on Monday here at Coram Deo and the classes are full. We have around 40 students in both classes. Jackenmy Milien is the teacher of the handicapped class and Jn. Eddy Alexandre is the teacher of the 1st and 2nd grade classes. We had a parent meeting on Thursday to explain the program and also to hand out the book lists. We don’t have the funding to be able to provide the students with books but maybe next year we will be able to. The parents are thankful that their children are going to school and there was a good attendance at the meeting. Adoration Christian school has also been conducting intake testing for their handicapped applicants. We will be contacting CDIA about helping some of their applicants if we can who don’t fit into their new special education program this year. The deaf program at Pastor Leny’s school is starting again and we hope to place Ruth Legagneur into this program. She was part of the handicapped program here at Coram Deo last year. Please pray for all these programs.
Today we went and visited Jacob in Archaie. He is now re-integrating back with his family. He lives with his uncle in Archaie. When I asked the people here at Coram Deo who wanted to go and visit Jacob; everyone wanted to. It is good that Kimosabee can hold the weight because we went with 17 people in the pick-up truck. Jacob is doing well. He lives close to Independence square and his uncle is the caretaker of the church and school that is across the street from their home. I took some time talking with his uncle about what happened to Sammy. Jacob and Sammy were cousins. Jacob’s uncle was Sammy’s cousin. When we re-integrated Sammy with his family the plan was for him to stay in Archaie and not to go back up the mountain to Fond Baptiste. Sammy lived where Jacob now is for 8 months and then went to live with his brother in Fond Baptiste. Sammy and his brother were the inheritors of the family land. In Haiti when the parents die the land is split amongst the children. When Sammy was living at his cousin’s house his brother thought that his cousin would try to get Sammy’s portion of the land as his provider and he insisted that Sammy live with him. This is possibly the reason why he didn’t bring Sammy back down the mountain when he got sick. Now that Sammy is dead his brother has sole ownership of the family property. It is a sad situation but this happens here in Haiti. Several years ago a policeman went up to Fond Baptiste to settle a land dispute and the people killed him and burnt the police vehicle. Pray for Sammy’s brother. We don’t know if everything that was said is the truth or not but God knows what happened and Sammy is in heaven. Pray for Sammy’s brother and the people who live in Fond Baptiste. I want to go up there someday to see where Sammy is buried and to meet with his brother. We will continue to visit Jacob and are in the process of registering him at the school across from his uncle’s home. We will also bring food to help the family out from time to time. Jacob’s uncle is a friendly man and Jacob is comfortable living with him. Please keep Jacob and his uncle’s family in prayer.
That is all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! Friday was a violent day. First thing in the morning the guys told me that somebody had been killed during the evening in the Delmas 31 neighborhood. It happened at a home near the soccer field. I went over to find out if it was anyone I knew. Jude, a Haitian man I have known for years came up to me and greeted me. The person killed was his friend. He had been hacked to death with a machete during the evening inside his home. The killer(s) had left the machete inside the home. Jude had spoken with him the prior afternoon by telephone and there was no indication of any problems. The strange thing is that the people who live in the house with him said that they didn’t know that anything was going on. The area where the house is located is down a narrow corridor with houses connected together down the corridor. People living there said they didn’t hear anything. They heard no signs of a struggle while this man was being killed. The police were there conducting an investigation and a man was handcuffed in the back of the police truck. The police were angry with him. He was one of the people inside the house during the evening. A policeman from the DCPJ (unit which conducts investigations) came out with a bag holding a pair of tennis shoes. The guys here at Coram Deo couldn’t understand either how he could die like that without anyone knowing. They saw this man at a soccer match the prior afternoon. The body was found on the second story of the home. On the first floor was the family business. They had a boutique and he also lent money to those who needed it along with charging interest. He has a daughter living in New York. Later in the afternoon after the police questioned the man that was in handcuffs it was determined that this man let the killers into the house. The killers were part of a gang located in the Delmas 19/ Cite Aux Cayes area called Tete Mur (Top of the Wall). Police arrested members of this gang. Pray for the family of this man and for Jude as he has lost his friend and for the police investigation; that those who did this act will be caught and punished.
Around noon Jn. Eddy came to me upset after receiving a phone call to come downtown as his mother was having problems. They didn’t say what problems she was having. I drove Jn. Eddy to the cathedral area downtown. There is a large market around the front street of the cathedral. Many people in Haiti try to make a living selling things on the streets in the downtown area and on other streets of Port-au-Prince. Jn. Eddy’s mother has sold in this market for several years already. Last week his mother was sick and Jn. Eddy’s sister was opening up the family stand hoping to make some sales during the day. As she was setting everything up on display, a man came up to her and tapped her on the shoulder. He asked her why was she selling there and informed her that there would be consequences for selling in that location. He stepped back, and took a gun out of his knapsack. Jn. Eddy’s sister reacted quickly and started to run. The people in the area noticed the gun and started screaming. The man did not pursue after Jn. Eddy’s sister and he left after noticing a police patrol in the area. Jn. Eddy was concerned that the phone call he got was related to last weeks’ incident and he was concerned for his mother’s safety. In the incident that took place today another market seller came with her supporters and was angry with Jn. Eddy’s mother. His mother ended up getting knocked to the ground with a blow from a rock. Because many people try to make a living selling, other people try to take other vendor’s positions in the marketplace. People are trying to force out Jn. Eddy’s mother from selling there. He told his mother not to sell there anymore but she keeps telling him that she has been selling there for years and that she needs to support the family. Pray for protection for this woman as she struggles to provide for her family and that she can find another location to sell that is safer.
The school program started on Monday here at Coram Deo and the classes are full. We have around 40 students in both classes. Jackenmy Milien is the teacher of the handicapped class and Jn. Eddy Alexandre is the teacher of the 1st and 2nd grade classes. We had a parent meeting on Thursday to explain the program and also to hand out the book lists. We don’t have the funding to be able to provide the students with books but maybe next year we will be able to. The parents are thankful that their children are going to school and there was a good attendance at the meeting. Adoration Christian school has also been conducting intake testing for their handicapped applicants. We will be contacting CDIA about helping some of their applicants if we can who don’t fit into their new special education program this year. The deaf program at Pastor Leny’s school is starting again and we hope to place Ruth Legagneur into this program. She was part of the handicapped program here at Coram Deo last year. Please pray for all these programs.
Today we went and visited Jacob in Archaie. He is now re-integrating back with his family. He lives with his uncle in Archaie. When I asked the people here at Coram Deo who wanted to go and visit Jacob; everyone wanted to. It is good that Kimosabee can hold the weight because we went with 17 people in the pick-up truck. Jacob is doing well. He lives close to Independence square and his uncle is the caretaker of the church and school that is across the street from their home. I took some time talking with his uncle about what happened to Sammy. Jacob and Sammy were cousins. Jacob’s uncle was Sammy’s cousin. When we re-integrated Sammy with his family the plan was for him to stay in Archaie and not to go back up the mountain to Fond Baptiste. Sammy lived where Jacob now is for 8 months and then went to live with his brother in Fond Baptiste. Sammy and his brother were the inheritors of the family land. In Haiti when the parents die the land is split amongst the children. When Sammy was living at his cousin’s house his brother thought that his cousin would try to get Sammy’s portion of the land as his provider and he insisted that Sammy live with him. This is possibly the reason why he didn’t bring Sammy back down the mountain when he got sick. Now that Sammy is dead his brother has sole ownership of the family property. It is a sad situation but this happens here in Haiti. Several years ago a policeman went up to Fond Baptiste to settle a land dispute and the people killed him and burnt the police vehicle. Pray for Sammy’s brother. We don’t know if everything that was said is the truth or not but God knows what happened and Sammy is in heaven. Pray for Sammy’s brother and the people who live in Fond Baptiste. I want to go up there someday to see where Sammy is buried and to meet with his brother. We will continue to visit Jacob and are in the process of registering him at the school across from his uncle’s home. We will also bring food to help the family out from time to time. Jacob’s uncle is a friendly man and Jacob is comfortable living with him. Please keep Jacob and his uncle’s family in prayer.
That is all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Sunday, September 13, 2009
ARTICLE - MATERNAL HEALTH CARE - AFP
A PAINFUL BIRTH FOR FREE MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN HAITI
By Jordi Zamora (AFP)
PORT AU PRINCE — Women can give birth for free at the Isaie Jeanty hospital in the Haitian capital thanks to foreign aid -- but hospital equipment theft is so rampant an operating room has been closed almost since the site opened.
Isaie Jeanty is an example of how millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, can sometimes create obstacles as the country strives towards economic development.
"It is scandalous that the operating room was used for only one month," said Henriette Chamouillet, the local representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as she leads a group of donors on a hospital tour.
The hospital director, Camille Figaro, rushes to unlock the doors to the unused room.
Inside the brand-new operating table seems unused, and it's covered with dust. The floor is dirty, and the medical equipment shelves are empty.
"Where is the equipment?" Chamouillet asks.
"There was no equipment," answers Figaro.
As Chamouillet continues her tour with the group, which includes PAHO Director Mirta Roses and representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), Figaro sheepishly admits that "perhaps" the equipment is being used in the gynecology section.
At the Isaie Jeanty hospital, one of 49 Haitian hospitals where PAHO pays for obstetric services, women do not pay to give birth but do pay for gynecological operations such as removing an ovarian cyst or a tubal ligation.
This may solve the mystery of the missing equipment -- moved to an area of the hospital that can generate revenue.
But neither Chamouillet nor Roses -- whose group subsidized building the operating room four years ago -- are swayed by the argument.
PAHO pays 40 dollars for every birth at the hospital, and patients pay nothing, not even for C-sections or medicine.
"The lists are controlled" with help from anonymous collaborators, Roses told AFP. "But we cannot control the corruption."
Heavily pregnant women line up to deliver in the hospital, sitting on wooden benches or standing in the halls as they wait their turn. Screams coming from women who are giving birth can be heard in the hallway, which are clean but bare.
"We don't have sheets," Figaro says, pleading for assistance.
"We can't give sheets, that's not our responsibility," Chamouillet says.
In a room packed with patients, a woman who gives her name only as Maria smiles weakly.
Four days earlier she had a Cesarean and gave birth to a boy, who is clean and sleeps peacefully.
"I paid nothing," she says. She closes her eyes and rubs her belly.
When asked if she paid for her medicine, her eyes open wide. "Any chance you can lend me some money?" she asks.
The female mortality rate at birth in Haiti was at nearly 700 women for each 100,000 births before the PAHO program began, the highest in all the Americas, according to the health group. At that time two-thirds of Haiti's pregnant women gave birth at home.
But since the aid program began in 2005, the mortality rate has dropped in hospitals in the PAHO program to 130 for each 100,000 births.
For that reason assistance to the Jeanty hospital will continue, despite the vanishing equipment or lack of sheets, Chamouillet and Roses said.
Oversight however will be tighter, they insist.
"It's clean and they meet their commitment of not charging," Roses said.
Haiti asked for more international community aid for next year, and at a conference of donors in April collected 327 million dollars in pledged assistance.
"There's never been such a high commitment from the international community" since the arrival of a United Nations military stabilization force in 2004, OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, who headed a delegation of senior officials to Haiti, told reporters.
"But if you put the bar too high, you will become disappointed," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
By Jordi Zamora (AFP)
PORT AU PRINCE — Women can give birth for free at the Isaie Jeanty hospital in the Haitian capital thanks to foreign aid -- but hospital equipment theft is so rampant an operating room has been closed almost since the site opened.
Isaie Jeanty is an example of how millions of dollars in humanitarian aid to Haiti, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, can sometimes create obstacles as the country strives towards economic development.
"It is scandalous that the operating room was used for only one month," said Henriette Chamouillet, the local representative of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), as she leads a group of donors on a hospital tour.
The hospital director, Camille Figaro, rushes to unlock the doors to the unused room.
Inside the brand-new operating table seems unused, and it's covered with dust. The floor is dirty, and the medical equipment shelves are empty.
"Where is the equipment?" Chamouillet asks.
"There was no equipment," answers Figaro.
As Chamouillet continues her tour with the group, which includes PAHO Director Mirta Roses and representatives of the Organization of American States (OAS), Figaro sheepishly admits that "perhaps" the equipment is being used in the gynecology section.
At the Isaie Jeanty hospital, one of 49 Haitian hospitals where PAHO pays for obstetric services, women do not pay to give birth but do pay for gynecological operations such as removing an ovarian cyst or a tubal ligation.
This may solve the mystery of the missing equipment -- moved to an area of the hospital that can generate revenue.
But neither Chamouillet nor Roses -- whose group subsidized building the operating room four years ago -- are swayed by the argument.
PAHO pays 40 dollars for every birth at the hospital, and patients pay nothing, not even for C-sections or medicine.
"The lists are controlled" with help from anonymous collaborators, Roses told AFP. "But we cannot control the corruption."
Heavily pregnant women line up to deliver in the hospital, sitting on wooden benches or standing in the halls as they wait their turn. Screams coming from women who are giving birth can be heard in the hallway, which are clean but bare.
"We don't have sheets," Figaro says, pleading for assistance.
"We can't give sheets, that's not our responsibility," Chamouillet says.
In a room packed with patients, a woman who gives her name only as Maria smiles weakly.
Four days earlier she had a Cesarean and gave birth to a boy, who is clean and sleeps peacefully.
"I paid nothing," she says. She closes her eyes and rubs her belly.
When asked if she paid for her medicine, her eyes open wide. "Any chance you can lend me some money?" she asks.
The female mortality rate at birth in Haiti was at nearly 700 women for each 100,000 births before the PAHO program began, the highest in all the Americas, according to the health group. At that time two-thirds of Haiti's pregnant women gave birth at home.
But since the aid program began in 2005, the mortality rate has dropped in hospitals in the PAHO program to 130 for each 100,000 births.
For that reason assistance to the Jeanty hospital will continue, despite the vanishing equipment or lack of sheets, Chamouillet and Roses said.
Oversight however will be tighter, they insist.
"It's clean and they meet their commitment of not charging," Roses said.
Haiti asked for more international community aid for next year, and at a conference of donors in April collected 327 million dollars in pledged assistance.
"There's never been such a high commitment from the international community" since the arrival of a United Nations military stabilization force in 2004, OAS Assistant Secretary General Albert Ramdin, who headed a delegation of senior officials to Haiti, told reporters.
"But if you put the bar too high, you will become disappointed," he said.
Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved.
photos - bonnette - part a
We went to the village of Bonnette with Deedee and Natasha to pick up Guerline Beaubrun and Samson Felix. Guerline is dressed in the red dress.
Samson is shown here being held by his mother. His mother had tears in her eyes when she handed him over to Deedee. She knew that he wasn't doing well.
Natasha is the "blanc" holding onto Guerline. Natasha is running the Faith, Hope, Love Infant Rescue Mission while Dorothy is in the United States.
The children of this village enjoy it when visitors come.
They also like to clown around for the camera!photos - bonnette - part b
This boy is giving a "thumbs up".
The sun was bright for this girl as she was looking up to the camera.
Boys make a game of rolling this bicycle tire rim.
In the "downtown" section of the village of Bonnette I noticed a wet spot amongst the dry ground. God provides a spring for the people to drink from as the water pours out from this rock. It is clean water too.
This elderly man is heading out for a walk.photos - various - part a
A week ago we brought a pregnant mother to Medecins Sans Frontieres Maternity Hospital after she wasn't able to deliver her baby at home. When we picked her up she was not doing very well. Her eyes were yellow and she was week. She had a healthy baby boy!
The mother received excellent care at the hospital. They kept her there for one week. Now she is back to doing her motherly duties for the family. She was preparing a meal for her family when I visited. The family is very poor. They have one bed and what you see on the floor. Pray for the poor struggling to live here in Haiti. We give the Lord thanks that mother and child are both well.
"Cousin Johnny" who is Fedner's cousin from Jeremie came to visit bearing gifts! One of these gifts was a rooster for Manu.
Another gift was a rooster and chicken for Benson. The children enjoy looking after their new pets. I can't wait to eat them!
This gift of food is called "labapen" in creole. It is sort of like chestnuts. You peel the covering and then boil it. Everybody enjoyed eating them!photos - various - part b
On Saturday EDH came and replaced the broken electricity line. I like to think that part of the 5 million US$ grant from the World Bank went towards this new line!
The neighbors across the street are missionaries from Brazil. They run the "Dieu d'Amour" mission church at the top of Delmas 31. Every day during the week overflowing crowds of people from the church building take up part of the street for prayer services. People "Cry out to Jesus" for help in the difficulties of living in Haiti. The people in the back of this pickup truck are from their mission organization and were making evangelism announcements and playing christian music. The haitian people love to listen to music.
Ducarmel Villard was registered as part of the school program this week.
Kervens Peltro is a mentally handicapped boy from the neighborhood who also will be attending school for the first time. He is being raised by his grandfather. His grandfather was so happy that he got accepted that instead of shaking my hand he kissed it!
Vicnor Charles is a new addition to the school program here at Coram Deo as well.VIDEO - CRY OUT TO JESUS
Jesus is always there for everyone who calls on him, at any time and any place. Third Day recorded the song "Cry out to Jesus". To watch the video follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-WwrL5jCSM
www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-WwrL5jCSM
haiti update - september 13, 2009
“The righteous cry out, and the Lord hears them; he delivers them from all their troubles. The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:17, 18
Hi! This week was busy with the medical program. On Wednesday morning we went with Deedee and Natasha to the village of Bonnette to pick up Samson Felix and Guerdeline Beaubrun. Deedee is taking in Samson and Dorothy is taking in Guerdeline. Natasha is running the orphanage while Dorothy is in the United States. I call the part of the village that we visited downtown Bonnette because the houses are more closer together there. The children enjoy it when visitors come to the village. It would be good if a team could come in to do a vacation bible school for the children one day. There are several children who show signs of malnutrition. Paulna told me that the people think that the children have orange hair because they bathe too much in “l’etang” (a nearby lake). They don’t understand what malnutrition is. It would be good to find a way to provide regular medical care especially to the younger children in this village. We recently got a large donation of vitamins and I want to try and visit the village on a weekly basis to at least provide some children with the vitamins that they need as well as monitoring children that are heading towards severe malnutrition. Samson is one of these children. When Deedee got him home she tried to feed him and he vomited everything up. Chris came over to give him an injection to control the vomiting and he was able to keep some liquids down. Samson’s body was starting to shut down because of the lack of food. He was to the point where he couldn’t eat. He is now able to take sips at a time but the next couple of weeks especially will be important for him. Pray that he will be able to start taking in more fluids at a time as his stomach gets used to having food. If Samson had not been removed from the village he most likely would have died before the end of the week. Natasha had the same problem with Guerdeline. Guerdeline at the beginning couldn’t suck from a baby bottle and she could only take in small amounts at a time. Natasha used a syringe to feed her. We give the Lord thanks for those willing to help children in need. Pray for the efforts of Deedee and Natasha/Dorothy as they bring back Samson and Guerline to good health.
When we were on the “highway” heading from the village to Port-au-Prince we had to stop because a man in his underwear was walking down the middle of the road holding a large rock in each hand. There were some people following him at a distance and a large coach bus that transports people from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic was stopped too. We couldn’t move forward either and the man walked by Kimosabee and he told us not to bother him. He then went on his way and we were able to move forward as well. There are always lots of surprises traveling on the roads of Haiti!
Wednesday afternoon, on Airport Rd. a vehicle hit an elderly lady as she was crossing the road near Bernard Mevs Hospital. As is common in Haiti, it was a hit and run and the driver took off. The impact caused the woman to have compound fractures of her right arm and leg. I don’t know what internal injuries she may have had as well. She was conscious and was able to provide the phone number of her family. Medecin Sans Frontieres has a hospital nearby and they cared for her. There are no crosswalks in Haiti and a busy road like Airport Rd. can be difficult for pedestrians to cross.
I went to visit a lady in the neighborhood who just got out of the hospital. Last week we were contacted by her family and asked to transport her to the Medecins Sans Frontieres Maternity Hospital. She wasn’t in good shape when we went to her tin shack in Cite Jeremie. She has anemia and her eyes were yellow and she was very weak. Every bump in the road that we drove over caused her pain and we drove slowly to the hospital. Medecins Sans Frontieres is a busy place and they can’t take in everyone. I was praying that they would receive her. Her baby was delivered the next day and she was in the hospital for a week recuperating. She looked a lot better when I saw her this week and her baby boy is in good health! The week in hospital and delivery of her baby cost the family nothing. Pray for the work of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) here in Haiti. They help a lot of people who otherwise would not have access to medical care.
There were not very many children who came for the first day of classes and we will start classes this Monday instead. We registered a few more students this week. The police have a strong presence on the streets providing security for students. Not many students were walking the streets this past week. Parents across the city are having trouble paying for books, uniforms and school fees. Pray for all the missions who offer a free education. The medical and pharmacy students are still causing trouble downtown. Several have been arrested. The state university is canceling the program until the problems are resolved. In answer other students from another faculty at the state university responded by throwing rocks at vehicles. Pray the problems get resolved amongst the students and leaders of the state university.
“Cousin Johnny” of Jeremie came for a visit this week. He is Fedner’s cousin. He brought gifts of food and live poultry products. Benson now has a chicken and rooster to fatten up and Manu has a rooster. The children are looking forward to having chicken dinner once they are big! We are keeping them on the roof right now so that the dog can’t eat them. Cousin Johnny told me to tie up the dog so that the roosters and chicken can roam free but I asked him what would the rooster and chicken do if a thief came into the yard. The first night Benson and Manu were carrying their pets around and wanted to keep them inside the house so that they wouldn’t get wet in the rain. I told them that they make a mess and they said that they sleep at night too and are only messy in the daytime. They learned a lesson that evening and didn’t want to keep the poultry in the house anymore. The children are very observant. Benson came up to me the second day and informed me that his roosters’ foot was swollen. He showed me and told me that if it dies we can’t eat him. I told him that I didn’t have medicine for a rooster. Cousin Johnny says that the rooster’s feet were sore from being tied on the long journey from Jeremie. By the end of the week the feet were not swollen and the children keep checking to see when the chicken will lay an egg. When we get visitors I am going to ask them to build a chicken coop for the children’s pets. Benson is talking about raising pigeons too and Doudeleimy’s father mentioned giving us a turkey during our last visit to the village. Pretty soon we will have a regular barnyard here at Coram Deo!
We finished the week with 3 weeks without electricity. Friday I bought another small line and did what a lot of Haitians do. We paid somebody to get a “prise”(connection) in another location of the EDH line that works. It was legal though because the line was connected through the meter. Saturday morning EDH showed up and replaced their broken EDH line. EDH just got a grant of 5 million US$ from the World Bank to improve electrical service. Maybe this is why they came and fixed the line. I went up to the workers and explained about the prise and told them that everybody in the neighborhood told me that they wouldn’t show up and that is why we didn’t wait for EDH. I asked them if they could hook up our regular line properly and those workers were not impressed with my request. They told me to contact the person who put up the prise. The prise works great! In the middle of the night EDH gave electricity and we were able to pump water to the roof and can live in luxury again with running water, showers (with the rains this week our water reservoir is full) and lights! The invertor doesn’t work but hopefully it is just a fuse. Pray we can get this fixed too. Kimosabee is getting some maintenance work on his front end this weekend. Next on the repair list is to fix the washing machine where someone cut the power cord. Always something to fix!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! This week was busy with the medical program. On Wednesday morning we went with Deedee and Natasha to the village of Bonnette to pick up Samson Felix and Guerdeline Beaubrun. Deedee is taking in Samson and Dorothy is taking in Guerdeline. Natasha is running the orphanage while Dorothy is in the United States. I call the part of the village that we visited downtown Bonnette because the houses are more closer together there. The children enjoy it when visitors come to the village. It would be good if a team could come in to do a vacation bible school for the children one day. There are several children who show signs of malnutrition. Paulna told me that the people think that the children have orange hair because they bathe too much in “l’etang” (a nearby lake). They don’t understand what malnutrition is. It would be good to find a way to provide regular medical care especially to the younger children in this village. We recently got a large donation of vitamins and I want to try and visit the village on a weekly basis to at least provide some children with the vitamins that they need as well as monitoring children that are heading towards severe malnutrition. Samson is one of these children. When Deedee got him home she tried to feed him and he vomited everything up. Chris came over to give him an injection to control the vomiting and he was able to keep some liquids down. Samson’s body was starting to shut down because of the lack of food. He was to the point where he couldn’t eat. He is now able to take sips at a time but the next couple of weeks especially will be important for him. Pray that he will be able to start taking in more fluids at a time as his stomach gets used to having food. If Samson had not been removed from the village he most likely would have died before the end of the week. Natasha had the same problem with Guerdeline. Guerdeline at the beginning couldn’t suck from a baby bottle and she could only take in small amounts at a time. Natasha used a syringe to feed her. We give the Lord thanks for those willing to help children in need. Pray for the efforts of Deedee and Natasha/Dorothy as they bring back Samson and Guerline to good health.
When we were on the “highway” heading from the village to Port-au-Prince we had to stop because a man in his underwear was walking down the middle of the road holding a large rock in each hand. There were some people following him at a distance and a large coach bus that transports people from Port-au-Prince to Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic was stopped too. We couldn’t move forward either and the man walked by Kimosabee and he told us not to bother him. He then went on his way and we were able to move forward as well. There are always lots of surprises traveling on the roads of Haiti!
Wednesday afternoon, on Airport Rd. a vehicle hit an elderly lady as she was crossing the road near Bernard Mevs Hospital. As is common in Haiti, it was a hit and run and the driver took off. The impact caused the woman to have compound fractures of her right arm and leg. I don’t know what internal injuries she may have had as well. She was conscious and was able to provide the phone number of her family. Medecin Sans Frontieres has a hospital nearby and they cared for her. There are no crosswalks in Haiti and a busy road like Airport Rd. can be difficult for pedestrians to cross.
I went to visit a lady in the neighborhood who just got out of the hospital. Last week we were contacted by her family and asked to transport her to the Medecins Sans Frontieres Maternity Hospital. She wasn’t in good shape when we went to her tin shack in Cite Jeremie. She has anemia and her eyes were yellow and she was very weak. Every bump in the road that we drove over caused her pain and we drove slowly to the hospital. Medecins Sans Frontieres is a busy place and they can’t take in everyone. I was praying that they would receive her. Her baby was delivered the next day and she was in the hospital for a week recuperating. She looked a lot better when I saw her this week and her baby boy is in good health! The week in hospital and delivery of her baby cost the family nothing. Pray for the work of Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders) here in Haiti. They help a lot of people who otherwise would not have access to medical care.
There were not very many children who came for the first day of classes and we will start classes this Monday instead. We registered a few more students this week. The police have a strong presence on the streets providing security for students. Not many students were walking the streets this past week. Parents across the city are having trouble paying for books, uniforms and school fees. Pray for all the missions who offer a free education. The medical and pharmacy students are still causing trouble downtown. Several have been arrested. The state university is canceling the program until the problems are resolved. In answer other students from another faculty at the state university responded by throwing rocks at vehicles. Pray the problems get resolved amongst the students and leaders of the state university.
“Cousin Johnny” of Jeremie came for a visit this week. He is Fedner’s cousin. He brought gifts of food and live poultry products. Benson now has a chicken and rooster to fatten up and Manu has a rooster. The children are looking forward to having chicken dinner once they are big! We are keeping them on the roof right now so that the dog can’t eat them. Cousin Johnny told me to tie up the dog so that the roosters and chicken can roam free but I asked him what would the rooster and chicken do if a thief came into the yard. The first night Benson and Manu were carrying their pets around and wanted to keep them inside the house so that they wouldn’t get wet in the rain. I told them that they make a mess and they said that they sleep at night too and are only messy in the daytime. They learned a lesson that evening and didn’t want to keep the poultry in the house anymore. The children are very observant. Benson came up to me the second day and informed me that his roosters’ foot was swollen. He showed me and told me that if it dies we can’t eat him. I told him that I didn’t have medicine for a rooster. Cousin Johnny says that the rooster’s feet were sore from being tied on the long journey from Jeremie. By the end of the week the feet were not swollen and the children keep checking to see when the chicken will lay an egg. When we get visitors I am going to ask them to build a chicken coop for the children’s pets. Benson is talking about raising pigeons too and Doudeleimy’s father mentioned giving us a turkey during our last visit to the village. Pretty soon we will have a regular barnyard here at Coram Deo!
We finished the week with 3 weeks without electricity. Friday I bought another small line and did what a lot of Haitians do. We paid somebody to get a “prise”(connection) in another location of the EDH line that works. It was legal though because the line was connected through the meter. Saturday morning EDH showed up and replaced their broken EDH line. EDH just got a grant of 5 million US$ from the World Bank to improve electrical service. Maybe this is why they came and fixed the line. I went up to the workers and explained about the prise and told them that everybody in the neighborhood told me that they wouldn’t show up and that is why we didn’t wait for EDH. I asked them if they could hook up our regular line properly and those workers were not impressed with my request. They told me to contact the person who put up the prise. The prise works great! In the middle of the night EDH gave electricity and we were able to pump water to the roof and can live in luxury again with running water, showers (with the rains this week our water reservoir is full) and lights! The invertor doesn’t work but hopefully it is just a fuse. Pray we can get this fixed too. Kimosabee is getting some maintenance work on his front end this weekend. Next on the repair list is to fix the washing machine where someone cut the power cord. Always something to fix!
That’s all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Sunday, September 6, 2009
VIDEO - BRING THE RAIN
This week we have had a few rain storms but no tropical storms or hurricanes!
The group Mercy Me have recorded a song entitled "Bring the Rain". God is to be praised at all times, even in times of rain. His grace is sufficient. Follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU&feature=related
The group Mercy Me have recorded a song entitled "Bring the Rain". God is to be praised at all times, even in times of rain. His grace is sufficient. Follow the link to:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8HgAVenbUU&feature=related
photos - bonnette - part a
This happy girl is Wiliamise. She has an untreated hydrocephalus. A couple of years ago her father refused surgical treatment. He said that it was her back that caused the trouble. In cases like this I leave it up to prayer and for the Lord to decide and He decided to provide a measure of healing! Her head circumference is no longer growing larger.
She now can stand! Praise the Lord for His healing mercies!
Samson Felix is an 11-month-old child who is miserable with his situation. He can not stand unassisted because he is weak. His feet are swollen and he is in the beginning stages of kwashiorkor malnutrition.
The face shows it all. Pray for those in Haiti who are hungry.
This young girl has orange hair which is also a sign of malnutrition. Her older sister is holding onto her. It is difficult for the youngest in families. When a pot of food is cooked the youngest quite often are fed last. It is a survival strategy for the families.photos - bonnette - part b
While in the village this grandmother and her 7-month-old grand-daughter came up to me. She told me that the mother died last month and that she needed some help.
Babies in villages like these really suffer when there is no mother who can breast-feed. Pray we can find someone to help this family out.
These are the 3 musketeers (they are all around 5 years old! These children all have various orthopedic problems. The boy on the left is Miguelson Pacomme. We brought him back from Bonnette to see Mallery who is staying at a guesthouse in the community. The other 2 children, Lovely and Lucson both recently completed 6-month tuberculosis treatment of spinal tuberculosis (Potts syndrome). All 3 children will need surgery in the United States. Pray help can be found for the 3 Musketeers!
Miguelson's legs are "wispy legged". It makes it uncomfortable for him to walk and his knees hurt.
Naphtalie Bazile and her mother came over to visit. She had surgery a year ago in the United States for hydrocephalus. She will be seeing the Miami Neurosurgery team here in Haiti in October.photos - school
Several parents came to the house this week looking for help for a school for their children. Achetane Jean is a 13-year-old girl who has never attended school.
Maxime Rene is a 12-year-old boy who also has never gone to school.
Noriliane Therny is a 15-year-old girl who has never been to school. Even though we can't help a lot of children it is great that these children will get the opportunity to learn how to read and write.
Widgine Pierre Jean is a 15-year-old mentally handicapped girl who has never gone to school. One of my prayers is that one day we can offer vocational trades here at Coram Deo. The girls could learn to sew. Pray that one day this will be possible. I have confidence if it is the Lords' will it will happen.
When the EDH company came to trim trees in the neighborhood the men who sit around on the streets refused to help to clean the streets of the limbs. Actually they wanted me to do it. I thought I would take a shot of the lazy welders who work in front of the house. They just work around the garbage! Pray that we can help the community to become environment friendly!haiti update - september 6, 2009
“But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, whose confidence is in him. He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes; its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit.” Jeremiah 17:7,8
Hi! Saturday night reminded me of Hockey Night in Canada! In Haiti though it wasn’t hockey that was being played but soccer. Brazil was playing Argentina and these teams are like the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians. Since our television went “poof” last week and we didn’t have electricity the older guys went in search of a television to watch the game at a friend’s house. Manu is a soccer fanatic and his favorite team is Brazil. He knows the names of all the players. Because it was evening I wouldn’t let him go out with the older guys but there was a television on at the restaurant near our house, which is owned by the Cadeau family. Manu managed to crawl between the legs of the men standing at the door and then under the table and managed to end up right in front of the television set. He had a good view of the match! I sat outside in front of our gate in my Canada chair with the other children and listened to the game on the radio. Pastor Octave was sitting on the street too in front of his house with his radio. It was a good match and Brazil won 3-1! Every time when Brazil scored there was a roar of cheers going through the neighborhood.
EDH still hasn’t fixed the broken line in front of our house but I figure with the doubling of the electrical rates in August I have saved one month of electricity bills now that the line has been broken for 2 weeks. The school program here at Coram Deo opens on September 7th and we registered a few more children into the program this week as well as registering Paulna, Fedner, and Herold at the schools that they will be attending. Pray for all the school programs that are opening. Funding is very difficult right now and we try to cut corners as much as we can (instead of pumping water to the roof we bucket the water into the house to reduce usage of water so that we don’t have to purchase water as often) as well as primarily relying on the Feed My Starving Children rice meals for our food (this is a real blessing!). Please consider a donation for our programs here at Coram Deo.
Naphtalie Bazile came to the house with her mother this week. She went to the United States a year ago for hydrocephalus surgery. She is doing well. Her head looks bigger and we are going to make sure that she attends the October hydrocephalus evaluations with the University of Miami Neurosurgery team. On September 12th the Smile Train plastic surgery team will be operating out of the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe until the 19th. on children and adults who have cleft lips and palates. Please keep these life changing surgeries in prayer.
We drove out to Bonnette this week to return Ednerson and Michelore to their families. They are now healthy and can reintegrate with their families again. We give the Lord thanks for Deedee’s efforts at helping these children. Doudeleimy Beaubrun is a child in this village who went to the United States for surgical treatment of clubbed feet. Now her feet are normal. Her father is an elder in this village. Because of this connection the village sees how a life can change for a handicapped child and they seek to help other handicapped people in the village. Paulna and Michelore are 2 other children in this village who were helped with orthopedic surgeries. Miguelson Pacomme is a 5-year-old boy who has severely curved leg bones and he walks awkwardly because of this. A photo is on the Coram Deo blogsite. We brought him back to Port-au-Prince to meet with Mallery, an American who is staying at a local guesthouse. Pray that help can be found for Miguelson. Doudeleimy’s father brought us to the homes of 2 families who are having problems. Samson Felix is an 11-month-old baby boy who is weak from kwashiorkor malnutrition. A grandmother showed her 7-month-old grand daughter. The mother died last month. Pray that we can find someone who can help these 2 babies. One of our goals here at Coram Deo is to try to change attitude in the community towards the handicapped. The village of Bonnette is one community that has been changed. Handicapped people are helped and efforts are made by the people of the community to get them help. The next-door neighbor of Rachel’s mother (who suffered a stroke a couple of years ago that left her paralyzed on one side of her body) helps the mother to lift a pot of food on and off the cooking fire. In this way the mother can still have independence of cooking the food for her family. Last week when I stopped by to visit this mother she was cooking the family’s daily meal. I found out later that she had set aside a portion of the meal for me because she thought I would stop by her house again before heading back to Port-au-Prince. She is so thankful that her baby daughter is getting help at Deedee’s. Handicapped people in this village are not hidden and are part of the village life. It can be done in other areas as well. Pray that more missions will focus on helping the handicapped.
One mission that works with handicapped children is Hopital Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (Little Brothers and Sisters). They have a physiotherapy program that offers free physiotherapy to the poor in the community who have handicapped children. Each week 50 handicapped children go horseback riding at Chateaublond, which is located in the Tabarre region of Port-au-Prince. 2 of these children were selected to represent Haiti at the 6th International Equestrian Games for Children, which were held in August in Germany.
The Haitian government ratified the OEA (Organization of American States) Interamerican Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against handicapped people this week. This ratification will protect the rights of the handicapped and provide opportunities for their insertion into society. Handicapped people are given the same human rights and same fundamental liberties as other people. Pray for the work being done for the rights of the handicapped here in Haiti and in other countries of the world.
August finished with no tropical storms or hurricanes affecting Haiti! This is a real blessing. In a report published by Maplecroft (a British organization), Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone were named as the 4 countries most vulnerable to climate change in the “Index of Vulnerability to Climate Change”. Of the 28 countries at extreme risk, 22 are located in Africa. The 6 factors considered were: economy, institutions and governance, human development and health, ecosystems (forests, human impact, soil erosion), security of resources (water, food, energy) and population and infrastructure. The government of France is trying to assist Haiti with some of its flooding problems. Etang Miragoane is a lake that flooded and hasn’t receded. As a result the bridge connecting the west department to the south is submerged. The government had to create another transportation route as the road could only be traveled by canoe. France is funding $200,000US$ from August to October 2009 to improve the situation. A professional diver determined that the increased elevation is primarily due to the obstruction of filtration points where the lake water runs naturally to the sea. Debris in the form of stones, trees, clothing, mattresses, leaves and plants are blocking this natural flow. Clean up work has already lowered the water levels by 50 cm. Pray that the government can improve the natural drainage areas that are in place.
That is all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
Hi! Saturday night reminded me of Hockey Night in Canada! In Haiti though it wasn’t hockey that was being played but soccer. Brazil was playing Argentina and these teams are like the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Montreal Canadians. Since our television went “poof” last week and we didn’t have electricity the older guys went in search of a television to watch the game at a friend’s house. Manu is a soccer fanatic and his favorite team is Brazil. He knows the names of all the players. Because it was evening I wouldn’t let him go out with the older guys but there was a television on at the restaurant near our house, which is owned by the Cadeau family. Manu managed to crawl between the legs of the men standing at the door and then under the table and managed to end up right in front of the television set. He had a good view of the match! I sat outside in front of our gate in my Canada chair with the other children and listened to the game on the radio. Pastor Octave was sitting on the street too in front of his house with his radio. It was a good match and Brazil won 3-1! Every time when Brazil scored there was a roar of cheers going through the neighborhood.
EDH still hasn’t fixed the broken line in front of our house but I figure with the doubling of the electrical rates in August I have saved one month of electricity bills now that the line has been broken for 2 weeks. The school program here at Coram Deo opens on September 7th and we registered a few more children into the program this week as well as registering Paulna, Fedner, and Herold at the schools that they will be attending. Pray for all the school programs that are opening. Funding is very difficult right now and we try to cut corners as much as we can (instead of pumping water to the roof we bucket the water into the house to reduce usage of water so that we don’t have to purchase water as often) as well as primarily relying on the Feed My Starving Children rice meals for our food (this is a real blessing!). Please consider a donation for our programs here at Coram Deo.
Naphtalie Bazile came to the house with her mother this week. She went to the United States a year ago for hydrocephalus surgery. She is doing well. Her head looks bigger and we are going to make sure that she attends the October hydrocephalus evaluations with the University of Miami Neurosurgery team. On September 12th the Smile Train plastic surgery team will be operating out of the Baptist Mission Hospital in Fermathe until the 19th. on children and adults who have cleft lips and palates. Please keep these life changing surgeries in prayer.
We drove out to Bonnette this week to return Ednerson and Michelore to their families. They are now healthy and can reintegrate with their families again. We give the Lord thanks for Deedee’s efforts at helping these children. Doudeleimy Beaubrun is a child in this village who went to the United States for surgical treatment of clubbed feet. Now her feet are normal. Her father is an elder in this village. Because of this connection the village sees how a life can change for a handicapped child and they seek to help other handicapped people in the village. Paulna and Michelore are 2 other children in this village who were helped with orthopedic surgeries. Miguelson Pacomme is a 5-year-old boy who has severely curved leg bones and he walks awkwardly because of this. A photo is on the Coram Deo blogsite. We brought him back to Port-au-Prince to meet with Mallery, an American who is staying at a local guesthouse. Pray that help can be found for Miguelson. Doudeleimy’s father brought us to the homes of 2 families who are having problems. Samson Felix is an 11-month-old baby boy who is weak from kwashiorkor malnutrition. A grandmother showed her 7-month-old grand daughter. The mother died last month. Pray that we can find someone who can help these 2 babies. One of our goals here at Coram Deo is to try to change attitude in the community towards the handicapped. The village of Bonnette is one community that has been changed. Handicapped people are helped and efforts are made by the people of the community to get them help. The next-door neighbor of Rachel’s mother (who suffered a stroke a couple of years ago that left her paralyzed on one side of her body) helps the mother to lift a pot of food on and off the cooking fire. In this way the mother can still have independence of cooking the food for her family. Last week when I stopped by to visit this mother she was cooking the family’s daily meal. I found out later that she had set aside a portion of the meal for me because she thought I would stop by her house again before heading back to Port-au-Prince. She is so thankful that her baby daughter is getting help at Deedee’s. Handicapped people in this village are not hidden and are part of the village life. It can be done in other areas as well. Pray that more missions will focus on helping the handicapped.
One mission that works with handicapped children is Hopital Nos Petits Freres et Soeurs (Little Brothers and Sisters). They have a physiotherapy program that offers free physiotherapy to the poor in the community who have handicapped children. Each week 50 handicapped children go horseback riding at Chateaublond, which is located in the Tabarre region of Port-au-Prince. 2 of these children were selected to represent Haiti at the 6th International Equestrian Games for Children, which were held in August in Germany.
The Haitian government ratified the OEA (Organization of American States) Interamerican Convention for the elimination of all forms of discrimination against handicapped people this week. This ratification will protect the rights of the handicapped and provide opportunities for their insertion into society. Handicapped people are given the same human rights and same fundamental liberties as other people. Pray for the work being done for the rights of the handicapped here in Haiti and in other countries of the world.
August finished with no tropical storms or hurricanes affecting Haiti! This is a real blessing. In a report published by Maplecroft (a British organization), Somalia, Haiti, Afghanistan and Sierra Leone were named as the 4 countries most vulnerable to climate change in the “Index of Vulnerability to Climate Change”. Of the 28 countries at extreme risk, 22 are located in Africa. The 6 factors considered were: economy, institutions and governance, human development and health, ecosystems (forests, human impact, soil erosion), security of resources (water, food, energy) and population and infrastructure. The government of France is trying to assist Haiti with some of its flooding problems. Etang Miragoane is a lake that flooded and hasn’t receded. As a result the bridge connecting the west department to the south is submerged. The government had to create another transportation route as the road could only be traveled by canoe. France is funding $200,000US$ from August to October 2009 to improve the situation. A professional diver determined that the increased elevation is primarily due to the obstruction of filtration points where the lake water runs naturally to the sea. Debris in the form of stones, trees, clothing, mattresses, leaves and plants are blocking this natural flow. Clean up work has already lowered the water levels by 50 cm. Pray that the government can improve the natural drainage areas that are in place.
That is all the news for today. Have a good week!
Karen Bultje, Coram Deo
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