Friday, February 6, 2015

Jun. 12/14 - Tapi Vert Refuge Camp - Cite Soleil

Over the last year we have been trying to help a family that lives in extreme poverty in one of the worst refuge camps in the Port-au-Prince area, Tapi Vert, in the Cite Soleil area. A mentally handicapped young woman had a baby last year and came to us with him to the clinic when he was 4 months old. He was severely malnourished as his mother wouldn't breast feed him and her milk dried up. He died in the hospital. She got pregnant again and a year later we helped her get a c...aesarean section done at Medecins Sans Frontieres Maternity Hospital on Delmas 33. The doctors there implanted a birth control medicine into her arm. When we picked the mother and grandmother up from the hospital we asked them what the baby boys name was. They responded with, what would you like to name him? I spoke with the people here and they wanted to name him Jacob. Jacob is now 3 weeks old and like his brother who died last year, the mother was not looking after him properly.
 
When we visited the camp yesterday he was not in good shape and had a fever. We brought him home with the mother and Paulna and Ashley helped the mother look after the baby. Ken examined him. We almost brought him to hospital, but the baby started to breast feed weakly at first. He did well overnight. Mentally, the mother can't look after her baby. We contacted Dixie Bickel of God's Littlest Angels last night and she texted us back that she was willing to take in little Jacob. This morning, Amos, Andrea, the mother and grandmother went up to Thomassin to see Dixie. Jacob and the mother will be staying at the orphanage for the next 3 weeks and then the mother will go home.

The grandfather is a pastor and one of the people we sponsor in the pastor training seminars. The camp is being closed down and we are trying to help them in obtaining land in Canaan to move their tarp house to. The church he pastors is inside the camp. This too will have to move. In exchange for the assistance with finding land the grandfather will help out with the Saturday program that the guys hold in Canaan for the children through their program (Haiti Help Partners). Job, is Jacob's 3-year-old brother. He is battling malnutrition and we are helping the family with food. A few months ago he wasn't walking. Now he is starting to walk. We are giving the family rice packages of Feed My Starving Children manna packs. This is a family that needs support and prayers. The grandmother sells things like oranges, and mangoes when she has extra money to help support the family. 3 of the mothers younger sisters and brothers attend school here at Coram Deo. Pray that with a helping hand that this family can be lifted out of their suffering. We are thankful that Dixie Bickel and her staff have admitted Jacob into God's Littlest Angels. Please keep them in prayer as they care for Jacob. Attached are some photos of Job, Jacob and his namesake Jake Tamminga, the mother and the camp that they live in.










 

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