But he, wanting to
justify himself, said to Jesus, “And who is my neighbour?” Then Jesus answered
and said: “A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among
thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving
him half dead. Now by chance a certain priest came down that road. And when he
saw him, he passed by on the other side. Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at
the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side. But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed,
came where he was. And when he saw him,
he had compassion. So he went to him and
bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal,
brought him to an inn, and the
innkeeper, and said to him, “Take care of him; and whatever more you
spend, when I come again, I will repay
you.” So which of these three do you
think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?” And he said, “He who showed mercy on him.”
Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.” Luke 10:30-37
Hi! I started Coram Deo here in Haiti in 1998 with the help
of family and friends. Since that time we have strived to help the Haitian
people. There have been a lot of challenges but we have persevered. I strive, and
teach the Haitian people who are part of Coram Deo to be the Samaritan.
Sometimes we come across people needing assistance in our travels, sometimes
they come to us, and other times Haitian people bring them to us hoping for an
answer. We are grateful that Ed Amos set up his medical/dental clinic here at
Coram Deo. Every day there is a gathering at the gate of people hoping to be
seen for medical or dental problems. He
treats the ones he is able to help.
Some people have
problems that need specialized care. This morning a mother and her baby came
into the clinic. She told Ed that she and her baby have HIV. They both are not
in a treatment program. We will be taking them to Nos Petits Freres/Soeurs Hospital later in the week to have them both
tested, and enrol them in the anti-retroviral program once their HIV is
confirmed as positive. The hospital has an excellent HIV program and
medications are provided free of charge. Pray for this mother and her baby,
that they both can be helped.
Stevens Petit-Frere, a
7-year-old boy is a child that Ed
saw at the clinic a few weeks ago. He had a bad head fungus plus an enlarged
abdomen. We took him for a sonogram today and the results show that he has an
enlarged spleen, multiple cysts and probable non-hodgkins lymphoma. Pray for Stevens.
He faces multiple severe health problems. Pray that we can find help for
him either here in Haiti or in the United States.
A couple months ago, Bradley, a 5-year-old boy, was playing
with another child who had an umbrella. The child lunged at Bradley and poked
him directly in the eye. He lost his eye.
Bradley lives with his grandmother in a refuge camp. His mother died
during the earthquake and his father was never a part of his life. His
grandmother came with a paper from the General Hospital eye clinic. The price
of a prosthetic eye for Bradley is $300H (35 US$) and she didn’t have the funds
for the prosthetic eye. Johnny went with
them to the hospital this morning but the doctor wasn’t there. We have another appointment for
Thursday. Pray that Bradley gets fitted
with a prosthetic eye.
We have 2 hydrocephalus babies and their mothers staying
here the last couple of weeks. One is from the island of La Gonave and the
other from the mountain region of Foret De Pin.
They are awaiting the arrival of a neurosurgeon who will be working with
Project Medishare at Bernard Mevs Hospital. He just recently performed 8
hydrocephalus surgeries. He will be returning at the end of May to perform some
more. Pray for the babies who are here, that they get stronger and healthier
during this month of May.
Slade Alfred is a 9-month-old baby girl/boy. We aren’t able
to identify the sex of the child because it has all the body parts of a male or female (ambiguous
genitalia). This baby will need genetic
testing to determine its’ sex. This can only be done in the United
States.
2 of Marie’s relatives came with their mother from the
Petit-Goave region to see Ed this morning. Both of the children have severe
curvature of the spine. Both these children will need to get spinal surgery
that can’t be done here in Haiti. Amos brought these 2 children and Slade over
to the office of Angel Missions Haiti. We are praying that they can help us in
finding medical care for these 3 children in the United States.
These are the children that we saw today. All have serious and complex problems. I have
a notebook containing many more names of children and adults who we are seeking
help for. Most missions choose not to help these types of cases. The ones who
do are overwhelmed with requests for help. Pray for all those with special
needs here in Haiti and pray that one day Haiti will be able to provide medical
care for all its’ population, and that people wouldn’t have to suffer with a
treatable medical problem.
Our school program here at Coram Deo is going well. It is
good to see the yard full of students, and also that there are now enough
school shelters to house the children. During the week at any one time we have
150 people in the yard; 100 students and
50 people waiting to see Ed at the clinic. We are grateful to have caring
teachers who seek to give the students a good education.
The pastor training seminars that the Christian Reformed
Mission offers are being well-attended by Pastor Pierre and his group of
pastors/church leaders. On May 8-10 there will be another series of Timothy
Leadership Training Seminars. We currently sponsor a group of 19
pastors/leaders in the churches that Pastor Pierre has had contact with.
We are thankful that we are here in Haiti to try and help
the people who come into contact with us. We are thankful for the prayers and
financial support that people have given. Currently our funds are low. At the
end of March there was a balance of $2.77 in our CDN$ account. The month of
April brought to us through Mission of Tears $1,900US in donations. To function
well in all our programs here at Coram Deo we need to have a monthly funding of
$9000. We are not able to attain that level and have been striving to work at a
$5000 level. For the month of April we are trying to work with ½ of that. As a
result we can’t pay all our expenses. We
are asking that people would prayerfully consider helping us financially at
this time. We strive to be the Good
Samaritan and to help the Haitian people. We can only do this with your help.
Karen Bultje,
Coram Deo
